8 TRAXSACTIOXS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



colleges. At Yale and Cornell, for instance, students may proceed 

 to a special degree in forestry. 



Examjde Plots. 



15. Even where access may be had to private woods, in is 

 exceedingly desirable that collegiate instruction in forestry should 

 be illustrated by means of example plots (the German Forstgarten). 

 These are a considerable feature of the teaching in the university 

 of Giessen and elsewhere on the Continent, and they have been 

 reproduced, on a small scale, at Coopers Hill and on the 

 Northumberland Demonstration Farm. If each plot be made of 

 sufficient size, say three acres, it is capable not only of demon- 

 strating principles, and the effect of mixing and management, but 

 also, within limits, of yielding comparative financial results. A 

 total area of 100-200 acres at each centre would be necessary 

 and sufficient for this purpose. In confirmation of this opinion, 

 Professor Schwappach allows us to quote his view that the plots 

 at Giessen (the whole area of which is only 16|^ acres) are too 

 small, and that the serious efiects of curtailed space are already 

 being felt. "We have made an inspection of several areas of land 

 near Cambridge, one of which could doubtless be bought for such 

 a purpose, and similar facilities could probably be secured near 

 Edinburgh and other centres of instruction. 



16. The desirability of a great State Forest School on the 

 model of Nancy or of Eberswalde has not escaped our attention, 

 but we do not feel justified, under present conditions, in 

 recommending so great an outlay as would be necessitated bv 

 the creation of such an institution. We think, however, that 

 many of the advantages of an institution of this type could be 

 secured at a comparatively small outlay by the transference of 

 the Forestry Department at Coopers Hill to a university centre. 

 This would at once place the highest form of forestry education 

 available in this country within the reach of a large proportion of 

 the prospective landowners and land-agents, while the advantages 

 to the candidates for the Indian Forest Service of three years' 

 residence in a university are obvious. The colonies make 

 increasing demands on this country for qualified forest experts, 

 and we anticipate that an increasing number of lecturers 

 and advisory experts will be required for work in the United 

 Kingdom. Our universities contain many students thoroughly 

 well-grounded in natural science and economics, who, at the end 



