Canadian Foresliij Journal, December, 1918 



1963 



estates throiighoul Scotland. There 

 was no attempt made to train the 

 women technically in forestry work, 

 but they obtained an opportunity of 

 experiencing land conditions. It was 

 found thai the type of women willing 

 to undergo this period of probation 

 was a more intelligent one than those 

 formerly dealt with. In addition she 

 was more adaptable, more reliable, 

 and gave better satisfaction to her 

 employer These women were draft- 

 ed to various kinds of forestry work, 

 e.g., seed collection, forest nursery 

 work, ])lanting work, draining, bark 

 peeling, timber felling, brushw'Ood 

 Ijurning, and bracken cutting. 



The important feature of this sys- 

 tem was that it allowed of the selec- 

 tion of suitable women for the kind 

 of work to be undertaken. The 

 matron in charge at Kilmarnock was 

 able to tell within a few weeks which 

 women were suited physically, and 

 temperamentally for land work. Re- 

 ports from the estates on which these 

 women were placed indicated that 

 they were of the right type, and were 

 giving complete satisfaction. 



It soon became evident, however, 

 that for their work to be economic, 

 and to warrant their being paid a 

 reasonable living w^age, they must 

 be trained to some extent. In 

 arranging for the placing of the 

 w^omen, at was found to be unsat- 

 isfactory to have to state that, 

 although they were of the right type, 

 and were reliable, they had had no 

 previous training. In a word, this 

 simply meant that their employer 

 had to train them. An attemi)t was 

 was made by the Ministry of Lal)our 

 to establish small training centres in 

 different estates, to which to send 

 the women. This attempt, however, 

 met with only partial saccess, as the 

 underlying principle of training and 

 education is a concentration of the 

 agencies and resources available, and 

 not a decentralisation of these facili- 

 ties. 



A School for Apprentices. 



Accordingly, the West of Scotland 

 College of Agriculture, in conjirnc- 

 tion with the District Committee of 

 the Middle Ward of Lanarkshire, 



instituted this year a training scheme 

 at Ilairmyres, near Glasgow. The 

 advantages to be derived from such 

 a scheme are at once obvious. The 

 training centre, Ilairmyres, is situ- 

 ated about eight miles from the 

 College in Glasgow, and is easily 

 accessible from the city. It is thus 

 possible to keep in clofec touch with 

 the teaching stafT of the College. 

 Intending students are interviewed 

 at the College, and are thereafter 

 drafted to Ilairmyres. The faci- 

 lities on the estate of Hairmyres for 

 training in forestry are probably 

 quite unique. A large forest nursery 

 of some ten acres is in full working" 

 order, and there is a staff of skilled 

 workers in charge. The head fores- 

 ter has direct control of the women in 

 training, and supplements their prac- 

 tical work with special lectures and 

 demonstrations. In addition, then 

 is a considerable area of newly 

 planted ground — drained and planted 

 by wompn labour — also young plan- 

 tations and old standing timber. By 

 means of these agencies it was fotind 

 possible to give the women a fair idea 

 of the more important branches of 

 forestry. They gained experience 

 in draining, planting and fencing; 

 nursery work of all kinds was engaged 

 in — e.g., lining out, sizing , seed sow- 

 ing, etc. Special facilities were also 

 made available for training the women 

 made available for training the 

 women in timber work. A planta- 

 tion in the neighborhood w^as taken 

 over and was felled, snedded, and 

 cross-cut by the w^omen. Fig. 2 

 shows that women are well able to 

 undertake a large amount of the work 

 connected with timber cutting. 



Female ''Fellers" 



Although the period of instruction 

 is too short almost Lo warrant the 

 term training being used, reports 

 from the employers of these women 

 show that the scheme has been more 

 than justified. Since the inception 

 of the course in April, about 150 

 women have been passed through it 

 and drafted on to forestry work 

 elsewhere. Their work has included 

 draining, planting, fencing, nursery 



