584 



Canadian Forestry Journal, June, i()i6. 



have a general knowledge. A part 

 of logging engineering — the deter- 

 mination and detailed analysis of 

 logging units — is true forestry; but 

 a forester can no more pretend to be 

 an expert in civil and mechanical 

 engineering than an engineer can as- 

 sume to be an expert in forestr}-. 

 When the forester's plans involve 

 technical details of railroad con- 

 struction or the installation of log- 

 ging apparatus nicely suited to given 

 conditions it is manifestly -wiser to 

 instrust the practical solution of 

 these matters to men trained in the 

 profession of civil or mechanical 

 engineering. 



One who specializes in the adver- 

 tising of lumber or in problems con- 

 nected with the distribution and sale 

 of lumber is an advertising or traffic 

 expert or a lumber salesman. He is 

 not a forester. When the forester 

 enters such work he leaves the pro- 

 fession of forestry and adopts adver- 

 tising or salesmanship as a business. 

 One who specializes m the preserva- 

 tive treatment of wood, or in the 

 mechanical strength of wood, is an 

 expert in chemistry or mechanical 

 engineering. He is not a forester. 



Abolish Forest Schools? 



I admit that a man trained as a 

 forester can be switched to a capable 

 expert in one or more of the 

 branches of work emphasized by Mr. 

 Cornwall; but I believe it to be a 

 waste of time, money and training 

 to adopt such a course. Experts in 

 lumber economics, wood utilization, 

 wood advertising and wood selling 

 might better be obtained from the 

 ranks of economists, engineers, 

 chemists, advertising specialists and 

 those versed in salesmanship ; for 

 the training and experience of the 

 forester is of merely incidental ad- 

 vantage in such matters. The 

 forester has a definite field as a 

 forester in both governmental and 

 private work. 



It may be argued that the field for 

 the forester's services as here de- 

 fined is too limited to employ the 



large ntimber of men now being 

 ground out each year by the many 

 forest schools of the country and 

 that, as a consequence, the forester 

 must be lead into other callings. 

 There are twenty-two forest schools 

 in the United States which give de- 

 grees. The remedy for this state of 

 affairs lies not in training an over- 

 supply of foresters and then shunt- 

 ing them into lines other than their 

 training, but in the abolishment oi 

 nineteen of the twenty-two forest 

 schools ; for fully that number have 

 no legitimate excuse for existence. 



Then again, why should not most 

 of the experts mentioned by Mr. 

 Cornwall be developed from the 

 ranks of the lumbermen themselves : 

 From the nature of their practical 

 training and experience should not 

 lumbermen be well qualified to spe- 

 cialize in these fields? Moreover, if 

 the forester be expected to diagnose 

 the lumber business and become an 

 expert in all its branches from tree 

 to consumer. — what is a lumber- 

 man ? Has he made the best of his 

 opportunities? 



Douglas Fir for Australia 



D. E. Hutchins, forester for the 

 British Government in South Africa, 

 and recently transferred to Aus- 

 tralia to continue his investigations 

 is of the opinion that Douglas fir 

 can be cultivated on a very exten- 

 sive scale in both Australia and New 

 Zealand. Mr. Hutchins advocates 

 the cultivation of this tree with a 

 view of reforesting many of the de- 

 nuded areas in those countries which 

 were once co.vered with commercial 

 timber. He reports that the Doug- 

 las fir is one of the hardiest trees and 

 can survive in the most unfavorable 

 conditions, pointing as an illustra- 

 tion the remarkable growth of self- 

 seeded areas in the Queenstown 

 Park in Oueenstown, Australia. 



