REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY. 131 



woods are sufficiently well managed to make it desirable as a train- 

 ing ground for students and young foresters ; whether they could 

 be adapted to that purpose 1 " " Well, as I have said, I have 

 trained a great many young men who have gone out to be foresters, 

 and they have turned out very good men." — '• Then, in fact, you 

 have practically got a small forestry school of your own? " " Yes, 

 on a small scale." — " You train all your own staff, do you not ? " 

 " Well, two of our head men were not trained with me, but all the 

 others have been trained with me." — " Do you consider those men 

 you turn out to be quite competent to take charge of woods on a 

 small scale 1 " " Quite, and some of them to take charge of woods 

 on a large scale." — " In addition to that, are you good enough to 

 take young men for a short time 1" " Yes, we take a considerable 

 number of that kind." — " You would be of opinion that a short 

 course of practical instruction carried on in your woods would be 

 enough to fit a young fellow to take charge of a considerable plan- 

 tation afterwards 1" " He would see a great deal in a few weeks 

 or in a few months, but he would require, I should say, to be twelve 

 months before he would be competent to take charge." — " Do you 

 think he would be competent to take charge of woods without a 

 course of lectures in botany, natural hist(jry, and geology for 

 instance?" "He would be all the better for that." — "It would 

 be quite a short course ? " " Quite a short course." — "Half-a-dozen 

 lectures would be enough to tell him all the botany he would re- 

 quire V " A dozen." — " Then how many for natural history 1 " 

 " Half-a-dozen." 



"Is it an advantage of scientific instruction that it would 

 stimulate young men to make investigations and work them up. 

 Would it give them the lines on which they could work scientifically 

 and get further information?" " There is no doubt it would, but 

 the drawback is, that unless they are able to get better salaries than 

 they are getting they could not afford to go to a great expense with 

 their education." — "That is exactly the p)oint ; the difficulty in 

 getting good cheap and practical instruction for your young men, who 

 will get from £1 to 30s. a week? " " Yes, or from £80 to £100 

 a year." — " It would be absurd to think of sending them to a large 

 school for two years' training in matters of science ? " " The re- 

 muneration would not pay the expense." — " Would you consider it 

 possible to establish at your woods or elsewhere a short practical 

 course which would make these young men quite fit to manage 

 woods on a moderately large scale ? " " The difficulty of that would 



