Scottish Arbor iciilt^iral Society. 561 



Tu 1S74-75 the members numbered 726, and the income £804 ; and in 

 Ls7(j-77 it rose to 746, with an income of £351. This gratifying advance 

 they owed in a great measure to the valuable services of his distinguished 

 predecessors in the chair,— Professor Balfour, Dr. Cleghorn, and Mr. 

 Hutchison, of Carlowrie. To all of these the society is most deeply 

 indebted. Professor Balfour has a European reputation, which renders 

 it an honour to any society to be presided over by him. Dr. Cleghorn, 

 to the great experience that he has acquired by a lengthened and dis- 

 tinguished service in India, where he acted in a responsible and high 

 position in the forest department, adds the great love which be bears to 

 the science, and the deep interest which he has always shown for it since 

 his return to this country. As to Mr. Hutchison, he has been the life and 

 soul of the society ever since its commencement, and he doubted very much 

 whether if it had not been for his great and continuous exertions, and for 

 his most valuable contributions to the literature of arboriculture published 

 in the Transactions of the society, we should have been at this day in the 

 vigorous existence which we happily enjoy. He could not pass on without 

 saying a word of praise and encouragement on the establishment of the 

 Journal of Foreslry. That journal was established only this year, and he 

 hoped it would become the organ of the society, as well as the 

 organ of British Forestry in general. It is creditable to the founders 

 that it was established entirely independently of the society, and has 

 not trenchfcl in any way on its funds. He was glad to observe that 

 peculiar facilities are oflFered to under-foresters and others for obtaining 

 the journal at an easy rate. Advantage should be taken of its columns to 

 make known to the public generally all that is interesting and instructive 

 on the subject of arboriculture, and he hoped the staff and contributors 

 may have all the success they deserve for having undertaken a useful, 

 instructive, and possibly as yet a not very lucrative work. He observed in 

 the history of the society that in 1871 the Queen was graciously pleased to 

 become a patron, and at the same time they became aflBliated to the Royal 

 Society, which he considered was a great step in advance. These two 

 additions to the dignity and importance of the society ought to be followed 

 by another, viz., a Eoyal Charter, and if he could do anything towards 

 obtaining that object they might command his services. On being called 

 to the distinguished position of president he had asked himself what his 

 claims were to such an honour. He could at least say that he was a prac- 

 tical woodman, accustomed frcmi his earliest youth to the use of the axe, 

 and delighting both in the exercise and the interest that it gave, and thus 

 they would recognise in him a faithful follower of his late distinguished 

 chief and leader — Mr. Gladstone, whom one often heard derided for his 

 partiality to woodman's work, but he was sure in that company, whatever 

 their political opinions might be, and whatever they might think of him as 

 a statesman and an orator, they could all appreciate this trait in his 

 character. His other claim to the position was that he came of a race of 

 planters and foresters. He was the fifth in succession who had specially 

 devoted himself to improving the estate of Blairadam — more by planting 



