582 The yoitrnal of Forestry, 



matter of propagation, for if the cause mentioned by Mr. Scott is the onlj' 

 one, more care must be given to our woodlands ; and not only all branches, 

 but also the chips made by the axe in the act of felling or pruning off" the 

 boughs must all be burned as soon as possible. All dying trees must also 

 be cut down at once, as I believe if this system of propagation is correct, 

 in the case of the pine, it will also be found to be the case with all the 

 other classes of trees ; consequently a thorough clearance of all waste pro- 

 duce will be necessary as soon as a course of thinning is completed ; and 

 if actually found to be the case, the sooner it is universally adopted the 

 better, if our employers will afford the time and means necessary for its 

 accomplishment. But this beetle, though injurious by retarding the 

 growth, and the means of deforming the tree when it atfaius a medium 

 size, does not cause the plant to die [it does — Edi\, and possibly the 

 better course would be, as I already suggested in a former communica- 

 tion, to get a couple of boys to go over our young jilantations, and with an 

 averuncator cut off all the young twigs they can find attacked by the beetle, 

 carefully gathering and burning them. But if the counteraction of the 

 sap is the cause, nature alone can prevent their propagation. [The "coun- 

 teraction of the sap," whatever our correspondent may mean by that phrase, 

 has nothing to do with the propagation of the pine beetle. — -E'r/.] 



Notional. 



FOREST SCHOOLS AND THE EDINBURGH 

 ARBORETUM. 



Sir, — I have had my attention called to an article in the Indian 

 Forester for last July, in which some entirely erroneous remarks are 

 made by B. H. B. P. upon my proposal to establish forest schools in 

 Britain, more particularly in Edinburgh, in connection with the new 

 Arboretum there. B. H. B. P., is not the first person who has stated 

 that a British education is insufficient for the training of officers for the 

 forest service in India, — see my pamphlet on the " Schools of Forestry in 

 Europe," pages 56 to 5'J, where I give the opinion of his chief, 

 Dr. Braudis, upon the subject, in wliich exactly the same arguments are 

 advanced. B. H. B. P. admits all 1 have ever claimed for the Arboretum 

 when he says that " an Arhorctum, giving a valuable insight into the form, 

 natural history, and so forth, of a variety of species, as well as an oppor- 

 tunity for studying methods of planting, pruning, and treatment, might 

 be valuable as an arhorkidturc school ; " and nowhere have I given occasion 

 for his ridiculous suggestion, to '■ imagine the professor setting the pupils 

 to treat the Arboretum the first year as forest of a ' coppice under standards ! ' 

 and then perhaps the succeeding classes would draw up a working plan 

 based on the principle of conversion back into high forest ! " Also, I have 

 never anywhere said that " the establishment of such a school would 

 save pupils the disadvantatje of learning French or German "(!) — the 

 italics are B. H. B. P.'s. 



