THE CONDITION OF FORESTRY IN BRITAIN. 181 



it. The teaching in the Glasgow and West of Scotland Agricultural 

 College is practically of no importance, and the Royal Agricultural 

 College, Cirencester, is similarly situated,^ The lectures delivered 

 in Durham College, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and at the University of 

 Cambridge, are of greater value. The students at these classes are 

 chiefly prospective estate agents, though, in Cambridge, the sons 

 of landowners also take part in them. 



Then there is the Royal Indian Engineering College at Coopers 

 Hill, where, under the direction of Dr Schlich, the forest officials 

 for service in India receive their education. Even for this last- 

 named institution, the money allowed by Government is inadequate. 

 To a German this is the more surprising, because, to him, India 

 always suggests golden riches. As far as Britain is concerned, the 

 sylviculturists who have qualified at Coopers Hill are available 

 only at the end of their period of service, or when they return 

 "invalided home." It would seem that these gentlemen are 

 administrators rather than foresters whose inclination is to inquire 

 into the details of cultural work^so important a qualification for 

 British forestry at present. 



Apart from the last-mentioned college, there remain in 

 Great Britain, only Edinburgh, Newcastle, and Cambridge for 

 students of the more highly educated class. The forestry know- 

 ledge of most of these men, owing to the limited scope of the 

 lectures, and the entirely insufiicient practical training, is very 

 deficient. Moreover, students usually attach but little import- 

 ance to the subject beyond its bearing upon examinations. 

 The greater number of those who have studied at the above 

 colleges become factors or are engaged in agriculture, having too 

 little inducement to follow out the forestry profession. Of the 

 few students wlio give more attention to forestry, the majority 

 find their way to the colonies, so that the number of sylviculturists 

 with scientific knowledge remaining at home is exceedingly small. 



It is the " forester " who in reality has charge of the woods, 

 and he is without systematic training either in the scientific or 

 practical direction. A few only have taken the evening course 

 while working at the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. Foresters are 

 partly drawn from the better forest workers, partly from gardeners, or 

 gamekeepers, or from occupations still more remotely connec ed 

 with sylviculture. Granting, certainly, that a number of these 



^ Since the above was written, a lectureship in Forestr}^ and Estate 

 Management has been created at Cirencester. — Tr. 



