382 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ing, etc.), let them continue to serve as game preserves and 

 adornments of the landscape. What I do urge is the creation of 

 additional woods on surplus lands to be managed on economic 

 principles, for the production of timber and other forest produce. 

 To make such a movement a success, it is, however, necessary to 

 dismiss, once for all, the idea that anybody can manage wood- 

 lands so that they may be financially successful. People must 

 learn that successful forestry must be based on research, at least 

 as much as agriculture. At Coopers Hill we educate the forest 

 officers required for India, and we have also trained three for 

 Cape Colony, one for Ceylon, and one for Mauritius. But the 

 study at Coopers Hill is so arranged as to meet the requirements 

 of India, and the expenses connected with the course are neces- 

 sarily high. The college belorigs to the Government of India, 

 which cannot be expected to provide for the education of forest 

 experts, who will either go to the colonies or be employed in the 

 United Kingdom. 



Efforts have been made towards giving instruction in forestry 

 at other places, as in Edinburgh ; but what we require is at least 

 one well-equipped forestry faculty at a university, such equipment 

 to include a suitable practical training ground. In addition, 

 sylvicultural schools are wanted, where men of less pretensions 

 may be educated to fill the posts of foresters on private estates of 

 limited extent. Such a school has been started in connection 

 with the Royal Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, and it would not 

 be a difficult task to develop it, and to start others in England 

 and Ireland. I believe that landed proprietors would pick up the 

 men trained at such schools to carry out the plans which experts 

 have prepared for them. It gives me real pleasure to state here 

 that plans of operation (or working plans, as foresters call them), 

 which I prepared three years ago for His Grace the Duke of 

 Bedford's forests in Devonshire and at Woburn, are being 

 followed and carried out by intelligent foresters. Once a year 

 I visit each locality, check the work of the past twelve months, 

 and indicate what should be done in the ensuing year. The 

 effects of such operations are naturally slow in showing, but I am 

 satisfied that they will lead to a considerable improvement in the 

 yield-capacity of these forest estates. As in agriculture proper, 

 so in forestry, His Grace is leading the way, which other pro- 

 prietors will do well to follow. 



The difficulty about extended afforestation in the United 



