'426 FORESTRY EXHIBITION IN EDINBURGH. [Nov. 



which are rich in forest literature, it is deemed expedient to educate 

 and train to observation and study all candidates for employment 

 in the management of State forests, and tliis is rigorously required. 

 Tn most countries the prescribed curricuUim of study is as com- 

 prehensive as that prescribed to students of medicine in this 

 country, and much more comprehensive than those prescribed to 

 candidates for the pulpit or the bar, and corresponding status and 

 salary are enjoyed by them. 



It is chiefly the requirements of British colonies, and of lauds 

 similarly situated, in order to the conservation, the economic 

 exploitation, and the extension of forests, which have forced upon my 

 consideration the importance of having a National School of Forestry 

 organized ; and therefore to this aspect of the case I shall confine 

 my subsequent remarks, simply premising that the interest which 

 our country has in the improvement of the forest economy of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, supplies equally cogent reasons for such a 

 measure being adopted. 



In illustration of the importance attached by practical men of 

 science to the conservation of forests, I cite the opinion of Sir Joseph 

 Hooker. 



Dr. Hooker, the Director of tlie Eoyal Gardens at Kew, writing 

 on this subject some years ago, remarked : " Forestry, a subject so 

 utterly neglected in this country that we are forced to send all 

 candidates for forest appointments in India to France or Germany 

 for instruction both in theory and practice, holds on the Continent 

 an honourable, and even a distinguished place, amoncr the branches 

 of a liberal education. In the estimation of an average Briton, 

 forests are of infinitely less importance than the game they shelter, 

 and it is not long since the wanton destruction of a fine young tree 

 was considered a venial offence compared with the snaring of a 

 pheasant or rabbit. Wherever the English rule extends, with the 

 single exception of India, the same apathy, or at least inaction 

 prevails. In South Africa, according to the Colonial botanists' 

 report, millions of acres have been made desert, and more are being 

 made desert annually, through the destruction of the indigenous 

 forests ; in Demerara the useful timber trees have all been removed 

 from accessible regions, and no care or thought is given to planting 

 others ; from Trinidad we have the same story ; in Xew Zealand 

 there is not now a good Kauri pine to be found near the coast ; and 

 I believe that the annals of almost every English colony would 

 repeat the tale of wilful, wanton waste and improvidence. On the 

 other hand, in France, Prussia, Switzerland, Austria, and Eussia, 

 the forests and waste lands are the subjects of devoted attention on 

 the part of the Government, and colleges, provided with a complete 



