Educational Development. 501 



Perhaps the first attempt to present systematically 

 a whole course of technical forestry matter to a class 

 of students was a series of twelve lectures, delivered 

 by the writer, at the Massachusetts College of Agri- 

 culture in 1887, and another to students of political 

 economy at Wisconsin University in 1897. 



The era of professional forest schools, however, was, 

 inaugurated in 1898, when the writer organized the 

 New York State College of Forestry at Cornell Uni- 

 versity, and almost simultaneously Dr. Schenck 

 opened a private school at Biltmore. 



A year later, another Forest school was opened at 

 Yale University, an endowment of the Pinchots, 

 father and sons. In 1903, the University of Michigan 

 added a professional department of forestry, and then 

 followed a real flood of educational enthusiasm, one 

 institution after another seeing the necessity for add- 

 ing the subject as an integral part to its courses. 

 Before there were enough competent men in the field, 

 some twenty colleges or universities called for teachers, 

 besides private institutions. An inevitable result of 

 this over-production of forest schools and of foresters 

 all at once must be an overcrowding of the profession 

 with mediocre men before the profession is really 

 fully established. 



Brief reference to the history of the first school, 

 established by the State of New York, may be of 

 interest, as exemplifying in a striking manner the 

 political troubles besetting reforms under republican 

 conditions. But for a similar occurrence in France 

 (see p. 242), this case might be unique in the history 

 of educational institutions. Although the school 



