THE NEW FORESTRY. 1 97 



Our agricultural schools profess to teach forestry, and 

 employ " professors " of the art as teachers, but their pupils 

 belong almost exclusively to a class who never become practical 

 foresters, and the fees charged are prohibitive to those who 

 seek foresters' situations. Besides, the practical element is 

 wanting in such schools, if one may judge by the examples 

 they turn out, and we have had rather exceptional means of 

 knowing. Such pupils talk intelligently and glibly about the 

 science of forestry, and often pass examinations successfully, 

 but they are usually ignorant of the most elementary practical 

 duties of the forester, incapable of organising work, do not 

 know when it is properly executed, and are frequently so 

 unfamiliar with our forest trees as not to know many 

 common species when they see them. The general course 

 of instruction pursued at agricultural schools is too lengthy 

 and varied for those who desire to master one subject 

 in a reasonable time, and special attention cannot be given. 

 The forester does not require so many scientific attainments 

 as has been prescribed for him. He requires very little 

 chemistry, no more geology than relates to the surface soils and 

 the name of the formation they overlie, and his entomology 

 and plant pathology need not extend beyond narrow limits. 

 It is not from want of any of these that he cannot grow good 

 crops of timber of the right quality. Such subjects as climate, 

 rainfall, heat, light, air, moisture, soils, in their relation to 

 forestry, and vegetable physiology, he should understand fairly 

 well ; and in a business capacity he should understand land 

 surveying, valuing, timber measuring, labour, and the 

 timber trade. This is not as formidable a list as it looks. 

 Even in Germany, we are told, although the school course 

 is long and hard, much of the cramming that the pupil 

 undergoes is afterwards lost or neglected in practical work, 

 and it is interesting to note how well managed many extensive 

 forest areas are on few and simple lines. A rigid system, 

 strict rotation periods, few species to care for, and careful 

 inspection by superior officers, keeps the regular German 

 forester in a pretty safe groove. 



Theory and practice are best taught in conjunction, and 

 there are plenty of well-wooded estates in England and Scot- 

 land where this could be done, under competent teachers, for 

 all the conditions that regulate the production of timber-trees 

 are present in our own woods (no matter whether the system 

 practised be right or wrong), provided they are sought out and 

 properly studied. It is not necessary to see a whole forest in 



