1885.] DEBATE ON SIR JOJhV LUBBOCICS MOTION. 107 



study of forestry in India, and eiilogiums have been pronounced, 

 which I believe to be heartily deserved, upon the leading servants 

 of the Indian Government who have been connected with that 

 interesting subject. The Indian Government has had the most 

 special reasons for giving attention to it. First, there was the great 

 question whether, when pursued on a large and systematic scale, it 

 was possible to make forestry profitable. I certainly have the hope 

 that that question either has received, or is in course of receiving, a 

 satisfactory answer in the Indian dominions of Her Majesty. But 

 besides that, in India there have been most important reasons 

 connected with climate, with the provision of a due supply of 

 moisture in the air, and with the regular growth of the food of the 

 people, which give an altogether extraordinary importance to the 

 subject of forestry in India. But the Indian Government had, and 

 still has, a School of Forestry in India ; and that school, as I under- 

 stand, though it belongs to the Indian Government, is not in any 

 way confined to persons connected with India or contemplating 

 residence in India. I understand it is allowed to any one desirous, 

 and able to pay the necessary fees, to be a candidate for admission 

 to that school. It is possible that very valuable assistance may be 

 derived from that school for the purposes of afforesting in England. 

 But I think that besides the comparatively limited scale of 

 operations in this country, we have some other difficulties to deal 

 with. First, our woods are so broken down into detail that the 

 number of properties on which there is the amount of wood that 

 would admit of the large application of systematic training is not 

 great. I myself have had a good deal to do with one estate which 

 has a gro^vth of some 6000 or 7000 acres of wood, and that is a 

 growth extremely rare, not in Scotland, but in England. But besides 

 the fact that our woods are so cut down into small bits of patchwork 

 on the face of the country, it must never be forgotten that they are 

 not kept here to any large extent for the purpose of profit as woods, 

 but for the purposes of landscape beauty, and of pleasure and of 

 sport — of sport above all. (Hear, hear.) All these things must go, 

 I think, to moderate our expectations as to what can be done ; but 

 at the same time it is quite true that my interest in these subjects 

 has certainly caused me constantly to observe, from the manner in 

 which woods are managed, and the degree of accomplishment and 

 attainment brought to the management of them, how much might 

 be gained if there were more of common tradition on the subject — 

 which common tradition must be the fruit of a good deal of training. 

 There are some parts in this country — in the Midland counties — 

 where, I believe, the art of woodcutting is practised with a nicety, 

 and, I believe, with an actual beauty, which is not to be found any- 



