ADDRESS BY THE VICE-PRESIDEXT, AUOrST G, 1880. 077 



Stirlingsliire, to acquire a knowledge of forestry — long before the 

 days of railroads — there were few opportunities for foresters 

 meeting and discussing forestry questions. Nowadays the facili- 

 ties for meeting together for diffusion of knowledge iu forest 

 mattei-s, for gathering facts and comparing expei-iences, and for 

 general advancement in our profession, are very great. There is 

 now a considerable amount of forest literature within reach. 

 Science has been experimenting in many directions. Old systems 

 of rearing plantations have been tested, and where found wanting 

 have been supplanted by new methods and improved principles. 

 In short, such progress has been made in the science of forestry 

 as has not been manifested in any other period prior to the 

 establishment of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society. 

 Surely these matters are worthy of our diligent study, and 

 atford an admirable held for the labours of our Society. 



I would take the liberty here of offering a word of counsel, 

 more especially to my younger bi"ethreu in the profession — to 

 assistants and beginners — in the work of treating forest trees. 

 I believe .that a great future is dawning for forestry in this 

 country. With agricultural affairs so depressed, the value of 

 tillage land falling year by year, and the supplies of foreign 

 timber becoming rapidly more circumscribed, landowners will 

 soon begin to find out the great necessity of looking more to 

 their woodlands. In other words, Arboriculture, instead of being 

 kept in the background as it has been for many generations, will 

 now of necessity take a prominent part in estate management ; 

 therefore, no doubt, immense tracts of waste lands and hillsides 

 wUl soon be afforested. There, then, is the field that is opening 

 up for experienced and talented men. Young men ought to 

 study the nature and constitution of trees, the soils congenial 

 to the healthy growth of different kinds of trees, and the 

 localities and climates where trees have to be grown. A sound 

 judgment is also requisite to determine what are likely to be the 

 commercial prospects of various kinds of timber in the distant 

 future. For it must be always borne in mind that forest crops 

 are very different from ordinary agricultural produce. A crop of 

 forest trees takes more than a lifetime to grow to maturity, and 

 therefore a thorough knowledge of Arboriculture in all its details 

 is absolutely necessary in order to plant judiciously, and with the 

 best prospects of future remuneration. 



Oak coppice, for example, is not worth cultivating nowadays; 



