INAUGURATION OF NEW CHAIR OF FORESTRY AT CIRENCESTER. 185 



XXI. An Address delivered at the Inauguration of the New 

 Chair of Forestry and Estate Management at the Royal 

 Agricultural College, Cirencester. By Dr Schlich, C.I.E., 

 Ph.D., F.R.S. 



The Council of the Royal Agricultural College has done me the 

 honour of appointing me Honorary Professor of Forestry at the 

 College. It is an honour which I highly appreciate for several 

 reasons. Apart from the acknowledgment of my humble efforts 

 in the cause of extended afforestation and amelioration of existing 

 methods of managing woodlands in this country, I value the 

 appointment, especially because it shows that the authorities of 

 the College fully recognise the importance of forestry. After all, 

 forestry means the employment of land for a specific purpose, and 

 it forms, therefore, part of agriculture in its wider sense. Indeed, 

 it represents an essential part in the management of almost any 

 estate in this country. The Council have, therefore, acted wisely 

 in taking 



A New Departure 



by appointing a special Professor of Estates Management and 

 Forestry. I had the pleasure this last summer of seeing a good deal 

 of your new professor, Mr F. M'Clellan, and I feel sure he will give 

 a good account of himself. There is yet another matter of great 

 importance to which I must refer. The Principal has alluded to 

 the fact that this College is situated close to Lord Bathurst's estate, 

 a great portion of which is under wood. I cannot claim an intimate 

 acquintance with these woods, but Mr Elwes was good enough to 

 drive me through them a couple of years ago, and I can assure you 

 that I was most favourably impressed with their condition, and the 

 careful management which that condition indicates. Lord Bathurst, 

 I understand, has been kind enough to place his woods at your 

 disposal for educational purposes, and I think the College owes to 

 his lordship a debt of gratitude for his liberality and public spirit. 

 Let us hope that proprietors in other parts of the country will 

 follow Lord Bathurst's admirable example. Thus, the College 

 appears to be well equipped to impart that knowledge of forestry 

 which in these days is considered of great importance in the 

 development of the resources of the land, and through it to land- 

 owners and land agents, as well as to the labouring classes, because 

 VOL. xvii. part ii. n 



