ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, JANUARY 23, 1895, 99 
imagine that it would have been severe upon timber; but as it was 
passed it was not so, and I don’t think anybody can complain of 
the Death Duties as they now affect timber. 
Gentlemen, I may have taken a rather prosaic view of our 
arboriculture ; but I would urge, nevertheless, that the commercial 
view of Forestry should be the predominant view. I do not 
disparage ornamental work. I think the parks and policies of our 
country are perhaps the greatest of our national works. There is 
nothing so beautiful in the world as a Scottish or English park. 
There are few spots where you will find so great a value of timber 
in single trees; there are few spots more beautiful to behold; and 
when these parks can be open to the public they are of infinite 
value to the nation. But at the same time, they are a luxury 
in which every landowner cannot indulge in these days. Neither 
do I undervalue pinetums, because many kinds of trees have been 
introduced into this country by reason of the interest which has 
been taken in strange plants. Let every branch of our science 
be developed ; but if the wastes of Scotland are to be clothed, if 
her country people are to be kept in the country, and work is to 
be found on the land for an increasing population, these ends will 
only be properly achieved if timber pays to grow. As I said, 
that may seem a prosaic conclusion to many as a basis to the 
growth of our romantic woodlands ; but it is because I love trees 
so well, and it is because I seek to have more, and to: make 
Scotland what she ought to be—one of the chief timber-producing 
countries in the world—that I have ventured in my address to 
lay so much stress upon this consideration, that timber should be 
a paying branch of our industry. 
