February, 19 10 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



73 



visiting the large 

 forest nursery of the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad 

 at Morrisville, which 

 has been established 

 by the Pennsylvania 

 Railroad. This is re- 

 ported to be the finest 

 forest nursery in the 

 United States. It had 

 a million and a half 

 of red oak seedlings 

 grown from acorns 

 which were set out in 

 the spring of 1909. 

 Industries associated 



Work with transverse plane table in rapid measurement and sketching of 

 forest types and areas 



who was also con- 

 nected for several 

 years with the United 

 States Forest Service. 

 The State authorities 

 have provided Dr. 

 Baker with a staff of 

 experts so that, as al- 

 ready noted, not only 

 instruction but field 

 work has been pro- 

 vided in literally every 

 detail which concerns 

 this subject. 



In Pennsylvania, for- 

 estry is taken up in 



with forestry, such as works showing the way in which connection with the work of the agricultural and mechani 

 wire rope and cable are used in logging operations, have cal departments of the State University, as it is believed 



been visited and where the students were able to see the 

 making of all classes of saws from the crude material to 

 the finished product. This brief outline gives an idea of 

 the broad and comprehensive scope of the instruction as 

 carried out at this institution, but the opportunities for the 

 graduates are such that the school authorities consider the 

 work well worth while. There is such a constantly increas- 

 ing demand for the trained foresters that it is much greater 

 than the number who now graduate, while the salaries 

 offered make it an inducement to a young man to take it 

 up. The college continually has requests from large lum- 

 ber companies throughout the country for graduates and 

 sometimes under- 

 graduates. The 

 United States For- 

 est Service is also 

 another source of 

 employment, and 

 this institution has 

 already sent quite a 

 large number into 

 the national forests 

 in Montana and 

 other States. In fact, 

 the demand for 

 graduates is assum- 

 ing such proportions 

 that expert forestry 

 will undoubtedly be- 

 come a vocation 

 which will give 

 many thousands em- 

 ployment, and the 

 results at the Penn- 

 sylvania institution 

 prove that similar 

 schools estab- 

 lished in other 

 parts of the coun- 

 try will be of far- 

 reaching benefit 

 in solving the 

 problem of con- 

 serving the na- 

 tional w o o d- 

 lands. 



At the head of 

 the State College 

 is Dr. Hugh P. 

 Baker, a gradu- 

 ate of the Yale 

 F o r es t School, 



A class in silviculture gathering seed of maples in a large sheet 



Small plants used for teaching principles of treatment of timber with creosote 



this is the best method. As forestry is a production of a 

 crop from the soil, in a sense it is agriculture, and because 

 the utilization of the crop demands considerable knowl- 

 edge of engineering, the instructors are able to give the 

 students work in the departments of civil, mechanical, and 

 mining engineering — just the kind of employment that they 

 need. Consequently the work is closely connected with 

 the vocation of the farmer, and the one who completes the 

 course of study with the view of becoming an agriculturist 

 is in a position to get the most and best of his woodland 

 and to make it a permanent resource. 



It may be added that the length of this course is four 



years, the first two 

 ,j^ years of which are 

 devoted largely to 

 foundation princi- 

 ples, which are ab- 

 solutely necessary 

 to the proper train- 

 ing of the forester. 

 Beginning with the 

 third year they take 

 the men and give 

 them two solid 

 years of training 

 along forestry and 

 closely related lines. 

 In connection with 

 the actual forestry 

 work the students 

 take such subjects 

 as fish and game 

 preservation, dis- 

 eases of trees, roads 

 and trails, elemen- 

 tary irrigation en- 

 gineering, ele- 

 ments of mining, 

 in which they are 

 taught in an ele- 

 mentary way the 

 mining of various 

 minerals, the timb- 

 ering of mines and 

 the laying out of 

 mining claims. 

 The students are 

 also given a practi- 

 cal course in timber 

 testing in their me- 

 chanical engineer- 

 ing department 



