1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



243 



' ' The students are all in the employ 

 of the Crown, 7 being from Dean Forest 

 and 2 from Windsor Forest. Classes are 

 held two days a week, the students 

 working in the woods the remainder' of 

 the time. Their ages vary from 17 to 

 22, and they receive from i2s. to iSs. 

 a week. 



' ' The education is free, and no deduc- 

 tion is made from wages. The full 

 course will extend over two years. In- 

 struction will be given in all branches of 

 forestry, theoretical and practical, in- 

 cluding choice of soils and situations to 

 grow the more important British forest 

 trees ; the method and treatment for 

 each species, and the best methods of 

 sowing, planting, thinning, and pruning 

 to produce sound timber. The students 

 will be taught to recognize the more im- 

 portant fungi and insects, and the means 

 of prevention and cure. 



1 ' Such operations as measurement and 

 valuation of timber and standing woods 

 will be dealt with, and the system of 

 management to produce annual yield ex- 

 plained. In view of the thorough train- 

 ing they will get, there should be no 

 difficulty in the students obtaining good 

 situations, as the supply of trained for- 

 esters is limited, and many landowners 

 complain of the difficult}* of getting 

 them. 



" It is hoped to start a second class 

 next year, and it may be possible to 

 arrange to receive men from private 

 estates, but it will be impossible for the 

 Crown to take more than a limited num- 

 ber of paid workmen, as sufficient em- 

 ployment could not be found for them 

 in the w T oods." 



Manufact- The annual convention 

 urers Favor of the National Associa- 

 Forestry and tion of Manufacturers, 

 Irrigation. held at Pittsburg in 



May, showed a notable 

 interest among the delegates in the sub- 

 jects of forestry and irrigation. Mr. 

 George H. Maxwell, executive chair- 

 man of the National Irrigation Associa- 

 tion, was invited to address the conven- 

 tion, and his remarks created a most 

 favorable impression. 



The association appointed a standing 



Committee on Irrigation and passed a 

 series of significant resolutions. These 

 resolutions strongly urge that Congress 

 should repeal the desert act and the 

 commutation clause of the homestead 

 act. They also urged the national gov- 

 ernment to proceed as rapidly as pos- 

 sible with its work of reclaiming the 

 arid public lands. Strong indorsement 

 is contained in these resolutions of the 

 recommendation of the Secretary of the 

 Interior and the Public Lands Commis- 

 sion appointed by President Roosevelt 

 for the repeal of the timber and stone 

 act. The resolutions further urge that 

 all public forest lands should be em- 

 braced in the permanent forest reserves. 

 It was the unanimous opinion of the 

 association that all forestry work of the 

 national government should, as recom- 

 mended by President Roosevelt, be con- 

 solidated in the Bureau of Forestry of 

 the Department of Agriculture. 



Forestry Session May 24 was set aside 

 ot Women's at the general federa- 



Clubs. tion biennial of Wo- 



men's Clubs at St. 

 Louis as a forestry session, and reports 

 on the progress of forest protection from 

 members representing standing com- 

 mittees in thirty-four states were present 

 and engaged in discussion. Mrs. L. P. 

 Williams was in the chair, and spoke of 

 progress made in Minnesota through the 

 instrumentality of the Morris act. She 

 also addressed the meeting on the sub- 

 ject, " Can Woman Through Organiza- 

 tion Influence Legislation in Favor of 

 Forestry?" Miss Mira L. Dock, a 

 member of the Pennsylvania Forest 

 Commission, was present, and spoke on 

 "Ten Years of Forestry." The gain 

 in growth of the idea of forest protec- 

 tion among women's clubs is evidenced 

 by the remarkable increase in com- 

 mittees devoted especially to the work. 

 The federation, after two years, now 

 has standing committees enrolled from 

 thirty-four states that are enthusiastic- 

 ally spreading the propaganda of tree 

 planting and forest preservation, both 

 of which are included in the scope of 

 the department. The remarks of dele- 

 gates were interesting, inasmuch as they 



