In 1866, Sir Dietrich Brandis selected as assistants two young men who
had been trained in the forest schools of Germany--in turn his
successors--and at the same time arrangements were made for the training
of young Englishmen in the Forest schools of France and Germany. At the
end of 1875 the professional education was entirely transferred to
Nancy. The present force of Conservators is composed largely of these
men. For some reason, the training of men in Germany and France became
unpopular, and this objection finally led, in 1884, to the establishment
of a chair of forestry at Cooper’s Hill College for Engineering in
England. At first, the course of study extended over 26 months, during
22 of which the candidates prosecuted their studies at the college; the
remaining four months being spent under suitable supervision in selected
British and Continental forests.
In 1905, this department was transferred to Oxford University and the
course extended to three years, one year to be spent in continental
forests. At present this time may, however, be reduced to two years and
the vacations in continental forests. This is a government affair, and
probationers receive stipends from the government.
Mr. Brandis as early as 1869 saw also the necessity of providing the
means of giving the natives of India some sort of technical education in
forestry. The first step in this direction was to place natives,
selected ones, under one or two officers of the Imperial Service who
were deemed fit to instruct them, and in this way a few good men were
turned out. Another experiment, after the German pattern, was made by
apprenticing likely young men under some forester for a year or two and
then sending them to an engineering school for theoretical instruction.
This was also a failure. After much hard work, the Indian forest school
at Dehra Dun was established in 1878, the forests between the Jumna and
the Ganges rivers were set aside as training grounds, formed into a
special Forest Circle and placed under the control of the director of
the school. These forests have been subjected to regular systems of
management, based on European experience, and excellent results have
been obtained. The first course of systematic theoretical instruction
was opened on the 1st of July, 1881. In 1884 the school was made an
imperial institution by the Government of India, and the
Inspector-General of Forests was charged with its supervision, under a
Board of Control, consisting of the Inspector-General, the Director, and
three Conservators, with the Assistant Inspector-General as secretary.
This board meets once a year at Dehra, conducts the examinations, and
looks into all of the workings of the School very carefully. There were
two courses--one in which the teaching was given in English for rangers,
the other in which the instruction was given in the vernacular for
foresters; courses extending over 24 months. In 1906 the school was
raised to the rank of a college and the course in the vernacular
abolished. The graduates may aspire to the rank of division officers.
The training of lower grade officers is left to the provinces. The
Bombay Presidency had for some time their own forest school in
connection with the Engineering College at Poona, but this is now
abandoned. Another school, however, is located at Tharrawaddy, with a
two-year course in Burmese, and one in Madras with a one-year course; so
that the education of lower grade officials is well attended to.
Forest Experiment and Investigations have never been systematically
instituted, being left to individual initiative, but lately (1909)
provision has been made in this direction in connection with the Dehra
Dun school by the establishment of an Imperial Research Institute.
Besides a monthly journal, the Indian Forester which came into existence
in 1875 through Schlich’s initiative, and the annual reports of the
various conservators and of the Inspector-General, a small book
literature has developed within the last ten or fifteen years.
Descriptive volumes of note are J. S. Gamble’s _Manual of Indian
Timbers_, new edition, 1902; _Trees, Shrubs and Woody Climbers of Bombay
Presidency_ by W. A. Talbot, 1902; Ribbentrop’s _Forestry in British
India_, 1900, and the earlier publication of H. R. Morgan, _Forestry in
Southern India_; Brandis’ _Indian Forestry and Distribution of Forests
in India_. Of professional interest are E. E. Fernandez _Manual of
Indian Silviculture_, unfortunately out of print; the same author’s
_Forest Industries_; D’Arcy’s _Manual of Forest Working Plans_; C. C.
Roger’s _Manual of Forest Engineering in India_, and B. H. Baden-Powell,
_Forest Law_.
The influence of the development of the Indian Forest Service on the
forest policy of other British colonies and of the home country has been
considerable and is growing, Indian forest officers being detailed to
assist in developing forest policies in these other parts of the British
Empire.