354 



FORESTRY. 



finances. Under the principal sciences are 

 embraced cultivation of forests, forest im- 

 plements, protection of forests, forest tech- 

 nology, forest surveying, appraising forests, 

 calculation of the value of forests and forest 

 statistics, administration of forests and hunting, 

 redemption of rights of usage, forest history, 

 and forest excursions. Under the third divis- 

 ion are included civil and criminal law and 

 jurisprudence, construction of roads, hunting 

 and shooting exercises. 



Five hours and a half daily are given to lec- 

 tures on these and some subsidiary subjects, 

 and as much more time to the study of these 

 subjects in private. 



A considerable amount of preliminary study 

 is requisite as a condition of admission. Capt. 

 Campbell Walker, of the English Forestry Ser- 

 vice in India, was commissioned several years 

 ago by the British Government to visit the 

 German schools for the benefit of the Indian 

 Service, and in his report he says : 



Nothing struck me as more remarkable than the 

 extent and varied nature of the studies required from 

 forest candidates or probationers in Prussia, and the 

 number of years they are content to spend^ fiist in 

 studying and then in waiting for an appointment. 

 The would-be Oberforster. which is the lowest of 

 what we would call the "gazetted appointments," 

 must, after passing certain terms at a Government 

 school of the first class, spend a year with an " Ober- 

 ftrster" (over-forester) in a Kevier (district or section 

 of the forest), and then pass an examination as forest 

 pupil, after which there is a two [two and a half] 

 years' course at a forest academy and an examina- 

 tion in scientific forestry, land-surveying, etc., on pass- 

 ing which the pupil becomes a " Forst-Kandidat " ; 

 then another two years' practical 'study, during at 

 least nine months of which he must actually perform 

 the duties of a forester ; after which comos the final 

 Government examination, on passing which he enters 

 the grade of Oberforster-Kandidat. The difference 

 between the two examinations is explained to be that 

 the first tests the candidate's knowledge of theoreti- 

 cal forestry and cognate sciences, while the latter 

 tests his ability to apply what he has learned and ca- 

 pability for employment as Oberforster and in the 

 higher grades. 



After passing the final examination, the " Ober- 

 forster-Kandidat" is employed as an assistant in the 

 academies and control-offices, in making forest-sur- 

 veys and working plans, and sometimes acting in 

 charge of a Revier, receiving certain daily or weekly 

 allowances while so employed. After five or six 

 years of this probation, he may look forward to being 

 permanently appointed. 



Thus we have at least five years spent in study, 

 and another five in probation ; the former without 

 any pay, and the latter only with meager allowances, 

 while actually employed, before the would-be forest- 

 officer is 'installed, and the time is generally much 

 longer. Yet so great is the desire for Government 

 service, and particularly forest service, in Prussia and 

 in Germany generally, that there is no lack of com- 

 petitors. 



Positions in the forestry service are perma- 

 nent and are considered highly honorable, be- 

 ing often sought by persons of rank. Capt. 

 Campbell says again : 



Nothing that I can say or write can convey too high 

 an idea of the attainments and thorough knowledge 

 of their work possessed by German forest officers of 

 all grades. A very little time served to convince me 

 that the practice of the German foresters was as good as, 



if not better than their theory, and that they were in 

 fact perfect masters of their duties in all their details. 

 An Oberforster, and even many of the Forsters and 

 overseers, can tell the name, local and botanical, of 

 every tree, shrub, and plant, classify it, and state its 

 uses ; name and classify every beetle and insect in the 

 forest, and know whether they are harmless or de- 

 structive to trees, in what shape they do damage, and 

 what are the best known preventive measures ; in- 

 form you of the nature of the soil, and to what period 

 the formation belongs ; what trees will grow best, and 

 why. All this is known thoroughly, theoretically, and 

 practically. 



Then as to the Kevier (section), the exact yield, rate 

 of growth, and annual increase in value of each 

 block is thoroughly known and can be put down at 

 any moment in figures by the Oberforster, who can 

 tell at the commencement of each year how much 

 timber he is going to cut and sell, and from what 

 parts of the forest it is to come, how many acres have 

 to be partially cleared for natural reproduction, plant- 

 ed, sown, thinned, or planted up. The mere details 

 of all this are left, as a rule, entirely to the subordi- 

 nates, who thoroughly understand them. 



Such is the system of forestry established 

 throughout Europe. The governments there, 

 without exception, guard their forests with 

 jealous solicitude, and the people, to a great 

 extent, have a corresponding regard for them, 

 and sense of their value. Schools of forestry 

 are established from Spain to Finland, and in- 

 struction on the subject is carried in some 

 countries into the common schools. The Unit- 

 ed States Government, though possessing in 

 its forests a property more valuable a hun- 

 dred-fold than all its mines, has never counted 

 them as of any worth. They have hardly been 

 considered in connection with the public lands, 

 which have been sold at a merely nominal 

 price, and oftener have been given away to 

 great corporations or whoever almost would 

 take them. As a source of revenue, the for- 

 ests have never been taken into account, while 

 Prussia, with a forest area not exceeding the 

 area of the single State of Indiana, receives an 

 annual income of $6,000,000 above all her ex- 

 penses of management. Our forests have not, 

 probably, returned to the Government the cost 

 of surveying them, if we can be said to have 

 surveyed them at all. Trees which had been 

 growing from one hundred to five hundred 

 years have been cut down as though they were 

 but mushrooms, and no provision has been 

 made to replace them. The forests, that stood 

 as sentinels to guard the streams of commerce 

 and manufacturing' industry and to insure fer- 

 tility to our fields, we have swept away reck- 

 lessly. Thus it has come to pass that we are 

 beginning to suffer great evils, and greater are 

 threatening us. The character of our streams, 

 in many parts of the country, has been greatly 

 changed. The amount of water flowing in 

 them has been lessened or made fitful, and 

 therefore lessened for all practical uses. We 

 have floods and droughts where formerly the 

 rivers were regular in their flow. 



We have come to a point where the subject 

 of forestry becomes one of great practical im- 

 portance, and though we differ so much, in 

 some respects, from the people of Europe, here 



