PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 83 
be thoroughly prepared and finally adopted. For this purpose it 
will be necessary to reappoint a strong committee. When we 
have definitely adopted our scheme, we shall have to put forth 
our whole effort to secure for it the greatest possible amount 
of support. 
Some disappointment may be felt that nothing has as yet 
resulted from our interview with the President of the Board of 
Agriculture. I cannot, however, share in that disappointment, 
and I can say so without being reasonably suspected of enter- 
taining any undue regard or respect whether for the Department 
or for the Government. Because no Government can give without 
some pressure, and in these days Government seems to give in 
proportion to the pressure which is brought to bear upon it, 
apparently on much the same principle as the people who bestow 
their alms upon the sturdiest of the sturdy beggars on the street. 
No one can accuse the present Board or Government of being 
niggardly with the public purse, and if none of the golden shower 
has descended on us, it is because we are unable to make enough 
noise or to command sufficient support. This Society has been 
enthusiastic over a Forest School and an Experimental Area, but 
as we are only a limited number of more or less trained men, an 
army fashioned on the long-service system, we shall find that 
we have to add to the ranks and create our reserves. 
Suppose we now review our forces, and weigh the feeling 
which prevails amongst the various classes interested in forestry 
education :— 
1. Working foresters have shown their bent of mind by availing 
themselves liberally of such instruction as Edinburgh can provide, 
and of their zeal there can be no question. 
2. Some rising factors also, despite the one-legged condition of 
the Chair of Forestry, have not neglected the University lectures; 
but since factors flourish wherever thistle-down blows, it may be 
rash to assume too much from their moderate attendance upon 
Colonel Bailey. 
3. Timber merchants are well aware of what a steady supply 
of home-grown timber would mean for their trade. They could 
get much of what they need lying at hand instead of having to 
seek it abroad. It is by no means certain, moreover, that they 
still get the quality of foreign fir to which we have been for a 
while accustomed, and ere long there may also be a more serious 
question of scarcity. 
