CuiUiral First Principles. 



By G. ^5. ilOULGER, E.L.S., F.G.S., Late PitovESsou or Xatlual Ui.-tokv in tiil 



AOIUCULTI-KAL CoLLEGE, ClKEXCESTEl!. 



The e.xisting books on forcstiy published in this country are 

 buuental)ly deficient in scientific principles. They are mostly hetero- 

 geneous collections of personal experiences in limited areas in Scot- 

 land. Brown's "Forester" alarms the student by asserting the 

 necessity of his having a knowledge of chemistry, geology, botany, 

 vegetable physiology, and some zoology, besides French and German, 

 and possibly other subjects which have escaped my memory at 

 23resent, leading him to suppose that he requires a thorough know- 

 ledge of the technicalities and masses of facts embraced by these 

 branches of learning, instead of a knowledge merely of their leading 

 principles. These leading principles, so far as they have any bearing 

 on forestry, might well be set forth in a manual of such bulk as the 

 one above mentioned ; but had we a suitable national institution for 

 the thcrough training of foresters, it would be better still to have a 

 uniform series of smaller text-books on the sciences and arts jiertaining 

 to forestry. Another blemish hinted at above in existing works is 

 the want of any general view of the subject. Scotch foresters write 

 as if their methods of cultivating a few thousand acres were indis- 

 pensable all the world over; French and German foresters take but a 

 slightly Avider grasp ; whilst our Indian ofticials rellect in their 

 teaching whichever of the two latter schools they may have been 

 trained in. 



There are, however, certain principles cijually true of all climates, 

 others equally true of all soils, others equally true of all trees, and 

 others equally true of cultivation, both on a large and on a small 

 scale. Starting froin the economical first principle laid down in my 

 last article, that we should grow the most valuable species in the most 

 suitable climate and soil, with the right amount of room and shelter, 

 and as near as possible to the best market, we arrive at the first 

 cultural principle, viz., that the treatment of a forest depends on the 

 climate, the soil, and the nature of the trees to be grown. Proximity 

 to market being a question of finance or economics, is only indirectly 

 related to cultivation. 



