1883.] SCOTTISH AEBOIUCULTUBAL SOCIETY. 47 



made to the Society's Library and Museum : — • Manual of Land Tenure 

 and Forest Administration,' and 'Manual of Jurisprudence for Forest 

 Officers,' by Mr. Baden-Powell ; ' The Woods, Forests, and Estates of 

 Perthshire,' by ^\v. Thomas Hunter, editor of the Perthshire Constitu- 

 tional ; ' Forty-two Sections of Canadian Woods,' by Mr. William Little, 

 Montreal; 'An Album containing forty different Woods, each AVood 

 cut in three different ways,' by Mr. Wilmers-dorffcr, 72, Fiusbury Pave- 

 ment, London. 



The thanks of the Society were accorded to the respective donors. 

 The Best Method of Utilising the Society's Excursions. 



Mr. W. M'Corquodale, Scone, opened the discussion on this subject. 

 He said : — 



This subject, the discussion of which I am requested to open at this meeting, 

 is of very considerable importance. Hitherto, the principal aim of the 

 excursionists has been to visit and devote their chief attention to th 

 Ornamental Department, making measurements of gigantic trees, and taking 

 notes of finest specimens of the newer conifers, &c., but overlooking almost 

 entirely a department of Forestry that is of far more intrinsic value to the 

 practical Forester, and to the nation, viz., the plantations proper, comprising all 

 the ordinary kinds of timber, and at all the various stages of growth. It appears 

 to me that the excursionists, in so doing, have been committing a serious error, 

 and I give the following as some of my reasons : — First, because the ornamental 

 is altogether a secondary element in the Science of Forestry. Its relative 

 importance to the great question how the growth of usefid and profitable wood- 

 lands may be best promoted is comparatively trifling. Second, because, 

 generally speaking, Forestry as a science recognises the cultivation of large 

 plantations of marketable timber as its proper and legitimate sphere. For these, 

 and other reasons, I would respectfully suggest that, in all future excursions, the 

 members of the Society keep mainly in view the examination of the general 

 plantations over the estates which they visit ; and I would indicate the fo] low- 

 ing points as of first importance to be considered, viz., the conditions of soils 

 climate, exposure, &c. ; the adaptation of the classes of trees best suited for the 

 various soils, and the system of management in practice in the several cases. 

 It is only in tliis way that the observations made at these excursions can become 

 of value for the future, and that the science of Forestry can be materially advanced. 

 At the same time, I do not urge the utter exclusion of the ornamental department 

 from the attention of the excursionists. On the contrary, I hold that this 

 department is calculated to prove both instructive and enjoyable, provided it be 

 used as an auxihary, and not a monopoly, as I fear it has been in the past. Take 

 the previous excursions as an illustration of my contention. The first excursion 

 of the Society was to the estates of Scone and Lynedoch, when I made it a point 

 to conduct the party over young Fir plantations, and hardwood plantations, as well 

 as over what might be called the ornamental department. The following year 

 at Dunkeld, Mr. M'Gregor did the same thing. The last excursion to Crieff 

 district occupied two days, when six estates were visited ; and in consequence of 

 undertaking too much, the visit to each estate was hurried over in an unsatisfactory 

 manner. It might be advisable that the excursion in future be confined to one 

 day only ; that a large wooded estate be selected, where a good system of manage- 

 ment has been adopted for many years, and where ample scope may be had for 

 making minute and careful inspection of both Fir and hardwood plantations, aa 



£ 



