12G TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



practical teacher of forestry, say at £200 a year, and that would 

 be about all that you would require." — "I suppose men who are 

 going to the Colonies or to India wt)uld come and be educated 1 " 

 " I ex[)ect a great number would." 



" Have you much natural Scots fir ?" " A great deal of natural 

 fir." — "Do you allow much of it to come up; do you inclose for 

 the purpose of allowing natural fir to grow ? " " Great quantities ; 

 to a great extent." — " What proportion of your timber is natural 

 fir and what is planted. Is half of it natural fir?" "I should 

 think about half is natural fir and birch." — "Do you get a higher 

 price for it in the market 1 " " No, although it is better quality." — 

 " You ought to 1 " " We ought to, but we do not."- — ^ Do you 

 cut on a regular system, or so many acres a year 1 " " Not so 

 many acres a year, but so much thinning, and clearing at the same 

 time." — "Do you have a clean cut every year?" "Not every 

 year." — "How many men do you employ?" "It varies very 

 much ; we do a great deal of our work by contract, nearly all the 

 cutting of trees is by contract, so much per hundred ; fencing is by 

 contract, so much a yard or 100 yards." — " Since so much land has 

 been put under timber in your district there has been a larger field 

 for labour; it gives more employment?" "It gives more employ- 

 ment for work-people." — " Have you much difficulty in getting 

 your timber to the markets ? " " None now. We have the benefit 

 of the Highland Railway and the Great North of Scotland Rail- 

 way ; both run through the property." — " How much has timber 

 gone down in price during the last ten or fifteen years ? " " Fully 

 a third." — " Have you been much troubled by squirrels V " Very 

 much."—" And by game ? " " Very little." 



" How many wood-cutters do you employ ? " " In Strathspey 

 there are three foresters, and under each forester there is a regular 

 staff of men." — "We have it in evidence that a school of forestry 

 would be most useful to the head men ; men like yourself or your 

 sub-foresters, and that technical education is not necessary for the 

 men who are only employed to cut down trees, or do the regular 

 planting? " " If those men had the education they might rise from 

 being wood-cutters to being head men, and very likely would rise." 

 — " A forest could be well managed by a skilled head forester and 

 by men under his command who were not skilled ? " " Perfectly." 

 — " You told us in evidence that probably young men could not 

 afford the cost of the education ? " " Where there is a will there is 

 nearly always a way." — " In speaking of forestry, must we not dis- 



