EDUCATION 



The Biltmore Forest School 



The Biltmore Forest School with fifty 

 students has returned to America after a 

 successful winter session in Germany. The 

 foresters-to-be arrived in New York on the 

 27th of March. In the German forests the 

 Results of German sylviculture, forest man- 

 agement, forest finance, forest policy, and 

 forest protection were seen and studied 

 from beginning to end. In the manufac- 

 turing institutions there was observed a 

 high quality of work as well as the small 

 quantity of the output; also the economy 

 practiced under the pressure of high 

 stumpage prices. The students had im- 

 pressed upon them that conservative for- 

 estry is practised wheresoever it pays to 

 conserve the forests; that stumpage is 

 being raised wherever the price of the tree 

 pays for the cost of raising the tree; that 

 unlimited competition is detrimental to 

 forestr>' of a conservative type. 



The field work for the month of March 

 included two of the most interesting trips 

 of the winter. In the Spessart Mountains, 

 a district of Bavaria known as the home 

 of the best white oak on earth, were seen 

 oaks up to 400 years old that command a 

 stumpage price of $170 per thousand feet 

 board measure, on an average. Individual 

 trees numbers of them having a stump- 

 age value exceeding $500. The texture of 

 the timber seems to be particularly fine. 

 The owners (a number of family estates, 

 the Bavarian government and the Prus- 

 sian government) are in the habit of put- 

 ting annually on the market a limited 

 number of trees only, so as to maintain 

 the price. This arrangement preserves 

 the forests and a permanent supply of 

 oak timber. 



Five days vacation were taken after 

 landing. Then the school went into the 

 Adirondacks to study New York forestry. 

 On the 21st they left for North Carolina, 

 spending the 22d In Washington, acquaint- 

 ing themselves with the United States For- 

 est Service. 



0. Palmer, one of the instructors. City 

 Forester Charles Bucknam will assist and 

 his force of men is now at work prepar- 

 ing the land. Near the tennis courts in 

 the rear of the school building the gardens 

 will be located, and all of the product will 

 be used in the cooking classes and served to 

 the gardeners. The nursery will be located 

 at the southerly end of the school, between 

 Walnut street and the athletic field. Ar- 

 rangements will be made for planting six 

 hundred native trees. The first consign- 

 ment will consist of two hundred white ash 

 trees. Pupils will be given Instruction in 

 planting, grafting, pruning and spraying 

 methods and will be shown the growth of 

 the trees by periods. A number of plants 

 will also be set out and studied. The course 

 would appear to be one in the growing and 

 management of trees, rather than in "prac- 

 tical forestry," but it is a first step well 

 adapted to the circumstances of a city high 

 school. 



Elementary School Forestry 



Announcement has been made that 

 courses in scientific gardening and practi- 

 cal forestrj' are to be added to the cur- 

 riculum of the Newton (Mass.) Technical 

 High School, under the direction of Irving 



Summer Cruise for Montana Forestry 

 Students 



A summer cruise for foresters and others 

 is planned by the department of botany 

 and forestry of the University of Montana, 

 The course as contemplated would include 

 visits to the best stands of western timber, 

 viewing the operations of the Forest Serv- 

 ice on the national forests, nurseries, and 

 plantings, timber sales, protection against 

 fire, grazing, reconnaissance, etc. It would 

 also include visits to the largest milling 

 and logging operations in different sections 

 of the Northwest. Lectures on different 

 phases of forestry will be given at appro- 

 priate points. The regions visited will in- 

 clude the northern Rocky Mountains, 

 Puget Sound, the Columbia River, south- 

 ern Oregon and the sugar pine countrj' of 

 California. It is expected that the party 

 will leave Missoula, Mont., about July 1st, 

 and that about six weeks will be given to 

 the work. It is designed that the member- 

 ship of the party should include, not only 

 students of professional forestry, but also 

 friends of conservation, practical lumber- 

 men, and others who may wish to study 

 western forestry and lumbering under ad- 

 vantageous conditions. For further infor- 

 mation any one interested may address 

 Professor J. E. Kirkwood, University of 

 Montana, Missoula. 



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