September 8, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



331 



cational prapaganda. Our sister republics 

 in their efforts to place forestry upon a 

 sound foundation must build the founda- 

 tion out of public desire. Organized edu- 

 cational propaganda in the hands of na- 

 tional and local forestry associations, pro- 

 pagandist journals, and efficient press bu- 

 reaus are the great forces in creating a 

 public opinion favorable to forest conserva- 

 tion. When public desire has been created 

 the practise of forestry becomes possible. 

 It is not possible earlier. 



Although educational propaganda favor- 

 able to forestry began in the United States 

 more than a century ago, technical train- 

 ing in the science and art of forestry had 

 its beginnings within the past two decades. 

 The first forest school of collegiate rank was 

 established at Cornell University in 1898. 

 Two years later a professional forest 

 school was established at Yale University. 

 During the following decade and a half 

 more than twenty schools or departments 

 of forestry offering professional training 

 and a degree in forestry after the comple- 

 tion of a prescribed course were estab- 

 lished in various parts of the country, 

 either as separate institutions or as depart- 

 ments of existing universities and colleges. 



The question naturally arises, "Why was 

 technical training in forestry so long de- 

 layed and why has it met with such ex- 

 traordinary expansion in the short space of 

 seventeen years? The answer is found in 

 the bringing of approximately 20 per cent, 

 of all the forests of the United States under 

 public ownership. 



The establishment of public forests car- 

 ried with it the necessity for their manage- 

 ment and orderly development. This 

 could not be attained without men trained 

 in the science and art of forestry. The 

 segregation of 162 national forests from the 

 unoccupied public domain having an aver- 

 age area of more than 1,000,000 acres, 



within the space of twenty years has in 

 itself called for the services of hundreds 

 of technically trained men, and will call for 

 many more men with the gradual increase 

 in the intensity of management. The 

 schools arose to supply this demand for 

 trained men. There was no demand for 

 professional schools until public owner- 

 ship of forest property became the keystone 

 in our forest policy, and there would be but 

 little demand now were this keystone re- 

 moved. Our whole structure of forest con- 

 servation, of forestry education, of forest 

 practise rests upon the public ownership 

 of forests. The economic situation relating 

 to private forest property is such that, in 

 the main, exploitation rather than forestry 

 will be the basis for operation for many 

 years to come. Pull down the keystone of 

 public ownership and the splendid struc- 

 ture that has been erected with its great 

 National Forest Service and the forest 

 service of the several states will crumble, 

 cobwebs will cover the windows of our pro- 

 fessional forest schools, and the dark ages 

 of forestry conservation will again prevail. 

 The keystone must not be removed. It is 

 believed that public opinion will not waver 

 from the task that it has set, but will 

 strengthen as time goes on until at least 50 

 per cent, of the strictly non-agricultural 

 lands capable of producing forest crops is 

 publicly owned, until at least this amount 

 of our potential forests are back in the 

 hands of the public who made the great 

 economic mistake years ago in bartering 

 them for a mess of pottage. If this optim- 

 istic view of forestry in the United States 

 prevails, the efficiency and power of our 

 forest schools will increase and they will 

 gradually adjust themselves more closely 

 than at present to the needs of the country. 

 The remarkable increase in agricultural 

 research and education in the United States 

 during the past half century has pro- 



