THE SOCIETY S JUBILEE DINNER. 49 



Scotsman would buy hickory. If we could get suflficient land 

 planted with timber, it would be a reserve that the country could 

 always look forward to, and he believed there was no country in 

 the world that could produce such a variety of timber and of 

 such good quality as Scotland. 



Mr W. M'Kinnon gave the toast of "The Press," to which 

 Mr W. M. Gilbert, of The Scotsman, replied. 



The toast of " The Clergy " was proposed by Mr A. D. 

 Richardson. 



Mr Boa submitted the toast of " The Secretary " ; and Mr 

 Galloway, in replying, referred to the old record of the first 

 meeting of the Society which had been exhibited by Mr Massie. 

 He thought that record ought to be reproduced in the Trans- 

 actions of the Society ; at anyrate, it ought to be preserved. 

 There was a copy of it in the minute-book of the Society. 

 The only difference he knew was that the date in the minute-book 

 was 1 6th February, whereas the date in the document that 

 Mr Massie had read was 17th February. He saw the document 

 was written in a hotel ; he did not know if that made any 

 difference. It had always been understood that the date of the 

 foundation of the Society was i6th February 1854. That was 

 the date given in all the records he had seen, with the exception 

 of a statement in Mr M'Corquodale's address, which he supposed 

 was a printer's error, and he had taken no further notice of it. 

 Mr Massie made a suggestion, to which he thought the Society 

 might pay some attention. It was, that they ought to start a 

 Joint Stock Company to acquire an estate for the purpose of 

 growing timber and establishing a Forest School for themselves. 

 He thought it was a good idea that they should encourage 

 private enterprise; at the same time they should not relax their 

 efforts to get the State to do its duty, because there was no 

 doubt afforestation was a national question as well. Dr 

 Somerville had reminded them of the fact that at some period 

 of its history there were local societies attached to the parent 

 body. He remembered noticing that before. He presumed that 

 these societies had gone the way of a great many rural industries, 

 and had been swept away. 



Mr R. V. Mather, in proposing the toast of " The Chairman," 

 said that all who were interested in arboriculture must feel that 

 the Society had done the right thing in electing as their President 

 Mr Steuart Fothringham, the owner of that splendidly wooded 



VOL. XVIII, D 



