SHALL FORESTRY BE TAUGHT IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS? 



107 



movement, importance and method for its maintenance 

 considered. In connection with courses in civil govern- 

 ment should be taught the main outlines of national and 

 state forest legislation, the land policy of the United 

 States, the purpose, origin and growth of the national 

 forests, and the general plan for their administration; 

 also the state forest policy and the development of state 

 forestry. 



Of the great body of students who annually complete 

 the work of the grammar grades only a relatively small 

 number pass on into the high school or the industrial 

 school. The greater number step from the grammar 

 school directly into the realities of life where they im- 

 mediately become the "hewers of wood and the drawers 

 of water." It is this vast army of young American 



also include a study of the effect of forests on soil and 

 water, as well as on soil fertility and stability, and on 

 stream flow and seepage; and a study of the effect of 

 forests on public health, including their effect on potable 

 water and the purity of the air. 



In the manual training department of high schools or 

 other schools of similar grade, the utilization and uses of 

 forest products should be given far more attention than 

 at present. In manual training in woodworking, a study 

 should be made of the important woods in the industries 

 and arts and the identification of the more important 

 native and exotic species. Instruction should be given 

 in the principal uses of wood and the substitutes for 

 wood. The structural, physical and mechanical proper- 

 ties of wood should be studied, also the methods of 



A CLASS OF SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT THE WILSON NORMAL SCHOOL 



The industrial development of tomorrow is rooted in the public schools of today, and that the influence of forestry and tree study work is gain- 

 ing strength is unquestioned. General recognition of the advisability of establishing it firmly in the graded schools seems to be assured by the 

 earnest attitude of these embryonic teachers. 



blood that will form the voters of tomorrow and in 

 whose keeping the forests of the country will chiefly 

 rest. They can be reached only in the secondary school, 

 and it is wrong when that training gives them no knowl- 

 edge of the forest or its resources, particularly in those 

 localities where from the nature of the region the forest 

 must always remain the dominant resource from which 

 the inhabitants secure a living and opportunity for labor. 

 To the small minority of students who continue their 

 intellectual or industrial training beyond the grammar 

 school the high school should offer opportunity for fur- 

 ther instruction in forestry, but here also chiefly in con- 

 nection with other courses. Courses in physical geogra- 

 phy should include a study of the relation of forests to 

 climate, their effect on atmospheric and soil humidity 

 and on atmospheric and soil temperature. They should 



seasoning and preserving so as to increase the durability 

 and value of wood. 



The manner in which forestry can be brought into the 

 high school course in botany is exceedingly varied. 

 Botany, aside from being a study of general culture, is 

 important because of its intimate relation to agriculture 

 and forestry. The forest is of first importance in the 

 study of plant ecology. The forest provides the student 

 of botany with his chief materials for studying the in- 

 ter-relations of plants, the effect of shade, the limitation 

 of growing space, the distribution of seed and germina- 

 tion. 



Although it is my belief that forestry as a separate 

 subject should not be introduced into our general high 

 school courses, which are already over-crowded, I am 

 convinced that it should be taught in connection with 



