2 
are required to defray their traveling expenses to the field from their 
homes. If they take up work in the office at the close of the field 
season, the cost of the journey from the field to Washington is borne 
by the Bureau. Those Student Assistants whose services are desired 
in the office during the winter are assigned to duty as Assistant Forest 
Experts, and are paid at the rate of $40 per month while working in 
Washington, but are reduced to $25 per month when again assigned 
to a field party. 
An application blank for the position of Student Assistant is fur- 
nished on request by the Forester, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
This, when filled in and returned by the applicant, is filed for con- 
sideration when the appointment of Student Assistanis for the field 
season is taken up. The fitness of the applicant 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 either definitely decided to make forestry his profession, or 
is at least considering it seriously, and that in age, physical con- 
dition, and general training he is well equipped for the duties of 
Student Assistant and is fitted to profit by his work. Men, there- 
fore, who have already begun 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 way, college 
graduates take precedence of undergraduates, and undergraduates 
of those who have had school training only. Men entirely without — 
college training are appointed to the position of Student Assistant 
only when they are exceptionally well fitted for work in the woods. 
The number of applications from students of forest schools and from 
college men has, so far, generally exceeded the number of appoint- 
ments to be made, and it is probable that the excess will grow stead- 
ily larger. The likelihood, therefore, of the appointment of men 
who are not or have not been thoroughly trained 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 Student Assistants is severe, monoto- 
nous, and often entails some hardship. Student Assistants in the 
field usually live in camp and are required to keep lumbermen’s 
hours. Their work consists chiefly in ‘‘valuation surveys,” or 
measurements of the standing timber upon given areas, and in 
‘‘stem analyses,” or measurements of contents and rate of growth 
made upon felled trees. 
Cheerful obedience to orders is required of all Student Assistants. 
Laziness or discontent is fatal to camp discipline and to effective — 
work. No Student Assistant is retained who proves physically unfit — 
for his duties or who shows a desire to shirk them. Bodily sound- | 
