THE NEW FORESTRY. 2OQ 



Our agricultural schools profess to teach forestry, and ' 

 employ "professors" of the art as teachers, but their pupils 

 belong almost exclusively to a class who never become 

 practical foresters, and the fees charged are prohibitive to 

 those who seek foresters' situations. Besides* the practical 

 element is wanting in such schools, if one may judge by the 

 examples they turn out, and we have had rather exceptional 

 means of knowing. Such pupils talk intelligently and glibly 

 about the science of forestry, and often pass examinations 

 successfully, but they are usually ignorant of the most elemen- 

 tary practical duties of the forester, incapable of organising 

 work, do not know when it is properly executed, and are 

 frequently so unfamiliar with our forest trees as not to know 

 many common species when they see them. The general 

 course of instruction pursued at agricultural schools is too 

 lengthy and varied for those who desire to master one subject 

 in a reasonable time, and special attention cannot be given. 

 The forester does not require so many scientific attainments 

 as has been prescribed for him. He requires very little 

 chemistry, no more geology than relates to the surface soils 

 and the name of the formation they overlie, and his 

 entomology and plant pathology need not extend beyond 

 narrow limits. It is not from want of any of these that he 

 cannot grow good crops of timber of the right quality. Such 

 subjects as climate, rainfall, heat, light, air, moisture, soils, in 

 their relation to forestry, and vegetable physiology, he should 

 understand fairly well ; and in a business capacity he should 

 understand land surveying, valuing, timber measuring, labour, 

 and the timber trade. This is not as formidable a list as it 

 looks. Even in Germany, we are told, although the school 

 course is long and hard, much of the cramming that the pupil 

 undergoes is afterwards lost or neglected in practical work, 

 and it is interesting to note how well managed many exten- 

 sive forest areas are on few and simple lines. A rigid 

 system, strict rotation periods, few species to care for, and 

 careful inspection by superior officers, keeps the regular 

 German forester in a pretty safe groove. 



Theory and practice are best taught in conjunction, and 

 there are plenty of well-wooded estates in England and Scot- 

 land where this could be done, under competent teachers, for 

 all the conditions that regulate the production of timber-trees 

 are present in our own woods (no matter whether the system 

 practised be right or wrong), provided they are sought out and 

 properly studied. It is not necessary to see a whole forest in 

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