INAUGURAL LECTURE IN THE COURSE OF FORESTRY. 409 



following denudation, and in a recent number of Garden and 

 Forest, a connection seems to be established between the late 

 appalling disaster which destroyed Johnstown in Pennsylvania 

 and the irrational management of the forests there. 



Besides the dangers of inundations, those arising from 

 avalanches are also increased by denudation, and many valleys 

 in Switzerland, the Tyrol, and North Italy are comparatively 

 safe only through the preservation of large masses of wood on 

 the mountain slopes. In these cases, and many others which 

 will occur to your minds, state interference in the management 

 of forests is not only excusable but absolutely unavoidable on the 

 grounds of pul)lic safety. None of them, however, apply with 

 much force to our own country. At one time the maintenance 

 of a supply of oak for our navy was a question of great national 

 importance, but is now only historically interesting. 



It would thus appear that in this country the state might 

 very well refrain from meddling with forestry as an important 

 department of national finance, were it not for the beneficial 

 educational influences which would be created. On this account 

 the state forests which we already possess should be made models 

 of good management, and others should be obtained in important 

 centres ; care being taken to select places where the extra work 

 would be a decided benefit to the rural population. This would 

 apply more especially to many parts of Ireland and the north- 

 west of Scotland ; and there, too, owing to the nature of the 

 climate and the configui'ation of the land, the venture would be 

 most likely to succeed. A suggestion of this kind was made in 

 the report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the 

 condition of the Highland Croftei-s, where the formation of 

 woodlands was recommended as a likely means of alleviating the 

 general distress, and at the same time of improving the climate ; 

 but this, like much other good advice on the subject of forestry 

 from time to time given to the government, has so far been 

 disregarded. 



Another factor which has exerted a powerful influence upon 

 British forestry is to be found in our insular position. On 

 account of our comparative pi-oximity to the vast forests of 

 Northern Europe we have been made practically independent of 

 the home production of those most important timbers, pine and 

 spruce. We have carried on the system of importation so long and 

 so extensively, that builders, railway companies, and others using 



