4:2-2 FORESTRY EXHIBITION IN EDINBURGH. [Nor, 



consideration by those to wliom we are indeLted for that Exhibition,, 

 either as exhibitors or otherwise. I find no difficulty in accounting 

 for tliis being the case ; and I direct attention to it solely with a 

 view to founding on it an argument for measures being taken to- 

 secure greater benefits from our Crown forests in various lands,, 

 and from forests in private hands at liome and elsewhere. 



In order to the satisfactory enforcement of that argument, it is; 

 necessary that I should carry my readers along with me, with 

 definite ideas of what the things spoken of are ; and in view of 

 advantages to be obtained from this, I crave the indulgence of those 

 who may be as well acquainted with all these matters as I am. 



Most of us know something of arboriculture ; and perhaps as a 

 nation we are surpassed by none other in our arboriculture. But 

 where forest economy in accordance with the advanced forest science 

 of the day is practised, it is not arboriculture, but sylviculture, which 

 commands the attention of foresters. The two are intimately 

 connected. The difference may be illustrated thus : — In arbori- 

 culture, or tree culture, the unit commanding attention is the tree, — 

 and thus, it may be, the trees of which the clump, the wood, or 

 plantation is composed ; and the clump, or wood, is only considered 

 as a collection of these. In sylviculture, the forest or plantation is 

 the unit which commands attention, and the several trees of which 

 it is composed are only viewed as constituent parts of it : the 

 sylviculturist looking upon the several trees very much as the 

 arboriculturist looks upon the several leaves or branches of the trees 

 to which he is giving attention. 



Illustrations crowd upon me : — The body of man is a composite 

 structure, built up of cell and cell walls ; each of these has or has 

 had its life history, and the health of each and of all is necessary to 

 the perfect health or well-being of the whole. And in the division of 

 labour which is seen in the prosecution of science there are men 

 who, without losing sight of the truth I have stated, give their 

 attention to the study of the origin, life, growth, reproduction, death, 

 and decay of cells ; while there are others who, without losing sight 

 of these, give their attention to the phenomena of some one or other 

 of the phases of the life, growth, reproduction, decay, and death of 

 the corporate body, or of some one or more of the organs developed 

 in its structure. The former find their representative in the arbori- 

 culturists ; the latter in those who give themselves to the study and 

 practice of sylviculture. 



M. Guinier, in an exhaustive article on the Furctagc of the beech 

 in the Pyrenees, in i\\Q Revue dcs Eavx ct Fonts for 1843,^ adduces 



^ Cited at some length by rae in a volume on Forestry in the Mining Districts 

 of the Ural Mountains. 



