DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEK ON BRITISH FORESTRY. 13 



27. For such foresters and woodmen as are unable to leave 

 their posts to go through the training in the demonstration 

 forests, or for whom there are no vacancies, we recommend that 

 the various agricultural colleges should institute short courses in 

 forestry, similar to the short courses in agriculture and dairying 

 which have been so marked a feature of technical education iu 

 recent years. The classes held in the demonstration areas should 

 also, upon payment of a small fee, be open to students from 

 outside, and not confined to the student-foresters. We suggest 

 also that County Councils should ofier small scholarships or 

 bursaries to enable students to attend classes in forestry, while 

 many owners of woods would probably find it advantageous to 

 pay the expenses of their foresters, so as to enable them to attend 

 shore courses. Lectures, under the auspices of the County 

 Council, might also be given with advantage in neighbourhoods 

 where woods are numerous, as has already been done in 

 Northumberland and Aberdeenshire. Supplementary to the 

 class-room instruction, and sometimes independent of it, the 

 instructor should visit woods where the owner or forester 

 expresses a desire for advice, and should give practical demon- 

 strations in planting, thinning, and the other operations of 

 forestry. It may be pointed out that in the United States of 

 America there is in the Department of Agriculture a Bui'eau of 

 Forestry, equipped with a staff of field assistants, whose services 

 in the preparation of working plans, and in the matter of 

 practical advice on the ground, are at the disposal of private 

 owners. 



Minor Considerations. 



Local Rates. 



28. Evidence has been laid before the Committee to the effect 

 that in England the incidence of rates on plantations, and the 

 valuation of woodlands made by Assessment Committees, are 

 subjects of complaint. It has been suggested that, as in some 

 other countries, young plantations should not be rated so long as 

 they yield no return ; also that the relief given to agricultural 

 land by the State should be extended to woodland. There are 

 fewer similar complaints from Scotland, although it is interesting 

 to notice that in Scotland a plantation when grazed by stock is 

 rated on its grass rent, the timber bearing no rates ; but were the 

 same wood properly managed and stock excluded, the timber 



