188G.] A NATIONAL SCHOOL OF FORESTRY. 6?:] 



existing Schools of Forestry on the Continent ; nor that knowledge 

 of what is being done in connection with the management of forests 

 in other countries wliicli is imi)arted to tiie students in most of tliese 

 schools. 



AVliat they have achieved in arboriculture has called forth the 

 admiration of man}', foreigners as well as others. This has been 

 cfTected by the use of good common sense, employed in observing 

 what is being done by others, and in the application to the work with 

 which they are intrusted of principles underlying tliat, and of what 

 they otherwise have learned by reading. It may possil)ly be tin* 

 case that many a man's common sense has been impaired by school 

 learning ; but in Britain, as elsewhere, there is a general impression, 

 which I share, that technical instruction imparted to artisans, as 

 well by the education which it effects as by the knowledge which it 

 imparts, is likely to qualify them for a more efticient discharge of 

 their duties ; and I cannot doul)t that it would be the same with 

 nurserymen and foresters, and with those who may have to direct 

 them in their operations. For such instruction to such men no 

 provision exists among the English-sj)eaking populations of the world ; 

 and, unless some provision for this bo engrafted on some existing 

 institution, there seems to be no means ])y which it can be provided 

 l)ut by the establishment of a School of Forestry. If anything 

 like such a School l)e established, and if students passing through it 

 should resemble in fitness for their work those who pass through 

 such institutions on the Continent, I have no doubt that whatever 

 may be the condition of our forests and woodlands, the result will 

 be an improvement in that condition. 



The object aimed at in the most advanced forest economy of the 

 day is threefold : the natural reproduction of forests ; tlie progressive 

 amelioration of them ; and the maintenance of a sustained supply of 

 products from theiu,- — and all this it has been found practicable to 

 accomplish in the British-like woodlands of Denmark. 



In Britain the importance attached to woodlands as increasing the 

 amenity of a residence, the importance attached to them as supply- 

 ing shelter for game, and the general preference for artificial sowing 

 and planting over a natural reproduction of woods by self-sown seeds 

 as a means of meeting the requirements of the case, may prevent the 

 adoption of the advanced forest management of the day in its 

 entirety. But there is much besides comprised in this which might 

 be beneficial to our forests and woodlands ; and without some know- 

 ledge on the part of our foresters of forest science, and of applied 

 forest science, this cannot be secured. To some extent, perhaps to 

 a great extent, to a much greater extent than may be supposed, 



