PERSONAL

I think you ought to know that Mr. Vanderbilt has twice intimated to members of our firm that he thought that an undertaking of so much importance, not only to himself, but to the country, as that of the proposed Biltmore Forest, ought to be under the direction of some one better prepared by systematic training than we are, or than you are; that he had been making inquiries and had heard of three foresters trained in Europe and now in this country. One of these is the son of a friend of his with whom I formerly had some acquaintance,- Mr. Pynchot, a resident of New York who has a considerable property and a country seat somewhere in Pennsylvania. This son has been for several years in one of the government training schools of foresters abroad. Since his graduation there, he has been in this country and you may have noticed some articles on forestry, signed by his name, in “Garden & Forest.” I heard that he was going out to Europe again this Summer. I do not know him personally, but have heard him spoken of as a man of much promise.

Yours Truly