Revieivs of Books. 49 



selves for holding the high appointments in their profession, cither af; 

 home, in India, or the colonies. 



Writing on this snbject, Dr. Hooker, Director of the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Kew, remarks, — 



" Forestry, a snbject 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 honour- 

 able, and even a distinguished place among the bi'anchcs of a liberal educa- 

 tion. In the estimation of an average Briton, forests are of infiaitely less 

 importance than the game they shelter, and it is not long since the wanton de- 

 struction 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, accoi'ding to the colonial botanists' report, millions of acres have 

 been made desert, and more are being made desert annually, through the de- 

 struction 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 New Zealand 

 there is not now a good Kauri pine to be found near the coast, and I believe 

 that the annals of every English colony would repeat the tale of wilful, wanton 

 waste and improvidence. On the other hand, in France, Prussia, Switzerland, 

 Austria, and Russia, the forests and waste lands are the subjects of devoted 

 attention on the part of the Government, and colleges, provided with a com- 

 plete staff of accomplished professors, train youths of respectable parentage 

 and good education to the duties of state forestry." 



Dr. Brown then goes on to say that — 



" Since my return to Europe, some ten years ago, from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, where I held the appointments of Colonial Botanist and Professor of 

 Botany in the South African College, I have, with the exception of a brief 

 period, been inconstant communication, personaland epistolary, with professors 

 and students of Forest Science, and officials entrusted with the management or 

 administration of forests in Britain, on the continent of Europe, in the 

 United States of America, in the British colonies, and in India, having in the 

 course of that time visited the United States a second time, and travelled 

 extensively in France, Bavaria, Austria, Russia, Finland, Prussia, and Bel- 

 gium, to obtain, and to verify information otherwise obtained, in regard to 

 forest economy and forest science. And I submit for your consideration 

 the opinion that, with the acquisition of this arboretum, and with the existing 

 arrangements for study in the University of Edinburgh, and in the Watt Insti- 

 tution and School of Arts, there are required only facilities for thestudy ofwhat 

 is known on the Continent as Forest Science to enable these institutions con- 

 jointly, or any one of them, to take a place amongst the most completely 

 equipped Schools of Forestry in Europe, and to undertake the training of 

 foresters for the discharge of such duties as ai'e now required of them in India, 

 in our colonies, and at home." 



From his acqnaintancewiththe'varioussystems and tlie courses of stndy fol- 

 lowed at mostof the Forest Schoolson the Contineut,Dr. Brown proposes what 

 he considers a suitable curriculum for a British School of Forestry, and points 

 nut the advantages to eligible young men of not having to learn foreign lan- 

 guages, which in all probability would never be of tlie slightest use to them 

 in after life, and the greater facility they would enjoy of thoroughly under- 

 standing the instructions given when imparted in their mother tongue. 



In the course of study which is sketched to extend over three years, 

 regard has been had to all that is required in Forest Schools, and also in 

 regard to the present teaching power of the University and other institu- 

 tions of Edinburgh, and it is contemplated that the studies should be 

 conducted by the use of text-books, by lectures, by oral examinations, by 



VOT>. T. E 



