College or university training, followed by a full course at a forest 

 school and supplemented by work in the woods in this country and in 

 Europe, may not be possible for every student of forestry. A thorough 

 preparation for forestrj^ as a profession should, however, include these 

 lines of work. How many of them the student maj^ omit and still 

 retain a fair chance of success in his profession can not be laid down 

 altogether within hard and fast lines, although study at a forest school 

 has become essential. A great deal must depend upon a man's zeal 

 and industry, and upon his natural fitness for forest work. On the 

 other hand, the man who is considering forestry as a profession will do 

 well to remember that the only sound basis for success in forestry, as 

 in any other scientific profession, is a thorough and systematic prepara- 

 tion ; and that in this country, perhaps more than in any other, forest 

 problems present difficulties which require, above all, a thorough under- 

 standing of his work in the man who undertakes to deal with them. 



POSITION OF FOREST ASSISTANT. 



There is no position in the Service open to those whose training in 

 forestry is incomplete. The position in the Service open to trained 

 foresters is that of Forest Assistant. It carries a salary of from $900 to 

 $1,000 a year in the beginning, with the payment of all living and 

 traveling expenses incident to field work. The position entails a severe 

 technical examination under the U. S. Civil Service Commission, which 

 no man may reasonably expect to pass unless he has been thoroughly 

 trained in forestry. 



THE OPENING FOR FORESTERS. 



The management of the National Forests requires the services of 

 many trained men. The Forest Service will require an increasing num- 

 ber of suitably prepared foresters to supply its needs. The lack of for- 

 esters to care for the forest interests of the several States is already making 

 itself strongly felt. An increasing number of foresters will be required 

 by private forest owners, as the great holders of timberlands come to 

 realize more generally that conservative lumbering pays better than the 

 methods usually employed. The Forestry Bureau in the Philippines 

 offers what is in some ways an unrivaled opportunity^ to trained men. 



As regards compensation, forestry offers the well-equipped man a fair 

 living. It is naturally impossible to foretell what eventually will be the 

 pay of foresters in this countr3\ It is reasonably certain, however, that 

 their salaries will never be large. Trained foresters in the employ of 

 the Forest Service now receive from $900 to $5,000 a year. 



Approved : 



James Wilson, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



^Washington, D. C, September 1, 1905. 



O 



