THE PROFESSION OF FORESTRY. 7 



NECESSARY TRAINING. 



The thoroughly trained technical forester should have an education 

 equivalent to that of any other well trained professional man, such as 

 a lawj-er, or doctor, or civil engineer. Such an education can not 

 ordinarily be obtained in less than four years of college work. A 

 course of ^ve or six 3^ears, one or two of which are spent in post- 

 graduate work, is still better. There is now a great abundance of 

 well equipped forest schools in this country', offering both under- 

 graduate and post-graduate work, and the average man can not hope 

 to be successful in the profession ^^-ithout a complete course in one of 

 these schools. The more practical field experience he can secure in 

 addition to this, the better prepared he \vill be. For the large number 

 of men who ^411 look for employment to the lumbering business or 

 other forest-using industries a thorough training in the principles of 

 forestr}', through four or five years of college work, is as necessary as 

 in the case of men who plan to specialize upon the more scientific 

 and technical sides of the profession. Such training, however, is but 

 one part of the needed equipment. It must be supplemented by 

 first-hand experience in lumbering operations. 



While post-graduate work in Europe is not essential, it is a valuable 

 asset to the man who can avail himself of it. Conditions here are so 

 different from those in Europe that many of the methods commonly 

 used there are wholly impracticable in this country. At the same 

 time the profession has become so thoroughly established and has 

 accomplished so much there that a careful study of European forestry 

 can not fail to be suggestive and of much practical value to the 

 American forester. 



Closely allied with work in technical forestry is that of the forest 

 ranger. The ranger will not be called upon to do such technical work 

 as the professional forester, and does not need so much schooliag. His 

 work is of an exceediagly practical nature, and if he can work under 

 some iustruction he can pick up a great deal of the empirical knowledge 

 which he needs along technical lines. Most forest rangers to-day 

 have received their early training through long experience in the 

 woods. Such experience is essential for the efficient ranger, but m 

 addition it is extremely desirable for him to have a practical course 

 at some ranger school. His usefulness and his chances for promotion 

 are greatly increased if he can spend even two or three months taking 

 such a course, for example, as that now given at a number of our west em 

 universities. Up to this time educational institutions have devoted 

 much less attention to trainiug rangers than to training technical for- 

 esters. At present only a few ranger courses are given in the entire 

 country, and these are more in the nature of short courses than a full 

 ranger training. Better facilities for obtaining the education needed 



