144 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [Dec. 



THE FORESTRY EXHIBITION AND CITY 

 SYLVICULTURE. 



AN Irish correspondent writes : — Owing to • circumstances 

 beyond my control, I was not able to visit the Forestry 

 Exhibition lately closed in Edinburgli. From all quarters I hear it 

 was a great success, and I sincerely hope its lessons M'ill not be lost 

 upon the British forester, and that the much-talked about school 

 will no longer be allowed to lie dormant, or be hawked about like a 

 " Will o' the wisp." Let us trust those gentlemen wliose names are 

 now associated witli the matter will act with promptitude, and not 

 " receive the report and dismiss the committee." 



In the early days of this Magazine we had the temerity to intro- 

 duce into its columns sulmrban forestry. Shades of Sylvanus ! how 

 the Hamadryades of modern landscape decoration did rave ! They saw 

 no charm in the " lonely, leafy, cool, and green." A thing of beauty 

 was not to them a joy. Arthur's Seat or the still higher peaks 

 beyond were not to be decorated with the umbrageous " shade of 

 towering pines or spreading oaks." Are these scowling cliffs yet to 

 be clothed with the ever-fresh festoons of forest drapery ? 



City forestry is a branch of arboriculture sadly neglected. How 

 refreshing to gaze from the harsh and dry multiplicity of doors and 

 windows which line both sides of our streets to the unadulterated 

 profusion of nature displayed " where every tree has its branches 

 laden with leaves anew " ! Take the Boulevards and streets in 

 Paris, with 100,000 trees flourishing, or take any other continental 

 town, and contrast its shady foot-walks with our own naked streets. 

 The comparison will show how wofully deficient we are in taste and 

 comfort. Forestry having transplanted itself into new quarters, 

 where there is every facility for street-planting, we hope to see the 

 subject fully discu.ssed. 



