Some European Forest Schools 
An Account of Visits Paid to Forest Schools in Great Britain, France, Switzer- 
land and the Scandinavian Countries 
From whatever angle one considers Euro- 
pean forestry he cannot fail to be impressed 
with the prominent part that is played by the 
forest schools. In no small measure the ac- 
complishments that lie to the credit of the 
forestry profession in the continental coun- 
tries can be traced back directly to the train- 
ing given at these institutions. It seems to 
the writer appropriate, therefore, to devote 
this, the concluding letter in this series, to 
certain observations on the forest schools of 
the countries which he visited, just as in pre- 
ceding letters he has endeavored to set forth 
some of the impressions made upon him by 
the forests and the forest work that he there 
saw in progress. 
This letter is in no way intended to be an 
exposition of educational methods, or a tech- 
nical discussion of differing curricula. Rather 
it is a popular account of the schools visited, 
with a few notes on their organization and 
their relation to the other forestry work of 
these several countries. In it only passing 
reference is made to the secondary forest 
schools, where are trained the men who fill 
the subordinate positions. Because the for- 
est schools in Great Britain differ in material 
ways from those on the continent, it seems 
natural to consider the schools visited in two 
groups; taking up first those ‘on the mainland. 
THE FOREST SCHOOLS OF 
CONTINENTAL EUROPE 
In the time at his disposal the writer was 
unable to visit the forest schools of Germany. 
But by reason of the fact that these institu- 
tions have played so important a part in the 
development of forestry education, it is only 
just that a few notes regarding them be in- 
cluded in ,this statement. For a comprehen- 
sive account of a representative German for- 
est school, reference may be made to an arti- 
cle by Prof. A. B. Recknagel of Cornell Uni- 
versity, that appeared in the ‘‘Forestry Quar- 
terly,” Vol. 11, No. 1, in 1913. In Major Wool- 
sey’s ‘Studies in French Forestry,” a section 
is devoted to education in Forestry in France. 
Had it not been for the German forest 
schools, particularly those at Eberswalde and 
Miinden in Prussia, and Tharandt in Saxony, 
the course of forestry education would have 
been very different from what it is today. And 
this not only in Europe, but throughout the 
world. Foresters everywhere are under a 
deep debt to the men who started these Ger- 
man schools and to those who in later years 
faithfully carried on the work in accordance 
with the ideals set up by the founders. Two 
men rank in forestry annals as the fathers of 
modern forestry, Georg Ludwig Hartig and 
Heinrich von Cotta, born respectively in 1764 
and 1763. Both had to do, among _ other 
things, with forestry education. Their pe- 
riod of greatest activity lay in the first quar- 
ter of the nineteenth century, when they, with 
their associates, well and truly laid, the foun- 
dations on which rests the forestry of today. 
Of the existing forest schools of Germany, 
Tharandt is the oldest, dating from 1816. It 
was an outgrowth of a ‘Master School” es- 
tablished by Cotta in 1785, a type of school 
in vogue at that period. 
The master schools were private undertak- 
ings, a forester gathering about him appren- 
tices, as it were, to whom he gave more or 
less formal instruction, combined with much 
work on the forest. In America the Biltmore 
Forest Academy, conducted for a dozen years 
prior to the war, by Dr. C. A. Schenck, was 
essentially of this type. Since 1816 Tharandt 
has been a state institution. Notable among 
its directors was Judeich, in the middle of 
the last century. The schools at Eberswalde 
and Miinden date respectively from 1830 to 
1868. The former is somewhat better known 
but both hold places of high rank. There are 
also chairs of forestry at several of the Ger- 
man universities. 
Down to the present day the men who have 
made the most notable contributions to the 
development of the science of forestry in Ger- 
many have been either members of the staff 
of one of the forest schools or closely con- 
nected therewith. This holds equally true 
of the other continental countries, so that in 
a very real sense it is just to say that directly 
through contributions to forestry knowledge 
made by the professors, or indirectly through 
the work done by their graduates, the schools 
have in fact been the directing force in bring- 
ing forestry to the place it now holds. But 
this letter deals with the schools of other 
countries. Enough of historical reminders. 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 
FORESTRY INSTRUCTION ABROAD 
Before proceeding to individual schools 
there are certain general observations that 
may be made as applying to all the forest 
schools of the continental countries. The 
first thing that strikes an American about 
these schools is that in any given country of 
Europe, education in forestry is an integral 
part of the forestry work of the government, 
and that the school is a government institu- 
tion. Further, in the Scandinavian countries, 
in Switzerland and in France, there is but one 
forest school of the first class. For compari- 
son it may be noted that in the United States 
24 universities and colleges offer a forestry 
degree and of these 12 grant to graduate 
(70) 
