Bureau. Those Forest Students with field experience whose services are 

 desired in the office during the winter are assigned to dut}^ as Assistant 

 Forest Experts, and are paid at the rate of not more than $500 per 

 annum while working in Washington. 



An application blank for the position of Forest Student is furnished 

 on request bj^ the Forester, U. S. Department of Agriculture. This blank, 

 when filled in and returned by the applicant, is filed for consideration 

 when the appointment of Forest Students for the field season is taken 

 up. The fitness of the appticant for appointment is judged from his 

 answers to the questions upon the blank. The two main conditions 

 upon which his appointment depends are that he has definiteh^ decided 

 to make forestrj^ his profession, and that in age, physical condition, and 

 general training he is well equipped for the duties of Forest Student, 

 and is fitted to profit by his work. No applicant under 20 years of age 

 is eligible for appointment as Forest Student. Men, therefore, who 

 are already advanced in the study of forestry, either at a forest school 

 or elsewhere, and who are in other respects well qualified, stand the 

 best chance of appointment. In the same waj^ college graduates take 

 precedence of undergraduates, and undergraduates of those who have 

 had school training onl3\ Men entirely without college training are 

 appointed to the position of Forest Student only when they are excep- 

 tionally^ well fitted for work in the woods. The number of applicants 

 from students of forest schools has, of late, generally exceeded the number 

 of appointments to be made, and it is probable that the excess will grow 

 steadily larger. The likelihood, therefore, of the appointment of men 

 who have not begun their training is small, since the first claim to the 

 position open goes by right to the men who in general training are best 

 prepared to take up the technical work incident to a scientific profession. 



The field work required of Forest Students is severe, monotonous, 

 and often entails some hardship. Forest Students in the field usualh^ 

 live in camp and are required to keep lumbermen's hours. Their work 

 consists chiefly in "valuation surveys," or measurements of the stand- 

 ing timber upon given areas, and in " stem analj^ses," or measurements 

 of contents and rate of growth made upon felled trees. 



Cheerful obedience to orders is required of all Forest Students. 

 Laziness or discontent is fatal to camp discipline and to effective 

 work. No Forest Student is retained who proves physicallj^ unfit for his 

 duties or who shows a desire to shirk them. Bodily soundness and 

 endurance are absolutely essential for those who take up the work of a 

 Forest Student. Work in the woods differs profoundly from camp life 

 as it is usually understood. A Forest Student must be prepared to 

 combine severe mental work with severe bodily labor under conditions 

 which make each one peculiarly trying. 



Those appointed to the position of Forest Student in this Bureau 

 should realize fully in the beginning that they will receive no formal 



