"Forestty" What Is It?

By Russell Gheen Manager San Francisco Office, C. D. Johnson Lumber Co. (Formerly Professor of Forest Extension at the New York State College of Forestry, Syracuse University)

FELLOW LUMBERMEN:-Those of you who have Sons, will doubtless be disappointed if they do not become "Chips Off the Old Block," and take up the burden where you leave off.

Also, you are undoubtedly laying away a few cool, hardearned dollars, which you are figuring on using to put the boy through College, lvhen that time comes along. It makes no difference whether you are in the best executive position in the world, or whether you are just growing up with your organization, as your boy is growing up with your family. You are probably a graduate of the school of "hard-knocks," and proud of it !-but you are saying to yourself : "Well, I did not have much education when I was a boy, but I am going to see that the young man gets "plenty," and the best that money can buy."

You are all settled on this !

Have you ever tried to figure what course you are going to have the boy take, when he is ready to begin his instructions on how to be a "Chip Off the Old Block?"

You know he cannot go to a College of Lumbering;there are none; so why not give him the nearest thing to it :-

..A COURSE IN FORESTRY''

and at the same time, have him specialize in lumber. Your first reaction to that, is: FORESTRY-WHAT IS FORESTRY" anyway ? How does that fit into my business ?

Twenty years ago, if you had asked that question, you would have been correct in saying: "It is only slightly associated with my business, and mostly in a negative way. I am interested in the product of the forest rather than the growing of it." Eighty per cent of the first Forest School graduates probably considered Lumber, and things Lumber, askance. and I am sorry to say that some still do. In the early days of Forestry, the schools rvere defining Forestry as that art or science which has to do with the raising of repeated crops of timber on any given site. For the first fifteen years of the existence of the profession in this country, the Foresters turned their energies to that end, with the result that most of our technical graduates entered the U. S. Forest Service. and carried on the duties of administrating National and States Forests.

But time moved on;-so did Forestry. It soon became apparent that Forestry really embraces more than the mere growing of Trees, and that it should include among other things, the utilization of the products of those trees; i.e., the harvesting of the logs; their conversion into lumber; its grading, seasoning, fabrication, preservation and marketing. This conception of Forestry at once broadened the field of usefulness of the Forest School graduate.

So about 1912, we find Forestry defined as that science which has to do with the growing, preservation and utilization of trees, for commercial, recreational and aesthetic purposes.

The new definition was brought about by a few Professors in the newer and larger Schools. In passing, we want to mention that the quality of instruction in Forest Schools today is equal to that offered by other Professional Schools, such as Medicine, Engineering and Law. Forestry Professors and instructors have always been proud of the men who take instruction under them, and they have always cautioned their men that they were in a new profession, and must do their best to maki their way in that profession. Colleges are measured by the graduates they turn out, the graduates who succeed well; are the "high-priced sales."

With the new definition, College Faculties said: "Let us build men to fit the definition, and in the utilization end, let us give special instruction in:-

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The convenient facilities of Truck Tire Service play their part in making these Goodyear records possible, and account, in no small measure, for Goodyear popularity in the Los Angeles lumber field.

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Forest Engineering, including Surveying, Cruising and Mapping;

Logging Engineering;

Lumber Manufacturing, including Seasoning, Grading and Shipping;

Lumber Salesmanship;

Wood Technology, including the properties and uses of wood, and kindred lines.

AND THEY DID !

The College Faculties also taught their men that even though they had had all the technical training that it was possible to get in four years, the graduates had only the first principles of the business, and when they actually got bn the job, there would be plenty left to learn. They therefore, advised their men to forget the "Sheep's-skins" and "to go to it"; even forget that they were Foresters, if necessary, but get into an associated line of work, and possibly in fifteen years, they might get somewhere in their organizations, and by that time, they would be able to use the technical knowledge which they had learned years before, to good advantage to themselves, and to the organizations of which they were a part.

What is the result of the new training in Forestry?

On the Pacific Coast, and in the South; in fact, all over the United States, there are many large Lumber Companies which have one or more technical Foresters in their employ.

Forest School graduates are found in charge of Lumber Manufacturing Departments; Retail and Wholesale Yards; lumber Trade Associations; Lumber Trade Journals; as Sales Managers, Buyers and Inspectors.

Forestry did not make these places for these men; the men made the places for thentselves.

Forestry training is one of the weapons at their command !

In the May 15th issue of the "California Lumber Merehant," a prize was offered by Gus Russell's outfit for the Retailer who could answer fifty-six questions on Lumber. Possibly many of the readers of this Magazine looked over that list of questions. Did you ever stop to figure how many of them were FORESTRY QUESTIONS? Over half at least, and I venture to say that the Lumber Association men, many of whom are Iiorest School graduates, were instrumental in compiling that list, and al.so in assisting to answer many of the questions for the contestants.

A Forest School senior could probably have answered seventy-five per cent of the guestions in one hour, and he rvould have known right where to get the answers to the balance. Knowing the answers to some of the questions is not absolutely essential to making a success in the lumber business,-6ut KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. The forestry training gives the novice in the lumber business a running start over his competitor lacking such a training, the rest depends upon the man himself.

What is your son going to learn in a forest school?

l. A lot of : Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics, English-and-a Foreign Languageall apparently far removed from the lumber industry. Mastery of English is a most valuable as'set to anyone.

2. Considerable of: Forest engineering, zoology, botany, pathology and entomology, wood technology, dendrology, Silviculture and protection.

3. All the available book data on lumber, its manufacture and uses, and field trips into the lumber regions during the college course and vacations.

4. How to speak in public.

5. How to get along with the other fellow, not only in class-room, but also in the woods, and this is a big part of life's battle.

6. A profession which is demanding an ever increasing arhount of attention, not only from people interested in lumber, but from the general public.

There are at least fifteen forest schools today in the United States, all giving four year courses, and some six year courses, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Forestry, and Master of Forestry, and conservatively speaking, there are approximately one thousand men now taking this course in all of these schools.

If by chance, the lumber business which you have so carefully built up, or of which you are a part, should ever happen to go bad, remember your boy with a forest school education will be none the worse off in the profession should he go back into it, having once completed his course in forestry, for both work hand-in-hand.

Therefore, as Forestry is not only a professional course, but such a good all-round general course, your son is certain to gain from it much that should help him be of more value to you in your business;

SEND YOUR BOY TO A FOREST SCHOOL and have him specialize in Lumber.