24 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



forestry, if anything, is a business proposition. I think I can 

 say regarding the School of Forestry, that the purpose of the 

 school is to make it a business matter, for if forestry cannot 

 be carried on in a business way we have no right to carry it 

 on at all. We know forestry can be carried on in a business- 

 like way. Now, the work of the School of Forestry consists 

 not simply in recitation, it is not simply book work, but a 

 large part of it is field work, and the work which we are 

 doing now in the school consists in some measure in getting 

 out into the woods and making measurements and in doing 

 other field work of similar nature, as well as in giving class- 

 room instruction in the management of forests. 'Later in the 

 course much of the work will be carried into larger wood- 

 lands where we can have practical work in the managing of 

 forests and where such management can be shown to advan- 

 tage to the students. This briefly is the work which we pro- 

 pose to do and which we have started out to do in this new 

 school of forestry. The time is ripe, as you have already been 

 told, for such a school. The forestry interests in the United 

 States are excelled in value by nothing but agriculture. It 

 was estimated only a few years ago that the annual value of 

 the wood cut or the annual consumption of wood produced 

 in this country for a single year is a billion dollars. Now, we 

 as Americans cannot afford to sacrifice a natural product 

 which is bringing in this vast amount annually. We have got 

 to keep it in condition so that it will bring us an annual in- 

 come. We certainly cannot afford to see it destroyed. This 

 great interest must be maintained, but it can only be done 

 through forest conservation and correct management. The 

 purpose of the school is to so train young men that they may 

 become expert foresters, that they can go out and assist in 

 this work. Dr. Rothrock has already spoken of the reserva- 

 tions that have been established in Pennsylvania. Other 

 states have forest reservations. The forest reservations, both 

 State and national, must be put upon a business basis, they 



