454 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



practice, holds on the continent an honourable, and even a 

 distinguished place amongst the branches of a liberal education. 

 In the estimation of an average Briton, forests are of infinitely 

 less importance than the game they shelter, and it is not long 

 since the wanton destruction 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, according to the colonial botanist's reports, 

 millions of acres have been made desert, and more are being 

 made desert annually, through the destruction of the indigenous 

 forests ; in Demarara the useful timber trees have all been 

 removed from accessible regions, and no care or thought given 

 to planting others ; from Trinidad we have the same story ; 

 in New Zealand there is not a good Kandi Pine to be found near 

 the coast, and I believe that the annals of almost every 

 British 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 complete staff of accomplished professors, train 

 youths of good birth and education to the duties of state 

 foresters. Nor, in the case of Prance, is this law confined 

 to the mother country ; the Algerian forests are worked with 

 scrupulous solicitude, and the collections of vegetable produce 

 from the French colonies of New Caledonia, etc., contain 

 specimens which, though not falling technically under Class 

 87, abound in evidence of their forest products being all 

 diligently explored. 



The collection exhibited by the Administration of Forests 

 of France is by far the finest of its kind ever brought together ; 

 the enumeration of its contents alone fills an instructive pam- 

 phlet of 160 octavo pages, classified as follows, and which 

 further contains a great deal of useful information on the 

 geology of the forest regions, the growth, strength, and 

 durability of timber, and many other matters concerning 

 which no certain information is obtainable in this country. 

 It consists of: — 



1. Forest map of France, showing the relations between 

 the distribution of the forests and the geology of the country. 



