TRANSACTIONS 



TJOYAL SCOTTISH AltBOfilCULTURAL SOCIETY. 



VIII. Address delivered at the Thirty-Jijth Annual Meeting, 1th 

 August, 1888. By Malcolm Dunn, Dalkeith. 



Gentlemen, — In the absence of the President, Sir Herbert 

 Eustace Maxwell, Bart., whose Parliamentary duties make it 

 impossible for him to be with us to-day to give the usual Address, 

 it has fallen to my lot, as a Vice-President, to undertake the duty 

 of presiding at this Meeting, and to do the best I can, at short 

 notice, to deliver the " Opening Remarks by the Chairman," as 

 intimated in the Billet. 



For many years it has been customary for the President to 

 open the Annual Meeting with an Address on some topic of a 

 special or general interest to foresters, and designed to promote 

 the advancement of Arboriculture. From the able and learned 

 gentlemen who have previously filled this chair on thirty-four 

 similar occasions, the members present have always been 

 treated to an excellent discourse upon subjects of importance to 

 Forestry, and upon many matters having a beneficial influence 

 upon the welfare and prosperity of the Society. Therefore, 

 I regret the more that I am not gifted with the eloquence 

 necessary to address you in the same effective style ; nor am I 

 possessed of the practical knowledge and training to enter with 

 success upon a technical discussion of any special branch of the 

 wide subjects of Arboriculture and Sylviculture, or what we 

 know by the simple and comprehensive term of Forestry ; but, 

 if you will kindly bear with me for a short time, I will endeavour 

 vol. xil, part II. N 



