yijo 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



April, 



within collecting distance, enables the 

 ^student to lay down a foundation of 

 tree knowledge which must be the basis 

 of intelligent forestry. To the student 

 who does not expect to follow forestr}^ 

 as a profession, such study will afford 

 an ever-fertile source of recreation and 

 pleasure in after life ; and the more en- 

 lightened and enthusiastic tree lovers 

 our American people become, the better 

 the prospect for wise legislation on 

 forest matters. 



Course 2 takes up the subject of forest 

 influences on climate, soil formation, 

 stream flow, stem analysis, forest men- 



VIEW IN PINE AND WHITE OAK " FLAT WOODS 



I,UMBERING. 



suration, and forest finance, followed 

 by a study of some of the local forest 

 products, as stave and spoke stock, 

 railroad ties, or shingles. Careful data 

 is gathered as to the age and quality 

 of timber demanded for the products, 

 yield, and methods of exploiting. 



Course 3 takes up silviculture and 

 forest management, making a special 

 study of the conditions under which 

 natural regeneration of the native species 

 takes place. The local forests and old 

 field growths afford many fine examples 

 for this line of study. 



The single term of work in the agri- 



cultural course is designed to give the 

 yovmg farmer the elementary ideas of 

 the value of forests to the community, 

 their protection and care, and how to 

 make the most of the timber tract or 

 woodlot that maj' come under his man- 

 agement. This short agricultural course 

 also comprises, besides the more strictly 

 agricultural branches, two terms of 

 botany, three of horticulture, including 

 practical nursery work, a term in soils 

 and crops, and one in farm mechanics, 

 which includes practical road making, 

 land drainage, and land measurement. 

 The student also receives a fair training 

 in English, algebra, drawing, 

 book-keeping, and elementary 

 physics and zoology. 



If we now add to this the 

 3^ear's work in advanced for- 

 estry above outlined, we shall 

 have an excellent preparation 

 for the work of a ranger or for- 

 est overseer. There are many 

 young men in the country, and 

 especially in the section from 

 which Berea students are 

 drawn, who are well trained in 

 logging and lumbering opera- 

 tions, familiar from boyhood 

 with the qualities of timber, 

 and who with such a course of 

 study would make admirable re- 

 cruits to the ranks of this most 

 useful class of forest w^orkers. 

 Several have alread}^ entered 

 upon this line of work, and I 

 am convinced that as soon as 

 the demand for such service, at 

 a fair salary, becomes assured, 

 there wall be numbers ready to 

 enroll in the work. 

 While we have two great universities 

 and a number of other schools in the 

 country ready to give a greater or less 

 amount of technical training in forestry, 

 I am not aware of any institution be- 

 sides Berea that also undertakes to pro- 

 vide for the training of the ranger. 



This sketch should not close without 

 a word about the lectures in the prepar- 

 atory school. The pupils here, though 

 in grammar-school studies, are often 

 grown men and women, and many of 

 them do not follow the course beyond 

 these grades, when they will make for 

 themselves homes in the mountain coun- 



AFTER 



