THE LIFE OF A FORESTER 83 
sale 1s in progress his duties are varied and may range 
from marking trees for removal ahead of future timber 
sales, to scaling logs or inspecting the piling of brush. 
He learns to lay out trails, string telephone lines, 
becomes familiar with the grazing problems of that 
particular forest and endeavors to distinguish the sev- 
eral score of cattle marks and brands that are found 
on his own range. In whatever he attempts he is 
usually guided and taught by an experienced ranger 
for when all is said and done the rangers are the 
mentors of the youthful forester. 
Stewart Edward White in his ‘‘California John’’ 
stories has described a splendid type of ranger and at the 
same time has painted a striking picture of conditions 
as they existed in the early days before the Forest 
Service was transferred from the Department of the 
Interior. The forest rangers are splendid men, sim- 
ple in manner, kindly in speech, and the young forest 
assistant who tries to lord it over one of them regrets 
it. He soon learns how little his book knowledge 
weighs against a lifetime of experience when it comes 
to packing a horse or making a trail. Each can profit 
from the other and it is the wise young college chap 
who knows at the start that when it comes to valuable 
information he can get more than he can give. Many 
stories are told about the breaks made by the green 
young forester in the West and sometimes their green- 
ness and conceit has led them into dangers from which 
they have been rescued only by the rangers or local 
ranchmen. 
After the young forester has learned to distinguish 
the various trees on his forest—for trees on the ground 
or standing upon the mountainside may not resemble 
the trees which his textbook described—he has just made 
