FORESTRY IN FRANCE. 307 



in the forest. The school is established on a property purchased before 1873 f*"" ^^^ primary 

 school from M. Vilmorin, who had raised on it a large number of exotic trees of many kinds. 

 There is also on the estate a small forest treated as coppice under standards, which, with the 

 state forest of Montargis, situated at a short distance from the school, is used for the practical 

 instruction of the students. The buildings comprise the residence of the director, the class- 

 rooms and students' quarters, as well as a museum, containing collections to illustrate the 

 various courses of study. 



The examinations are conducted before the director of the forest department, or an inspector 

 general deputed by him for this duty, and the students who pass will, under the new organi- 

 zation, be appointed to the superior staff as sub-assistant inspectors. Like the officers trained 

 at Nancy, they will be employed for about a year in learning their duties under an inspector, 

 after which they will become eligible for further promotion on their merits, as are the other 

 officers of the department. Subordinates from the communal forests are permitted to pass into 

 the superior grades of the government service through this school. Nine students entered it 

 during 1884 and 1885, and are still under instruction; eight of them having previously passed 

 through the primary school. One free student followed the courses for a short time in 1883. 



The primary school is a branch of the establishment at Barres, the instruction being given 

 by the director and professors of the secondary school. It was established in 1878 for the 

 training of young men who desired to enter the service of government as forest guards, or that 

 of private proprietors as guards or wood managers, there being no restriction as regards their 

 parentage. Up to the year 1883, 148 students had passed through it into the government 

 service, and eight of these have since entered the secondary school. But in 1884 the primary 

 school was reorganized, and it is now reserved solely for the education of the sons of forest 

 officers and subordinates, who may desire to enter the government service as forest guards, with 

 a view, in most cases, of their ultimately gaining the ranks of the superior staff through the 

 secondary school. 



Candidates must be between twenty-four and twenty-seven years of age ; they must have 

 completed their military service and be of good character, with a sound constitution. They 

 are obliged to pass an entrance examination in dictation, French composition, arithmetic, 

 elementary geometry, and French history and geography. While at the school they are styled 

 " Student Guards; '' quarters are provided for them, and they receive from government a part 

 of their uniform, and an allowance of £1, l6s. a month to provide themselves with food and 

 clothes. 



The course occupies eleven months and embraces the following subjects, viz. ; Arithmetic, 

 plane geometry, algebraical signs, surveying and levelling, the French language, French history 

 and geography, the elements of sylviculture, the elements of forest botany (including vegetable 

 anatomy, physiology, and the classification of the principal forest trees), and the elements of 

 forest law and administration. The instruction is given partly in the class-rooms and partly in 

 the form of practical work done in the forests. 



Passed students are, as vacancies occur, admitted to the government service as forest guards 

 of the second class; and after two years passed in the forests in that capacity they are eligible 

 for entrance into the secondary school. During 1884 and 1885, however, only three students 

 entered the primary school, two of whom are still there and one has received his appointment. 



I'ree students can be admitted with the sanction in each case of the director of the forest 

 department, but as yet none h^ve entered the school, 



