1899. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



103 



The bill which has been passed creat- 

 ing the National Park is without effect 

 because it carries no appropriation. Be- 

 fore anything can be done toward the 

 appointment of an administrative force, 

 for the accomplishment of surveys neces- 

 sary to intelligent plans, or for the pro- 

 tection of the district from careless 

 campers, means must be provided and 



modifications of the boundaries must be 

 adopted. 



The societies which have been active 

 in presenting the matter to Congress and 

 all who appreciate the inspiring influ- 

 ence of Nature in her most majestic 

 aspects should energetically interest 

 themselves in the further development 

 of the Rainier National Park. 



Bailey Willis. 



The Training of Professional Foresters in 



America. 



1. 



A Symposium in Three Papers. 



BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE NEW YORK STVTE COLLEGE OF 



FORESTRY, ITHACA, N. Y. 



There are many roads leading to Rome 

 and there are many ways of getting an 

 education or a preparation for a profes- 

 sion, and according to the make-up of 

 the man is the one or the other best to 

 travel. 



I know a most competent scientific in- 

 vestigator, an excellent teacher and 

 manager, who started life as a cowboy ; 

 yet, though undoubtedly his early ex- 

 perience of independent thinking and 

 acting benefited him, we would hardly 

 prescribe such a preparation for general 

 use. The next man might remain a 

 cowboy. 



Even if we knew the ideal way to 

 "knowledge, practical limitations often 

 forbid to follow it, and finally we find our- 

 selves forced to take the main-traveled, 

 broad road of uniformity, which our 

 educational institutions, schools, col- 

 leges, and universities have built, with 

 the prescribed or at least systematically- 

 laidout curricula, without regard to in- 

 dividual requirements or dispositions, 

 except so far as the student is left to select 

 his studies within a prescribed circle. 



For a profession which, like forestry, 

 has to deal with the direct application of 

 knowledge to practical problems, the 

 need of an opportunity to see such ap- 

 plication in actuality and to have a hand 

 in the practice early, is obvious, just as 



in the engineering or medical professionor 

 in fact almost any other profession. Yet we 

 must not forget that all practice is based 

 on theory ; and the more thorough the 

 theoretical knowledge, the more intelli- 

 gent and more sure will be the practice. 



The attempt to satisfy the popular but 

 ignorant cry for so-called "practical in- 

 struction" usually leads to the production 

 of superficial and incompetent prac- 

 titioners, lacking a safe guide in thorough 

 knowledge, although by no means lack- 

 ing in self-assurance. I would, there- 

 fore, advise any student of forestry in 

 this country, as well as in any other, to 

 lay as broad a foundation of theoretical 

 knowledge as he can afford ; he will be 

 more successful in the end with his 

 practice. 



As to the time and manner of acquir- 

 ing practical insight, whether it should 

 precede or follow the theoretical studies 

 or be interspersed with the latter, opin- 

 ions vary. Even the Germans, who have 

 the reputation of being good educators, 

 have not been able during the hundred 

 years of forestry education to come to a 

 final verdict. 



Yet, if we may take the number of 

 students as an indication of the prefer- 

 ence of methods, we find that the Uni- 

 versity method which leaves much choice 

 to the student in electing his studies and 



