and with a view of stimulating public interest in the matter, a 

 Forestry Exhibition, chiefly organised by the Council, was held in 

 Edinburgh in 1884. 



As a further step towards the end in view, the Society, in 

 1890, instituted a Fund for the purpose of establishing a Chair 

 of Forestry at the University of Edinburgh, and a sum of 

 £584, 3s. lOd. has since been raised by the Society and handed 

 over to the University. Aided by an annual subsidy from the 

 Board of Agriculture, which the Society was mainly instrumental 

 in obtaining, a Course of Lectures at the University has been 

 delivered without interruption since 1889. It is recognised, how- 

 ever, that a School of Forestry is incomplete without a practical 

 training-ground, which, if attached to it, would be available, not only 

 for purposes of instruction but also as a Station for Research and 

 Experiment, and as a Model Forest, by which Landowners and 

 Foresters throughout the country might benefit. The Society 

 has accordingly drawn up a Scheme for the Establishment of a 

 State Model Forest in Scotland which might serve the above- 

 named objects. 



The Government, unfortunately, does not see its way to give 

 immediate effect to this Scheme; but Mr Munro Ferguson, M.P., 

 for a part of whose woods at Raith a Working Plan has recently 

 been prepared, and is now in operation, has very kindly agreed to 

 allow Students to visit them ; and he has also placed at the disposal 

 of the Society a bursary of £30 per annum, for a few years, for the 

 benefit of Students who, with a view to undertaking the manage- 

 ment of woods in the United Kingdom, may study Forestry and 

 kindred subjects at the Edinburgh University. 



Excursions. 



During the past twenty-four years, well-organised Excursions, 

 numerously attended by Members of the Society, have been made 

 annually to various parts of Scotland, England, and Ireland ; and 

 in 1895, a Tour extending over twelve days was made through the 

 Forests of Northern Germany. These Excursions enable Members 

 whose occupations necessarily confine them chiefly to a single 

 locality to study the conditions and methods prevailing elsewhere ; 

 and the Council propose to extend the Tours during the next few 

 years to Sweden, Norway, France, and Southern Germany. They 

 venture to express the hope that Landowners may be induced to 

 afford facilities to their Foresters for participation in these Tours, 

 the instructive nature of which renders them well worth the 

 moderate expenditure of time and money that they involve. 



