MEASURING THE FOREST CROP 113 
of actually measuring a certain portion of the trees 
requires no large amount of woods experience. Hence 
if the young students know their trees, they can be used 
to advantage in a party under an experienced compass 
man and forester. 
Life in one of those camps is strenuous and the 
boys come out in the autumn trained and toughened by 
their work with tall stories about the mountains they 
climbed and the game and wonderful forests they have 
seen. There is a peculiar charm about work of any 
kind in the woods and the remarkable part of the effect 
of the forest is that it is largely unconscious. Before 
a student of forestry can be considered a real forester, 
he must acquire the ability to judge distance and 
diameters, and be able to travel the forest by day or 
night, to make a good camp and to cook, and above 
all the powers of observation must be cultivated, and 
the best place to acquire these characteristics is In the 
woods. The remarkable thing about a summer in the 
woods is that happy-go-lucky youngsters go In and 
tanned, sturdy, self-reliant young men come out. Daily 
contact with the primeval forest has endowed them 
with the sturdy qualities which it possesses. Up at 
daylight and out on the line for nine hours a day 
and a four-to-five-mile hike back to the main camp. 
This is the daily routine that puts muscle on young 
frames, toughens the mental fiber, and develops endur- 
ance. . Perhaps the day’s work is finished too far away 
to return, then a “pup tent” and blankets and grub 
are carried and the day’s work is done with pack on 
back. Out in the forest at night with the wind blowing 
softly through the trees and the fresh moist air laden 
with the woodsy odors—those are the nights to be long 
remembered. 
