100 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
ness. of coal, their sea-bound condition and extensive railway 
system, all parts of the country can be easily supplied from 
abroad. In this respect, then, State action could hardly ; be 
justified, especially in a country like this, where free trade and 
private enterprise are the very foundations of national life. 
Referring now to the second point, I must mention that, apart 
from about 100,000 acres of Crown forest lands, situated almost 
entirely in the southern half of England, there are no State 
forests. On the other hand, we have about 2,700,000 acres of 
private forests, and almost the whole of the 26,000,000 acres of 
land of which I spoke a few minutes ago belong to private parties 
and not to the State. Hence it is to the proprietors that we 
must look for assistance in the first place, though the State should 
give a helping hand. 
In this respect the action of Continental countries has some- 
times been misunderstood. We have often seen it stated that 
France has two forest schools, and Germany some ten; but then 
the former country possesses upwards of 2,000,000 acres of State 
forests, and upwards of 4,000,000 acres of forests belonging to 
communes, which are, by law, under the management of Govern- 
ment forest officers. Germany has some 11,000,000 acres of State 
forests, and about 6,000,000 acres of communal forests, managed 
by State forest officers. These forests represent a capital value 
of several hundred million pounds, and the revenue derived 
from them forms an important item in the State budget. It 
is, therefore, but natural that in these countries the Government 
should take care to give their forest employés the highest possible — 
training in their profession, it having been recognised for a long 
time past that a high-class training of the forest managers means 
a high return from the forests, 
The Government of India, as you are aware, has for the last 
thirty years acted on the same principle, thanks to the enlightened 
views pressed upon that Government by Sir D. Brandis. That 
Government is the proprietor of more than 100,000,000 acres 
of State forests; and it has established two forest schools, one 
at Coopers Hill for the training cf the European part of the 
staff, and another at Dehra Dun, chiefly for the training of 
natives of India. 
And yet instances are not wanting where private enterprise 
has done as well, and I cannot do better than refer you to the 
measures taken by the private forest proprietors of Bohemia and 
