CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIAT/n.\ 43 



see them cut down to the best advantage, that he is not a botanist let loose to air his \ 

 fads at the expense of others. What a training in forestry really implies may per- 

 haps be best seen by examining the course of study in an institution like that of the 

 Yale School of Forestry, which represents about the highest type of forest school 

 as yet evolved on this side of the Atlantic. Presupposing a good general preliminary 

 education, somewhat higher than our university matriculation, let us look at the 

 curriculum of the Yale School, particularly as regards the relative importance attached , 

 to the various subjects. This course is of two years' duration, with a session of 

 36 weeks each year. The courses of the first year include a thorough training in the 

 sciences that are fundamental for the profession, and a preliminary training in 

 forestry. The second year is mainly devoted to technical forestry. Looking at the 

 course as a whole (including the two years) we arrive at the following proportions: 



Out of a total of 2,280 hours of class-work and field-work together, we have 1,602 

 hours for technical forestry proper, and 678 hours for the remaining subjects, divided 

 up as follows : botany, 420 ; mineralogy, geology and meteorology, 114 ; engineering, 

 108, and zoology, 36. These latter subjects require no remark. Under the head of 

 technical forestry we have, after a general introduction to forestry, such subjects as 

 silviculture, forest mensuration, forest management, forest technology (including 

 nature and uses of woods), lumbering, forest protection and administration. An en- 

 tire term of 12 weeks is devoted to practical forestry in the woods, besides some prac- 

 tical work in previous terms in forests adjoining New Haven. 



I have referred to the Yale curriculum somewhat in detail because it served in a 

 general way as a model for the course of study laid down by the Senate of the Pro- 

 vincial University in the curriculum adopted in November, 1902. (I should state 

 here, parenthetically, that the Senate statute embodying this curriculum still awaits 

 the sanction of the Government). Our course extends over three winter and two 

 summer sessions. The standard for entrance is that of junior matriculation, or of 

 third year's standing in the Ontario Agricultural College. The work of the first year 

 is largely scientific biology, chemistry, physics, geology and includes English, mathe- 

 matics, French and German. The" second and third years include further instruction 

 in the sciences and in their application to forestry, together with a treatment of the 

 various subdivisions of forestry proper. The two summer sessions are devoted to 

 practical work in the forest. 



Now, I do not wish you to understand me as saying that the graduates who have 

 completed such a curriculum as either of the above are fully trained foresters. It 

 might not be expedient to put these young men at once in charge of important forest 

 interests, any more than it would be safe to put a newly-fledged young doctor in 

 charge of a case of serious illness, or a young engineer in charge of a transcontinental 

 railway. But in the one case as in the other, the young professional man has laid 

 down the scientific basis, has received his special technical training, and has faced 

 the various typical problems which will present themselves in his future career. Like 

 the other professional men referred to, he lacks experience, and the development of 

 his powers to face new problems. This he will get in time, just as it is acquired in 

 other professions. But we cannot have the thoroughly qualified expert without special 

 training in his profession, and this it is the function of the forestry school to provide. 



An important practical question arises at this point. What do we propose to do 

 with our trained forester when we have produced him? I have been told more than 

 once that to create a supply of trained foresters for Canada would amount to spoil- 

 ing so many young men for some other useful career, only to leave them stranded at 

 the end of their course, without the hope of employment. I remember to have heard 

 a similar objection urged about thirty years ago with regard to the engineering pro- 

 fession in Ontario, when I advocated the establishment of an engineering school. 

 Nobody raises that objection now with reference to engineering, and I venture to pre- 

 dict that nobody will raise it with regard to forestry even ten. years after the estab- 

 lishment of a school. 



