The Schools of Forestry i a Plea for the Creation of a School of Forestry m 



K:. Connection tvith the Arboretum at Fdiniuryh. By John Croumbie 



Bro^-n, LL.D., F.R.S., F.EG.S., &c. Ediuburgli, Oliver and Boyd. 



•< In this iuteresting pamphlet of 72 pages, which Dr. Brown has addressed 

 to the Right. Hon. liord Provost, Magistrates, and Town Councillors of 

 Edinburgh; the office-bearers of the Scottish A rboricultural Society ; and all 

 others whom it may concern, much valuable information is given upon 

 the number, extent, equipment, and history of the Forest Schools in 

 Europe, and the ample means possessed by tliem for thoroughly teaching 

 the science and practice of forestry suited to the wants of the country in 

 which the school is situated. The author possesses an extensive knowledge 

 and experience of the state of forestry in several widely separated parts of the 

 world, and has long taken a special interest in all that concerns the advance- 

 ment and teaching of forest science and forest economy, having visited 

 America, and traversed the greater part of the continent of Europe, visiting 

 many of its most famous Forest Schools, in pursuit of correct information 

 and details on the subject ; all these he has embodied in the pamphlet 

 which he has now laid before " all whom it may concern," giving very 

 cogent reasons and most conclusive arguments why the country should 

 immediately institute a School of Forestry, and forcibly pointing out the 

 very great advantages possessed by Edinburgh, with its famous University, 

 Botanic Gardens, and Arboretum, for the speedy and economical creation 

 of a completely equipped and thoroughly efficient School of Forestry. 

 He says, — 



" In Spain, in Italy, in Austria, in Poland, in Eussia, in Finland, in Sweden, in 

 France, and in every kingdom and principality in Germany, there have been es- 

 tablished by Government Schools of Forest Science, orclasses in connection with 

 existing universities, or Polytechnic Institution?, in which instruction is given 

 in that science ; but nowhere in Britain, in the United States of America, or in 

 any of the British colonies, so far as is known to me, are similar facilities af- 

 forded for the study of this most important science." 



He then proceeds to give the opinion of the eminent Professor of Materia 

 Medica, Ediuburgh, and learned arborist, Sir Piobert Christison, Bart., 

 who says that he has always taken a great interest in the science 

 of arboriculture, and from the time that the Edinburgh arboretum 

 w-as first mooted, he has regarded it as a much-needed and valuable addi- 

 tion to the teaching power of the university. The science of forestry, he 

 pointed out, was not taught in this country, and the consequence was that 

 foresters and otliers had to proceed to the Continent in order to acquire 

 that necessary branch of their education, so as to properly qualify them- 



