282 The yonrnal of Forestry. 



In England it has long been the practice of the commercial and manu- 

 facturing classes in search of greater security for their acquisitions than 

 trade presented, and, perhaps, also in some cases to take rank as country 

 gentlemen, to place sons with well-educated, accomplished farmers, to be 

 instructed in the practical details of husbandry, preparatory to taking 

 charge of landed estates in their own interest. May not that plan point 

 out a method of teaching forestry, where competent men may give in- 

 struction in that especial branch, as well as in other pursuits of rural life — 

 schools under the refining influences of home ? 



In days gone by it was the practice of southern planters to send one of 

 their sons to the medical school at the Pennsylvania University, or 

 Jefferson College. Here they passed two winters in attendance on 

 the lectures, returning home with diplomas in their pockets, not in most 

 cases to practise medicine as a profession, but prepared to minister 

 to the wants of the plantation hands and household servants. It might be 

 difficult to estimate the influence on the intellectual character of an isolated 

 rural community where one of these young men found his abode, imperfect 

 as his education may have been, compared with the great field of know- 

 ledge unexplored. Now, in recommending farmers with the necessary 

 means to send their sons as students to nurserymen, it is not with any ex- 

 pectation they adopt the nursery business as the pursuit of life, but simply 

 to qualify them for the more profitable enjoyment of their paternal acres, 

 to expand their views beyond the boundaries of the homestead, to occupy 

 the high position which is an American farmer's birthright. 



I trust this convention may be the forerunner of others, that a complete 

 organization will be established, that subjects for essays to be read at 

 subsequent meetings may be determined upon Jn advance, and that its 

 influence be extended at home, and conference be had with kindred associa- 

 tions abroad. I beg leave to lay upon the. table of your chairman my cre- 

 dentials as a member of the Scottish Arboricultural Society, and as that 

 Society's representative at the Centennial Exposition. 



Remarkable Silver Firs. 



In writing upon the silver fir in the Garden, Mr. Berry makes the 

 following remarks on some very fine old specimens : — At Longleat, Wilts, 

 there are some remarkably noble clumps of this tree growing on directly 

 opposite conditions of soils. The oldest and tallest specimens (probably 

 the largest in England) are growing in a clump in the park ; the soil in 

 which they are growing is a rich hazel loam and Kimmeridge clay subsoil ; 

 the clump consists of nine trees, and they vary from 105 ft. to 141 ft. in 

 height, and girth at 5 ft. al)ove the ground from 10 ft. to 15 ft. 2 iu. ; they 

 are quite matured, — indeed, some of them are becoming decayed, and one 

 or two have withered tops and a great many dead branches. I am unable 



