332 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1132 



foundly influenced agricultural production. 

 The vast sums spent annually by the na- 

 tion, the states and lesser governmental 

 units are returned a hundredfold by in- 

 creased and diversified production. Our 

 large number of agricultural colleges and 

 experiment stations are living monuments 

 to the public belief that the conservation 

 of agriculture squarely rests upon the edu- 

 cational forces that direct and shape its 

 progress. Our forest schools and research 

 stations are just as essential in our scheme 

 of education if the practise of forestry be- 

 comes a part of our national development 

 and the future growth of forest crops ade- 

 quate for our needs. 



The superior position of Germany in 

 forest conservation, whereby she produces 

 nearly all of her wood requirements with- 

 out lessening her forest capital through 

 overcutting, is due to her many, long-estab- 

 lished forest academies and other institu- 

 tions where hundreds of young men are 

 trained in the production and utilization of 

 forest crops and in the principles which 

 underlie a sound and economic forest 

 policy. Her technical forestry education 

 has been of slow but progressive growth, 

 beginning with the "master schools" of 

 Zanther, Hartig and Cotta nearly a cen- 

 tury and a half ago. Each of these forest 

 managers surrounded himself with young 

 men and taught them the principles of 

 forest practise on the forests under his 

 charge. This early work gradually grew 

 into the present educational system with 

 the many forest academies and other insti- 

 tutions for the training of men in the sci- 

 ence and art of forestry. The gradual 

 development of forestry education in Ger- 

 many has resulted in a healthy growth and 

 has moved in the direction most useful for 

 the needs of the country. A similar devel- 

 opment of forestry education in the United 

 States was impossible, due to the establish- 



ment of more than 165,000,000 acres of 

 public forests in less than two decades, all 

 awaiting organization and orderly devel- 

 opment and for which the public was will- 

 ing to pay. Hundreds of trained men were 

 wanted at once to assume responsible posi- 

 tions as district chiefs, inspectors, investi- 

 gators and supervisors. This call for a 

 large number of professionally trained men 

 at one time has resulted in a remarkable 

 growth in forestry education in the United 

 States. 



Forestry education in the old world has 

 developed around two general types of 

 schools, viz., the university schools and the 

 better type of forest academies, which are 

 strictly professional in their training, and 

 the ranger or practise schools, which are 

 vocational in training. The former are 

 scientific, and the preparatory and tech- 

 nical courses are equivalent to five or six 

 years of collegiate work in this country. 

 The latter are primarily concerned with 

 the recognized art of forestry in the par- 

 ticular region where the men are trained 

 to practise. The course is usually but one 

 or two years in duration and is based upon 

 a common school education. The men 

 trained in the first of these two classes of 

 schools after a year or more of apprentice- 

 ship under a practising forester are in line 

 for gradual promotions to the highest posi- 

 tions which the profession has to offer. The 

 men trained in the second are equipped 

 for the vocation of ranger, woods foreman, 

 and similar positions concerned with the 

 oversight of labor in producing and har- 

 vesting the forest. The purpose of the 

 latter school is entirely different from that 

 of the former. Its aim is to train men for 

 subordinate positions. 



In the organization and orderly devel- 

 opment of forest property there is need for 

 many more men trained in the vocational 

 schools than there is for men trained in the 



