14 



sequent short-sightedness. Attempts are now being made to 

 awaken the private owner to the necessity of care and proper 

 management of forest areas, both for his own sake and for the 

 interests of the country. The Division of Forestry of the Agri- 

 cultural Department at Washington is making efforts to instruct 

 owners of forest lands and to aid them in the care and preserva- 

 tion of such areas. To this end the Division has undertaken to 

 provide a series of practical examples of improved treatment of 

 private forest lands. The object of the undertaking is to show, 

 by assisting a few owners to make a trial of new methods, that 

 improved ways of handling timber lands are best for the owner 

 and forest. The results of these experiments with private lands 

 are to be published for the benefit of all. 



In order that a reform may become vital in a country like this, 

 it is necessary that the means of reform should reach not only 

 those who are directly interested, but the many who influence the 

 legislation of the country. The majority of people know nothing 

 of the valuable government publications on the subject, nor ap- 

 preciate the expenditure necessary for experimentation and pub- 

 lication of results. 



How can the school aid in establishing among the people a 

 proper estimate of the importance of the forests ? We often hear 

 that the aim of the school should be to promote social efficiency. 

 To this end children are given calculations and illustrations from 

 the life of trade and commerce, and are taught the ins and outs 

 of a complex political life. While the value of this may not be 

 disputed, there is here presented a very vital question in which 

 both city and country children should be interested. 



Elementary work in forestry may be approached through two 

 parts of the school curriculum : geography and nature study. 

 The subject may be introduced by simple study of trees. With 

 very little children, only the recognition of some of the common 

 trees by means of form, leaves, fruit and blossom, is possible. 

 Later, the work may be expanded somewhat as suggested in the 

 following outline originally prepared by the writer for the Teach- 

 ers College Record : 

 I. Special tree study. 



