SCHOOLS OF FORESTRY. 613 



SCHOOLS OF FORESTRY. 



The maintenance of timber-supply by cultivation, implies a carefully- 

 devised system of regulations, and competent agents to look after their 

 application. Hence schools of forestry have grown up in every country 

 in Europe in which the general or local governments are the owners 

 and managers of woodlands, and a plan of special training has been de- 

 vised, usually following a general preliminary course in some college or 

 other approved school, in which the groundwork of preparation is se- 

 cured. Besides this, a practical acquaintance with the labors of forest- 

 planting and management is in many cases required, by serving for a 

 year, or some other appointed period, under a skilled forester, before 

 entering the forest school. But whether this practical service is re- 

 quired beforehand or not, it always enters into the course of the school, 

 or follows before a regular appointment is given. Certificates of grad- 

 uation from institutions of approved rank, or corresponding proofs of 

 attainment ascertained by preliminary examinations, are required in all 

 cases; and for those aspiring to the state service, certain other condi- 

 tions, as to age, nativity, &c., are usually required. The sole aim of 

 these schools being to impart that special information which is needed 

 in the planting and care of forests, the course not only includes the 

 sciences that find their application in this business, but the various de- 

 tails of administration necessary for the proper discharge of these trusts, 

 including official correspondence, the making up of reports, keeping of 

 records, and maintenance of laws and regulations generally, so far as 

 tliey affect their charge. 



The general tendency of this special education is to impress the stu- 

 dent with the responsibilities of his profession, and to develop a habit 

 of close observation; and the grades of promotion that are generally 

 before those who deserve them, present motives for fidelity and vigilance 

 that tend to most beneficial results. 



The history of schools of forestry goes back in Germany more than 

 a century, and in that country we find the oldest, best-endowed, and in 

 some respects the best-managed institutions of this kind in the world. 

 There are at present nine such establishments in the German Empire, 

 viz, two in Prussia, and one each in Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtemberg, 

 Baden, Hesse Darmstadt, Brunswick, and Saxe Weimar.^ 



' Much discussion has been had within a few years in Germany upon questions rela- 

 ting to the maintenance of separate forest schools, or their union with the universities. 

 Those who have talien part in these discussions, may be divided into three classes: 



1st. Those who strongly maintain the theory that forest instruction should form a 

 part of the university course. They assert that many of the sciences, such as mathe- 

 matics, physics, chemistry, natural history, botany, &c., are taught with great 

 thoroughness at the universities, and that it would only require certain special pro- 

 fessors to adapt the instruction to the precise wants of the student of forestry. Tbe 

 museums, laboratories, libraries, and other facilities are already existing in these insti- 

 tutions sufficient for all purposes. 



2d. Those who insist upon the superiority of a separate academy placed in a forest, 

 ■with a programme of studies strictly applied to the subject of forest culture and man- 

 agement, with practical demonstrations and exercises, for applying directly the pre- 

 cepts of the lecture-room, in the actual care of woodlands in its various details. 



3d. Those who would combine the study of forestry with that of agriculture. They 

 have teachers of the pure sciences and something like a University organization ; but 

 still they have reference to the practical application of their instruction. They are 

 generally located in or near a large town, and do not have forests of instruction, but 

 generally they have nurseries and experimental stations. 



As an example of the first of these, we may mention the University of Gieesen, the 

 Polytechnic school at Zurich, and the projected arrangement at the University of Mu- 

 nich ; of the second, are the academies of Neustadt-Eberswalde, Miinden Eisnach, 

 Nancy, &c., and of the third, establishments for instruction in agriculture and forestry 

 at Hohenheim, Vienna St. Petersburg, and Stockholm. 



