104 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



in every step from the primary grade to the university, 

 have long over-emphasized intellectual equipment with- 

 out regard for the power to do. Is it not time that the 

 schools, without minimizing intellectual equipment, ap- 

 preciate more fully that they are equipping their stu- 

 dents for labor, for the power to do in the various arts, 

 industries and professions? 



A few years ago our engineering schools were content 

 to teach engineering without the machine shop, but today 

 the shop is the center around which engineering training 

 rotates. The field and the woods are the "machine 

 shops" where the theoretical knowledge of plants is 

 put to crucial test, where the student learns how to make 

 his knowledge effective, thus enabling him to become a 

 better and more productive force in the world. 



As a nation, we are rapidly moving forward in the 

 introduction of agriculture into our public schools. This 

 is particularly true in the agricultural states of the Mid- 

 dle West, where nature work centers around the school 

 garden and where the rapidly increasing number of agri- 

 cultural high schools, with their demonstration fields and 

 gardens not only train their students in the production 

 and utilization of farm crops but, what is equally im- 

 portant, give them a proper perspective and a sane view 

 of agricultural pursuits. 



I believe that the greatest service that the public 

 schools can give the communities from which their stu- 

 dents are drawn is to instill a wholesome respect for 

 labor, more particularly a respect for the kinds nf labor 

 that their students must later perform in their own com- 

 munities. It is wrong for any public school to train its 



STUDYING TREE BUDS OUT OF DOORS 

 The natural interest and liking of these youngsters of the second grade 

 for nature study work is wisely fostered by regular classes outside the 

 school room. 



students in paths that lead away from the industries upon 

 which the community from which it draws its support 

 depends for its prosperity and material progress. A pub- 

 lic school education in an agricultural or forest com- 

 munity which ignores the field and the forest, which 

 ignores the production and utilization of farm and forest 

 crops, is fundamentally wrong. It does nothing to build 

 up the community, but places a premium upon the migra- 

 tion of the more progressive sons and daughters to 

 other regions. 



Although 29 per cent of the total area of the United 

 States is forest ; although our forests supply annually 

 about 100,000,000 cords of fuel wood and about 100,- 

 000,000,000 board feet of other classes of wood ; al- 

 though next to agriculture, our forests provide remun- 

 erative labor to more of our citizens than any other in- 

 dustry ; although millions of dollars are annually wast- 

 ed in forest fires and by unwise utilization, the pupiis 

 of our public schools receive at present little or no 

 training in the production and utilization of this great 

 resource. 



The appreciation of the importance of forestry on the 

 part of the public squarely rests with the public schools, 

 because it is here that the great body of American citizens 



INTERESTING FIELD WORK FOR THE BOYS 

 Students of the Agricultural High School at Sandy Springs. Maryland, measuring the height of a tree by_ the shadow method. They are learning 

 something of the real meaning of the forest and its service to mankind, which knowledge may later incline them to study more deeply the science 

 of agricultural or forestry pursuits. 



