150 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [7 :6— Sept., 1911 



while. In making this selection the teacher should be guided by 

 the accessibility, suitability, and the practical importance of the 

 subjects available. Nowhere in the world of nature is there 

 anything which more often meets all these tests than the forest, 

 and for this reason, forestry, in its more elementary phases, is 

 of interest to the teacher of nature-study. 



It will be well to keep in mind, however, the distinction be- 

 tween forestry and "tree-study" as commonly found in the nature- 

 study courses. These "tree-studies" usually consider only the 

 individual tree. Forestry concerns itself very little with the in- 

 dividual tree, but considers, chiefly, trees as they grow together 

 on some tract of land whose principal crop they form. Tree 

 studies have long been favorite excersises for nature-study classes, 

 but it is seldom that the forest has been studied, in spite of the 

 fact that the forest has a story quite different from that of the 

 single tree. The teacher who confines the observations of her 

 class to the habits or features of individual trees, misses a great 

 opportunity, for the forest has a life history so varied and 

 fascinating that it cannot fail to interest the pupils. 



Another distinction between forestry and tree study lies in 

 the fact that forestry is, as a rule, economic in its aims, rather 

 than aesthetic. It seeks to make forests serve whatever ends the 

 owners may have in view ; and generally these ends anTutilitarian. 

 The work of the forester is usually to make of the forest a 

 paying crop. He does not, except in special cases, pay much 

 attention to the beauty of the trees or their preservation merely 

 for their effect on the landscape. He seeks to preserve forests 

 either as a means of insuring a supply of wood, or because they 

 serve to protect the soil from erosion on steep slopes or to regulate 

 the flow of streams. The forester has no great degree of sym- 

 pathy for the sentimentalists who would put a stop to all tree 

 cutting because of the beauty of the trees or because of fond 

 memories associated with them. His aims and ideals are gener- 

 ally those of cold utility, and his only restriction on tree cutting 

 would be that, it be not done wastefully or wantonly or so as to 

 curtail the future supply of timber. 



Where, then, in the work of the nature-study classes, is 

 there room for such a practical, scientific subject as forestry? 

 It would be manifestly unwise to attempt to teach forestry, as 

 such, to children in the grades. Even in the high school only 

 the most elementary principles can be taught. Nevertheless, a 

 great many of the general principles upon which forestry is 



