EDUCATION IN FORESTRY. 33 



which will make future development certain. Those who have not chosen any 

 particular group receive a training comparable to that which the silvicultural- 

 ist received in most of our colleges during the past 10 years, and can either 

 continue their studies, specializing during their graduate instruction, or shift 

 for themselves after graduation, as many of our foresters have done in tin* 

 past. 



It goes without saying that after entering the employ of a forest industry 

 additional study will he necessary. We point out to our men that if they wish 

 to develop they should study while working, and that study along technical 

 lines will he to their advantage. Men in the paper industry might take courses 

 in mechanical or chemical engineering at a correspondence school, or even a 

 return to college for a year or more of graduate work might be desirable after 

 a couple of years' experience. Four years is too short a time to turn out the 

 kind of apprentice forest industries are now demanding. 



The type of men described above are what we call the four-year vocational 

 men ; they are the sergeants, corporals, and shavetail lieutenants of the foresi 

 industries not research men. We appreciate the difficulty, yes, the impossi- 

 bility, of turning out leaders of research in anything less than five to seven 

 years. It seems that most of the men at the Madison conference failed to 

 differentiate clearly between these two types of men. The four-year man, it 

 goes without saying, is not adequately prepared to handle research as a general 

 rule. 



For the technical foresters of research temperament, again a maximum of 

 cultural subjects if possible is recommended. This might necessitate for the 

 holder of a B. A. degree two years' work for a master's degree in forestry 

 and at least three years for a doctorate on account of the possible lack of 

 fundamental sciences. Our largest steel plants and factories of all kinds are 

 now seeing the need for research, and whether or not the Madison laboratories 

 require many men of this type, development of forest industries, we believe, 

 will make an ever larger demand for trained men who can solve the original 

 problems which confront them. 



SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS. 



1. The ideal forester should possess the broadest fundamental training possi- 

 ble ; a classical education if time and funds permit. 



2. A condition and not a theory confronts us, since men of limited means, 

 impatient to get to work, are each year entering our State institutions. As a 

 State institution it is our problem to deal as justly by them as we can within 

 the time at their disposal. 



3. True forest conservation must provide for elimination or decrease of 

 waste (utilization) as well as increased production (silviculture), and tech- 

 nically trained men are needed to effect these economies. 



4. Industries owning and manufacturing forest products should be aided in 

 the economical utilization and distribution of these products, since the practice 

 of forestry by the private owner (four-fifths of our standing timber is privately 

 owned) necessitates foregoing present profits, to be reinvested in timber crops 

 for future harvests. 



5. The forest schools have a duty to provide these industries with a better 

 .urade of employee, a man having a training in fundamental sciences with some 

 specialization in order that improvements and economies in forest utilization 

 may be effected, to the end that profits for future reinvestment in forestry prop- 

 erties, growing stock, etc., may be assured. 



