FORESTRY IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 263 



For the purposes of practical instruction the school has at its disposition : 

 One school forest with an area of 1,171 hectares, and several nurseries with 

 an area of 7,600 square meters. 



They are managed, under the control of the director of the school, by the 

 second professor of forest sciences, assisted by one forester, one assistant for- 

 ester, one deputy assistant, and two forest guards. 



There is also a hunting ground at the disposition of the school for practi- 

 cal lessons in hunting. This hunting ground has an area of 1,929 hectares 

 of forest, including the school forest, and 669 hectares of open field, together, 

 2,598 hectares of ground. 



For practical object lessons the institution also possesses extensive collec- 

 tions in all branches of instruction. 



At the school of forestry in Pisek the number of pupils is limited to thirty 

 in each of the two annual courses. The same preparation for admission is 

 required, except the apprenticeship, and, moreover, a physician's certificate 

 of fitness for service in forestry. 



The aim of the school is to educate subordinate employes in forestry, and 

 the grade of scientific studies is not so high as at Weisswasser. The curricu- 

 lum comprises : 



1. Arithmetic, geometry. 



2. Drawing. 



3. Natural history, meteorolc^y, chemistry. 



4. Theory of the nourishment of plants. 



5. Knowledge of the soil and special forest botany. 



6. Special forest entomology. 



7. Forest technology. 



8. Theory of forest culture, forest management and production. 



9. Theory of the chase. 



10. Rudiments of surveying, and of the calculation of quantities. 



11. Forest legislation. 



12. Bookkeeping, accounting and corresportdence. 



The pupils receive practical lessons in all the functions of forestry, es- 

 pecially in actual forest culture, the establishment of nurseries and other 

 operations under the direction of the chief forester of the city of Pisek, 

 Frequent excursions are made into near as well as into distant forests, occupy- 

 ing sometimes more than a week. 



Examinations are held at the end of every semester, and a graduating ex- 

 amination at the close of the second annual course. 



DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS. 



In the following the principal causes of the destruction of forests are 

 briefly reviewed : 



I. The elements. — Storms have from time to time caused an extensive 

 destruction of forests in Bohemia. The damage through windfalls and snow 

 pressure was exceptionally great in the years 1868 and 1870, mostly in the 

 Boehmerwald region, a mountain range about 150 miles in length, forming 

 the boundary between Bohemia and Bavaria, with a moderate slope on the 



