72 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



February, 1910 



forest. Near by is a State 

 reserve of several thousand 

 acres, and the State For- 

 estry Reservation Commis- 

 sion has given the college 

 an annual privilege of go- 

 ing upon this reserve for 

 study and demonstration in 

 forestry. There is no other 

 forest school in the coun- 

 try that has so large a tract 

 of wild land so near at 

 hand and so available for 

 study at all times. Last 

 year one of the advanced 

 classes made a topographi- 

 cal sketch of a large gap in 



the hills which supplied the college with water, and fol- 

 lowed this with a forest map, showing the nature and 

 amount of timber growth, and from notes taken in the Held 

 worked out a plan for the future management of the water- 

 shed. At the State 

 College the course of 

 training includes not 

 only preparation for 

 forestry in the East, 

 but forestry in the 

 West. As an illustra- 

 tion, the students are 

 even instructed in the 

 use of pack animals, 

 which are so much de- 

 pended upon in the 

 great national forests, 

 where the only route 

 may be a pony trail. 

 The course of instruc- 

 tion includes the care 



Forestry students studying structure of commercial timber and 

 methods of identification 



Students learning packing of animals for mountain transportation under 

 chief packmasler, U. S. Army 



great value in connection 

 with their future vocation. 

 During the last year the 

 members of the graduating 

 class are put through a 

 \ery rigid test, being re- 

 quired to spend at least 

 four weeks in some forest 

 region either in Pennsyl- 

 vania or other States. 



They are sent to a lum- 

 ber camp where they make 

 a study of lumbering as as- 

 sociated with forestry. 

 'Fhis month in the lumber 

 woods is taken as a part of 

 a course in lumbering in 

 which each operation from the log in the tree to the fin- 

 ished product is thoroughly discussed. The men are pro- 

 vided with an outline to aid them in their studies, and will 

 prepare a complete report on the lumbering operation 



which they investi- 

 gate. 

 } They are also 



placed during the 

 summer vacations 

 where they will get 

 the most practical ex- 

 perience in forestry. 



To get the men in 

 touch with practical 

 forestry as it is being 

 carried on by private 

 individuals through- 

 out the State, and in 

 its various forest nur- 

 series, as well as the 

 work of manufactur- 



and use of ponies and mules, the methods of loading them, ing companies who put out tools and equipment used by 



also riding. Pack trains are fitted out, and the students the forester, one or more trips are made each year by 



make expeditions as they would in the Rocky Mountain the juniors and seniors, and it is planned to increase in so 



region or on the Pacific Coast. Two weeks at the end of far as possible the usefulness of these trips. The students 



the junior year are spent 

 in camping upon some 

 large wood lot in the 

 State, where the boys get 

 very practical training in 

 camp life; in the estimat- 

 ing of timber and its 

 actual measurement by 

 various methods; rapid 

 sketching and mapping 

 of forest areas and in 

 study of tree growth by 

 analysis of tree trunks. 

 From the data obtained 

 in the field a map is 

 made and a plan drawn 

 up for the correct man- 

 agement of the wood lot. 

 There are many loca- 

 tions i n Pennsylvania 

 which are admirable for 

 field work because with- 

 in a small area may be a 

 large number of vari- 

 eties of trees forming a 



Operations on sample trees in wood-lot to determine average rate of growth 



for every decade 



have visited various 

 plantings of locust made 

 by the Pennsylvania 

 Railroad along its lines 

 between Harrisburg and 

 Philadelphia. In these 

 plantations they studied 

 the injury done by the 

 locust borer and by mice, 

 and have learned that 

 the locust was not a tree 

 of value for general 

 planting throughout the 

 State. At Pottsville, the 

 forestry work carried on 

 over the Stephen Girard 

 estate has been carefully 

 studied. On this estate 

 extensive planting has 

 been done, but without 

 the best results, because 

 of injury from fire. Stone 

 walls have been built and 

 fire lanes or roads estab- 

 lished, which are as 



miscellaneous growth. An opportunity is also given the stu- good an example of this method of preventing fire as can 

 dents to investigate the different varieties of soil, the extent be found in the country. The advanced students have 

 of the watershed, and to obtain other data which will be of made trips through the southeastern portion of the State 



