1884.] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 139 



with the appliances at command. It is estimated by the com- 

 mittee that £10,000 will be required for the accomplishment of 

 wliat they contemplate ; and it is conjectured that this may suffice. 

 Any contribution, great or small, will be gratefully received by the 

 convener of the committee, CoL P. Dods, United Service Club, 

 Edinburgh. 



Without committing myself, or any others, to the advocacy of 

 any of the arrangements which I am about to mention, I may state : 



1. There is scarcely a country, if there be any, on the Continent 

 in which there is not a Scliool of Forestry supported by the State. 



2. The prevalent opinion on the Continent amongst forest officials, 

 forest administrators, and students of forest science, is, that it is 

 desirable to have such institutions in connection with a University, 

 or other seat of advanced learning, in preference to having them, 

 like the older Schools of Forestry, separate institutions located in 

 the vicinity of a forest. 



3. In most, if not in all, provision is made for the students 

 spending tlie summer or autunm months in forest operations at a 

 distance from the school; and some provision is made for a few 

 advanced students, accompanied by one of their teachers, visiting 

 forests under treatment in other lands. 



4. There do exist facilities for students of forestry in Britain 

 spending the summer or autumn months in practical forestry. 



5. In the curriculum, common on the Continent, of two years 

 and a half, students of forestry in Edinburgh might be taken 

 through a course of instruction in the structure, development, 

 diseases, and decay of forest trees ; in sylviculture ; in forest 

 economy, including the preparation and disposal of forest products ; 

 in forest botany ; in forest zoology ; in forestal hydraulic engineer- 

 ing ; in meteorological effects of forests ; and in forest legislation : 

 with all of which subjects a forest manager or forest administrator 

 in any of our colonial possessions would find it well to be conver- 

 sant, as would also the forest manager at home. 



6. Such students would find, in the Univer.sity, classes in which 

 are studied almost all of the other subjects generally studied in 

 Schools of Forestry on the Continent ; or they might find such in tlie 

 Watt Institute and School of Arts. 



To the last-mentioned fact I attach great importance. Elsewhere, 

 while arrangements are contemplated for the study of forestry by 

 young men who can incur considerable expense in doing so, so far 

 as is kuown to me, no arrangements are made for the study of this 

 by those who cannot. Here, without unpleasant feeling of humili- 

 ation, young foresters, nurserymen or gardeners, or the sons of 

 foresters, gardeners, and nurserymen, may pursue their studies at 



