94 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
should again go to Germany, do not return without having paid 
a visit to the forests in the vicinity of Schwarzenberg in the 
kingdom of Saxony. 
NATURAL VERSUS ARTIFICIAL REGENERATION. 
And now there is one more point on which I should like to 
offer a few remarks before I proceed to forestry education proper, 
and that is the question of natural versus artificial regeneration. 
You have been told on various occasions, and by various authorities, 
that you must study natural regeneration, so that you may regener- 
ate your woods without expense, and without exposing your soil 
to the effects of sun and air currents. Indeed, some people have 
gone so far as to declare that the salvation of the forest industry 
in this country depends on the introduction of the system of 
natural regeneration. The question which I should like to ask 
is, ‘‘ Have the advocates of this theory not gone a little too far?” 
In answering the question, I shall begin by telling you that the 
cleared areas in the splendid spruce woods of Saxony, of which 
I have just spoken, are nearly all restocked by planting, and not 
by natural regeneration, although it is well known that spruce 
is one of those trees which is easy to regenerate naturally. And 
you must have seen numerous instances on your visit to North 
Germany where planting, especially in coniferous woods, has 
been practised. The fact is that each of the two methods has its 
advantages and disadvantages, and it depends entirely on the 
local and special conditions with which you have to deal whether 
the one or other is preferable. The principal points for considera- 
tion in this respect are the species to be grown, and the conditions 
of the locality. Where a tender species, like the beech or silver 
fir, is to be regenerated, which may suffer from frost or drought 
while young, a shelter-wood over the young crop is indicated. In 
these cases regeneration is generally effected naturally by the 
seed shed by the shelter-trees. But even this is not a necessity. 
The same, and in many cases even better results can be obtained 
by planting, and especially by sowing under and between the 
shelter-trees. For it is evident that the seed can be better cared 
for if placed by the hand of man, and the regeneration is likely 
to be more even, than if the distribution of the seed is left to the 
accidents of nature. In the latter case sometimes two, three, and 
more seed-years must be awaited before a full new crop is secured, 
