AMERICAN FORESTRY 



1525 



FOREIGN STUDENTS OF FORESTRY 

 IN AMERICA 



OTUDENTS from Sweden and the Philippines, both 

 *J for advanced work, and other students from China 

 and Canada have been sent to the United States to secure 

 training in forestry, marking an advanced step in the in- 

 ternational application of the principles of reforestation 

 of barren areas, and the beginning of cooperative studies 

 along reforestation lines between various nations. This 

 acceleration of the training of men in the great out of 





ORESTRY MEN FROM FOREIGN SHORES AT SYRACUSE 



Reading from left to right: F. B. Mann, Lindsay, Ontario; A. E. F. 

 Schard, Stockholm, Sweden; H. J. MacAIoney, Halifax, N. S. ; Mark 

 Y. C. Hwang, Kiukiang, China; Chia Choung Tong, Tien Tsin, China 

 and Luis J. Reyes, Manila, Philippine Islands. 



doors profession is the direct result of the war, which 

 caused a realization of the need of the world for trees 

 and timber. Six foreign students are registered this 

 year.at the New York State College of Forestry at Syra- 

 cuse, four in undergraduate work, and two in advanced 

 study, in addition to a larger entering class than has 

 ever before been known in the New York institution. 

 The foreign students come with an unusual record, par- 

 ticularly in two instances, where they are sent by author- 

 ization of foreign governments for advanced study. The 

 six foreign students of the New York State College of 

 Forestry at Syracuse are : A. E. S. Schard, Swedish 

 Royal Forest Service, American Scandinavian Founda- 

 tion exchange fellow from Stockholm, in interchange 

 with Henry M. Meloney, of the New York College, sent 

 to Sweden by the Foundation. Luis J. Reyes, assistant 

 Wood expert of the Philippine Forest Service, graduate of 

 the Insular Forest School of the University of the Philip- 

 pines, and for the last six years with the Philippine Forest 

 Service. Mark Y. C. Hwang, Kiukiang, China, mem- 

 ber of the junior class, sent here through authorization of 

 the Chinese government, to learn how to assist in the re- 

 forestation of China. Chia Choung Tong, Tientsin, 

 China, a freshman here for study under the same condi- 

 tions as Mr. Hwang. F. B. Mann, Lindsay, Ontario, 

 member of the freshman class, in America to study for 

 future practical work in the Dominion. 



NATURE IN THE NUDE 



fT^HE frosts, the rains and the boisterous blasts have 

 -*- stripped the trees of their green robes of summer 

 and they stand naked — but unashamed. 



The leafy tent which the big maple made in your door- 

 yard last June is now but a tracery of twigs against the 

 sky. Its delicate fret-work is for the most part as rigid 

 and motionless as if stamped from steel, for it no longer 

 invites the vagrant zephyrs for a romp, and even the 

 northern gale drives through its skeletonized body with 

 almost as little resistance as a ghost would offer. 



Yet it is still beautiful. We can now study the great 

 limbs of which there was no hint beneath its summer 

 drapery ; the huge, swelling muscles where the limb joins 

 the trunk, the point of greatest strain. Note, too, in the 

 case of the forest maple, the perfect balancing of weight, 

 which is the secret of the straight, columnar bole. 



Observe how the oak throws out great, brawny, 

 horizontal branches which suddenly turn and lift sky- 

 ward, with an abrupt taper, in order that the multitudi- 

 nous leaves of the growing season may receive their 

 share of sunlight. The branches of the elm, on the other 

 hand, shoot upward first and then turn their tips out- 

 ward and downward, like a waterfall. But the same end 

 is secured. 



If you learn the trees in the spring and summer, with 

 leaf, flower and fruit as your guides, you must learn them 

 all over again in the winter. It is a bit baffling at first, 

 for most botanical manuals seem to assume that trees are 

 to be studied only when in verdure. But it's all the more 

 fun for that. 



Now the only clues in your arboreal detective work 

 are the bark, both as to texture and color; the habit of 

 branching; the twigs, by their alternative or opposite 

 position ; the leaf scars and the shape, size and color 

 of the buds, which some people may be surprised to learn 

 are all finished before the first frost. 



But soon you come to recognize a tree just as you do 

 a friend — instinctively, as it were, with no cognizance of 

 details. The contour is sufficient, and you may in time 

 rival James Russell Lowell, who implies in one of his 

 poems that the etching against a moonlit sky enabled 

 him to name any New England tree. 



And it is true that trees look more alike in summer 

 than in winter. In their winter nakedness nothing is 

 concealed ; their individuality is blazoned to the discern- 

 ing eye. The infinite variety of nature in accomplishing 

 the same end is revealed. 



Trees, then, become more than trees to us . They be- 

 come living entities, and we begin to imbue them with 

 the aspirations and sentiments which we ourselves cher- 

 ish. We begin to understand why John Muir was 

 charged with thinking more of a tree than of 

 a man, and we can enter into the spirit of John Bur- 

 rough's reputed retort: "Well, why shouldn't he?" — 

 (Reprinted by courtesy of the Chicago Evening Post.) 



