56 EDUCATION IN FORESTRY. 



and can not realize its importance in the national economy, and the foresters 

 In education must accept the responsibility to insure adequate preparation in 

 forestry for the prospective teachers of vocational agriculture. Considerable 

 care should be taken in outlining such a course, however, and the forester 

 must make a critical survey of the field of activity of the vocational teachers 

 to determine just what subject matter will be of value to them. He must 

 realize that the teacher, in his particular community, makes a similar study 

 to determine the subject matter needed by his pupils. 



Part II. RANGER SCHOOLS. 



By PROF. E. A. ZIEQLER. 



The purpose of the " ranger school " is to train men to fill positions in for- 

 estry below the grade of professional forester. For some time to come the 

 special ranger school attached to some higher institution agricultural college, 

 professional forest school, special State ranger school, or private ranger school 

 will supply this demand. The following notes have to -do with this field : 



In the practice of forestry there must be a number of rangers (or men of 

 similar grade) to each forester. Since there are upward of 22 schools giving 

 professional forestry courses, one would expect several times that many 

 schools training rangers. On the contrary we find very few schools training 

 rangers. The conclusion, therefore, is that in the present stage of forest develop- 

 ment in America the ranger, woods foreman, or under forester is not a school- 

 trained man, and that the demand for such a training is not very strong. 



This is not a condition peculiar to forestry. The engineer in carrying out 

 his plans uses apprentice-trained foremen. Thus railroad track foremen and 

 master mechanics carry out the instructions of the maintenance-of-way engi- 

 neer and the civil engineer in charge of railroad construction. The mine engi- 

 neer relies on the mine boss to carry out his plans. The architectural engineer 

 relies on the boss mason, the boss bricklayer, and the boss carpenter. All these 

 vocational men are apprentice-trained men, and the reason is not far to find. 



The applications of architectural engineering and civil engineering are so 

 varied and specialized that no one course for vocational engineers could cover 

 the field. Further, the primary qualifications for these positions are manual 

 dexterity and the ability to handle men. This is a training of " doing " and 

 is very difficult to impart in a school, unless it is a shop school or " school 

 on the job." 



Physicians need trained nurses to carry out their prescribed treatment. 

 They are not trained by studying the pharmacopoeia and learning rules in a 

 classroom. They are trained in the hospital and learn the medical side while 

 learning the manual side. This " learning in doing " is being applied more 

 and more even to professional education. Mechanical and electrical engineer- 

 ing schools are giving credit for and often requiring a certain amount of 

 practical shop experience or apprentice work. Civil engineers are doing like- 

 wise. Theological seminaries require students to occupy pulpits in their senior 

 year. Agricultural colleges are requiring a certain amount of practical work 

 on accredited farms, even though they themselves possess experimental farms 

 and carry on farming operations. 



The following conclusions may be accepted, then, with little fear of effective 

 contradiction : 



1. The forest ranger for some time, like the engineering foreman, will con- 

 tinue to be largely a practical field-trained man, and a somewhat locally field- 

 trained man. For example, in some regions- of the Southwest, national forest 

 rangers administer more grazing business than forest business. They must 



