TRANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



EOYAL SCOTTISH ABBORICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



J. Address delivered at the Forty-sixth Annual Meeting held on 



2-ith January 1699. By Colonel F. Bailey, President of 

 the Society. 



My term of office has now drawn to a close, and I desire to 

 express my best thanks to the Council and Officials of the Society 

 for the cordial support they have always given me, which has 

 rendered my duties as President both light and agreeable. But 

 before handing over office to my successor, I propose, with your 

 permission, to offer a few remarks on some of the moi-e important 

 of the matters that have recently occupied our attention. 



It is a common saying that wcods here will not pay, though 

 it is well known that in other countries they can be made to yield 

 a handsome profit. It is said that our soil and climate are 

 unfavourable to sylviculture ; but no one has made clear to me 

 what is wrong with either the one or the other. I have, however, 

 heard it remarked that we have not sufficient sunshine for the 

 development of close-grown crops ; but I am not aware that we 

 are worse off in this respect than the countries surrounding the 

 Baltic Sea, with its northern and eastern extensions, whence we 

 annually import a large proportion of the timber we use, which 

 has obviously been grown in densely stocked woods. 



It is a well-known fact that woods, and especially woods of fir, 

 pine or larch, will develop vigorously on soil of very poor quality. 

 I know forests in France, on the shores of the Bay of Biscay, 

 growing on soil the mineral constituents of which, to the extent 

 of 94 or 95 per cenb., consist of pure flint sand ; yet they produce 

 pine timber of large dimensions, and large profits are made on the 

 resin extracted from the trees. Is the soil that we complain of 

 worse than that? Of course on our higher uplands, with their 



VOL. XVI. PART I. A 



