314 THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE. [Sept. 



world equal to teak to be put behind the armour of ironclads. It 

 was also used for backing targets. ]\Iany Indian timbers besides 

 teak would be remunerative in the English markets. He liad seen 

 the effects of denudation of forests. He had seen a stream entirely 

 dried up from that cause. The wood which surrounded the spring 

 was cut down, and there was no water there at all now. The 

 planting of a forest would not produce a spring, — at least he could 

 not mention an instance. He considered that a school of forestry 

 in this country would be of immense value, especially to the pro- 

 prietors of woods, who would then have better trained men than 

 they could get now. He knew that the proprietor of Blair Athole 

 had difficulty in finding suitable men to manage the forest. In 

 1883 there were £647,000 worth of teak imported into England. 

 Forest products in resin, charcoal, etc., were extremely valuable. 



By the Chairman : He was glad that the young men were to be 

 trained in England for forestry rather than abroad, where they did 

 not understand the language sufficiently well. He considered there 

 was great need for improvement in the management of English 

 forests. The establishment of a forest school in this country would 

 have very beneficial effects. 



By Dr. Farquharson : There was no country where arboriculture 

 was better understood than in Switzerland. The eucalyptus and 

 acacia had been introduced into India from Australia with great 

 success. There was a great deal of waste land in Ireland and the 

 north of England that might be forested with advantage. 



Dr. Cleghorn, who took an active part in the formation of the 

 Indian forests in Madras and the Punjaub, was the first witness 

 examined on the 24tli July, He concurred generally in the 

 evidence already given on Indian forestry. He had no doubt 

 that were a forest school established in Edinburgh, all the branches 

 could be well taught, from the educational advantages which that 

 city possessed ; and access to all classes of woodlands was readily 

 available from it. One of the largest forests in Scotland was that 

 of the Duke of Athole, which was many miles in extent. Mr. Adam, 

 M.P., before leaving for Madras, had publicly insisted on the special 

 advantages of Edinburgh for the site of a forest school. 



By Dr. Lyons : Great Britain and Ireland were backward as com- 

 pared with European countries in sylviculture, but not in arbori- 

 culture. Commercially immense benefit would result both economi- 

 cally and otherwise from the better management of the forests. The 

 acreage under forests in the three kingdoms was excessively small 

 as compared with the forests of France, Germany, and other parts 

 of Europe. Without a forest school he did not see how any im- 

 provement was to be made. Various steps had been taken in that 



