THE PROPOSED SCHOOL OF FORESTKY. 77 



In whatever manner the scheme of establishing a forest school 

 for the professional training of wood-managers and foresters may- 

 be acoomjilished, I desire to assure you of my hearty sympathy in 

 the undertaking. In some excellent remarks, headed, " How to 

 make the most of the Excursions arranged by the Society," your 

 honorary member, William M'Corquodale — with whom in 1865 T 

 spent a delightful and most instructive day in the woods of Scone 

 Palace, near Perth — justly drew attention to the advantage of an 

 accurate study of the methods of forestry practised on various 

 estates. Much, very much, of the highest interest to the forester, 

 may be seen and learned in the Scottish woodlands. Different 

 methods of forestry have been practised under widely different 

 circumstances, in some cases with marked success, while in other 

 cases there have been failui-es. A forest school, if the teaching is 

 of the proper kind, will contribute much to a better understand- 

 ing of the circumstances which have led to success in the one 

 case and to failure in the other. The students will be taught to 

 observe accurately, to combine their own observations with the 

 theoretical knowledge they have acquired, and this will eventually 

 enable them to draw correct conclusions from the facts which they 

 have observed. The school, if well directed, ought to become 

 a centre of scientific research, the results of which will contribute 

 much towards a more successful management of the woodlands. 

 The foresters trained at the school will not only be more efficient 

 in their work, but — and this is of very great importance — the 

 better they learn to understand the connection, as worked out by 

 science, between cause and effect in the life of trees and shrubs, 

 the greater will be their enthusiastic attachment to their jjrofes- 

 sion. True, healthy, enthusiastic attachment to one's profession 

 is a blessing in the life of a young man, the value of which it is 

 difficult to overrate. When the time for action comes in the 

 matter of the Scottish Forest School, I shall deem it an honour 

 and a pleasure, if it should be desired, and if circumstances should 

 permit, to help with my advice, and some day, perhaps, to explain 

 to the students some of the conclusions which I have formed as 

 the result of many years' study of trees and shrubs in different 

 countries. 



