BOYS PLANT THE BURROUGHS FOREST 



367 



CONSERVATION IS A MATTER OF EDUCATION 

 AND THE EDUCATORS OF THE COUNTRY ARE RE- 

 SPONSIBLE TO THE COUNTRY FOR THE PRACTICAL 

 TEACHING OF CONSERVATION TO THE MEN OP TO- 

 MORROW. 



The problems of the day are the things in which our 

 young must be educated. This is no attempt at a peda- 

 gogical discussion. It is just a plain statement of facts. 



Conservation should not be a matter for the Ladies' 

 Aid Society, the Masons, the Knights of Columbus, or 

 the Fire Department. Conservation is a strictly educa- 

 tional proposition, and the teaching of it to young 

 America should be within the jurisdiction of the State 

 Department of Education advised by and co-operating 

 with the State Conservation Commission. 



"But it will require experts that are outside the curri- 

 culum!" objects this or that head master or school 

 principal. 



Can anything that is necessary for a boy to know be 

 outside the curriculum? Are we teaching boys life or 

 are we stuffijig them at the expense of citizenship? 



So much for your curriculum and now for the ex- 

 pert. Insofar as your city schools are concerned make 

 your city forester responsible if you wish, or, if it is to 

 be a strictly departmental proposition, how will the cost 

 of a superviser of conservation compare with the cost of 

 a supervisor of drawing or so-called manual training? 



"But the cost of materials?" It is objection number 

 two. 



This is the cost of the crew of twenty-six boys who 

 planted the Burroughs Memorial Forest: 



Materials. 



12 Mattocks at $2.00 $24.00 



2 Axes (double bit) at $3.50 7.00 



12 Pails (galvanized iron) at $.30 3.60 



Trees furnished by state. Total $34.60 



Where boys go a distance from their schools to state 

 lands additional equipment is necessary as well as food. 

 The boys of the Burroughs Memorial Unit were fed at 

 the rate of sixty-five cents a day and well fed through- 

 out. Two boys were detailed as cooks at camp while the 

 others worked on the planting lines. The food was on 

 time to the minute each meal. The additional equip- 

 ment and cost is given herewith : 



Camp Equipment. 

 Three pyramidal tents (State should 



furnish these, but cost is given) .... $90.00 

 Cooking equipment : 



Pipe grate 2x4, bolted together 2.00 



Six aluminum pails at 40c 2.40 



Drip pan 25 man size 2.00 



Two frying pans (14 inch) at $1.50.. 3.00 

 Cooking knives, ladles, can opener, 



spoons, etc 5.00 



The boys furnished their own mess kits, canteens, cups 

 and blankets and slept in straw purchased from a farmer 

 at Big Indian. The cost of haulage, straw, etc., was $15. 

 The state paid for the haulage of the trees. 



On the basis that the state furnishes the tentage, as in 

 the case of the Burroughs Memorial Forest where Lt. 

 Col. William L. Burnett of the First New York Infantry 

 made it available, the total cost then, for equipment, 

 housing and feeding of a 26-man unit for one week on 

 state lands is something less than $200 considerably 

 less. 



It is not a question of "Can we afford that kind of 

 education?" the point is how can we possibly afford 

 to disregard it? 



Outside possible cost $104.00 



Probable cost 14.00 



HEADQUARTERS OF THE PLANTERS 

 A vista of the camp through the trees by the side of the stream. 



We teach biology here it is in practice. We teach 

 civics here is service to state and nation in its best 

 manifestation. We teach hygiene ask the men fresh 

 from service where they learned personal hygiene and 

 sanitation in the lecture room or the field itself? We 

 try to teach neatness, care, accuracy and sturdiness is 

 there a better place to find all these than on the mattock 

 line? 



"But the loss of time from the classroom?" Take 

 your boys who can afford it if there is to be a 

 loss. As a matter of fact each and every one of the 26 

 boys on that expedition not only studied in camp each 

 morning, but he passed his monthly and Regents exami- 

 nations satisfactorily. 



This bit of detail to meet the objections that are sure 

 to be raised at the start. And the big point is this 

 conservation work in practice as well as in theory, 

 should be required by the department of education in 

 every state, from each boy in high school. Eventually 

 it will be. The question is : "Will it come in time to save 

 us?" Not if left to itself. This is somethmg that will 

 require effort, organization and a sympathetic co-opera- 

 tion by the educators of the country. 



What state will start the ball rolling? 



