1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



73 



On the same principle that there 

 must be trained foresters for the broad 

 subject of forestry, so the teachers of 

 the elementary schools must have in- 

 struction sufficient to arouse their in- 

 terest in tree planting, in tree culture, 

 and tree protection, if only in connec- 

 tion with the shade trees of cities, that 

 the children assigned to their care may 

 be taught the same. In connection 

 with its course in botany, the Normal 

 School at Washington is giving its 



regarded as living things having strug- 

 gles for existence. Attention is like- 

 wise called to the interdependence of 

 tree life, birds, man, and insect life, 

 the insect enemies and their preven- 

 tion. Tree protection, in so far as 

 it touches the city child's life, are in- 

 cluded in this course. 



Permission is granted the students 

 to collect tree seeds in the parks during 

 the fall season. These are stratified 

 in sand to carry them through the 





Normal students laying off a seed bed. 



student-teachers such instruction. Con- 

 siderable attention is given to the iden- 

 tification of the city's trees and those 

 of the surrounding country. There 

 is a woeful lack of knowledge on the 

 part of the young of the names of the 

 commonest trees. To remedy this 

 much outdoor work is done in the 

 parks and suburbs. Attention is given 

 to the winter identification as well as 

 the summer one. 



The physiological side of the sub- 

 ject is considered, so that trees will be 



winter for spring planting. Only 

 such seeds are collected as will pro- 

 duce trees suitable for school ground 

 planting later, as it is the purpose of 

 the Normal School to supply trees to 

 the city schools in a few years. 

 Through the co-operation of the Bu- 

 reau of Plant Industry the school is 

 allowed the use of land in the experi- 

 ment garden conducted by the l>ureau 

 on the Potomac Flats. The students, 

 who are all young ladies, do all of the 

 work, marking the rows, preparing the 



