THE PROFESSION OF FORESTRY. 



the possession of what we know so well 

 as " Yale spirit," the habit of accomplish- 

 ment and the willingness to do the work 

 first and count the cost afterward. It is 

 interesting to note here that a majority 

 of the young Americans who have fitted 

 themselves for technical forest work are 

 Yale men. Whatever the connection or 

 the special fitness may be which brings 

 Yale men into this line of effort and 

 achievement, I should like to see the re- 

 cruits from Yale come in fast enough to 

 maintain something like the old propor- 

 tion. 



After the "Yale spirit" comes sound- 

 ness of body and hardiness, for foresters 

 must often expect the roughest kind of 

 life in the woods. The helpmeet of 

 hardiness is a contented spirit. There 

 is no more pernicious character than a 

 grumbler in camp, and nothing will help 

 so much to get field work done as the will- 

 ingness to bear privation cheerfully. 



A man who takes up forestry will often 

 find the field work exceedingly or even 

 unexpectedly hard, for it combines severe 

 mental work with severe bodily labor, 

 under conditions which make each one 

 peculiarly trying. Work in the woods 

 differs profoundly from camp life as it is 

 usually understood. Foresters get a cer- 

 tain amount of hunting and fishing, and 

 every forester will do his work better for 

 a wholesome love of the rod and gun, but 

 the line between work and play is still 

 sharply drawn. 



I have been speaking of the funda- 

 mental qualities which are more or less 

 necessary to success in any vigorous out- 

 door life. There are several additional 

 capacities with which the forester should 

 be well endowed. The first of these is 

 the power of observation. It is often dif- 

 ficult to say a priori whether a man has it 

 or not. In many cases it makes itself 

 known as a love of hunting or fishing, or 

 a general pleasure in all outdoors. To the 

 forester it is one of the most essential 

 qualities in his mental equipment. Fi- 

 nally, perseverance, initiative, and self-re- 

 liance are peculiarly necessary, because 

 the forester is so often withdrawn from 

 the inspection of his superiors and alto- 



gether dependent on his own steadfastness 

 and devotion to keep him up to the high 

 standard he should set himself for his 

 work. In a new field of effort this is 

 especially likely to be true. It is one of 

 the distinguishing characteristics of the 

 profession of forestry. 



PREPARATION. 



The preparation for forestry as a pro- 

 fession should, as a rule, begin with a col- 

 lege or university course, and, as a rule, 

 should be continued after graduation for 

 not less than two years. 



The first step in the preparation for for- 

 estry as a profession is for the possible for- 

 ester to discover whether his conception of 

 forestry is a right one. To do so he must 

 get into the field. The Bureau of Fores- 

 try made some provision to meet this re- 

 quirement when it established the grade of 

 Student Assistant, with pay at the rate of 

 $300 a year. Men who take this position 

 are required to assist in the work of the 

 Bureau with the same steadiness and de- 

 votion to duty as in all its other members, 

 and they are employed so far as possible 

 in work of peculiar value to them and at 

 the same time of use in the general pro- 

 gress. All their expenses are defrayed 

 while in the field. In addition to the spe- 

 cific advantage this grade offers in enab- 

 ling a man to take part in actual forest 

 work under a trained forester, and so to 

 discover what the profession really means, 

 it has a special usefulness in enabling men 

 who cannot at first afford fuller prepara- 

 tion to support themselves for a time while 

 getting the first step in their forest educa- 

 tion. It does not replace a forest school, 

 nor is it the intention that it should. No 

 future forester who can possibly afford to 

 take a course, either at Cornell, under Dr. 

 Fernow, at Biltmore, under Dr. Schenck, 

 or at Yale, under Professor Graves should 

 fail to do so. I repeat with all emphasis 

 that work as a student assistant cannot 

 take the place of study at a forest school. 



The number of positions as Student 

 Assistant is decidedly limited, and gradu- 

 ates or students of forest schools will al- 

 ways be preferred for appointment. No 

 one will be received as Student Assistant 



