482 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



half a dozen others. I was two and a half years attached to the 

 national forestry school at Nancy, where I had the supervision of 

 the instruction given to the Indian Forest Service pupils. I fol- 

 lowed the course myself, and made myself fully acquainted with 

 the system of instruction there. I was afterwards appointed by 

 the Government of India to be the first director of the Indian 

 forest school at Dehra Dun, and 1 was there for seven years. I 

 mention these things to show that I have had experience in these 

 matters. What I find is that in all countries where forestry educa- 

 tion is satisfactorily given in a forestry school by professors, they 

 have at each of such institutions a forest area under the control of 

 the professors, who can illustrate on the ground what they have 

 taught in the class-room. That is what we greatly feel the need of 

 here. It is true that we have private estates to which we can go, 

 and a neighbouring proprietor has very kindly placed his woods at 

 our disposal, where I am permitted, as lecturer of the University, 

 to go with the students as often as I like. This is a privilege 

 which we highly appreciate; but, at the same time, no amount of 

 visits to a private forest could possibly take the place of visits to 

 an organised public forest, under a continuous and permanent 

 system of management. Mr Munro Ferguson has mentioned the 

 liability of a change of system on these private forests. A change 

 of owner often means a change of system, but if you have a State 

 forest its management is continuous. The State never dies, and 

 the result is that, under regulations drawn up for the treatment of 

 these woods, it is not possible for any manager to alter the system 

 or to disturb the continuity of management, or to render the woods 

 unsuitable for purposes of instruction. In Edinburgh, I find great 

 difficulty in teaching forestry without such a forest area. I go to 

 my class-room, I do my best there to tell the students what they 

 ought to do, and explain matters as well as I can ; but you will 

 readily understand that no words can really paint the picture to 

 the minds of the students as it might be shown to them in 

 five minutes under the trees. In the Indian forestry school we 

 conduct our teaching something in this way. We have three 

 months during the rainy season, when instruction is given in the 

 house. During the other nine months of the year the professor 

 and his students are under the greenwood. We have a large mar- 

 quee pitched, or some shelter-building erected ; there the students 

 camp out, and there, under the trees, the professor speaks, and 

 practically illustrates what he is teaching. That, I think, is the 



