210 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
provided. There must be forests which are managed on the right 
lines, where students find the theory of economic forestry practically 
illustrated.” M. Boppe expresses himself as follows :—“ The science 
of forestry is, however, a science of observation based upon facts 
which must be studied both from a practical and theoretical point 
of view. It is therefore absolutely necessary that a forest school 
should have attached to it a forest which has for some time past 
been under scientific management, serving, so to speak, as a natural 
laboratory for experiments, and without which the best theoretical 
teaching in the world would be of no avail. This is especially the 
case in England, where the young men, by reason of their national 
character and their mode of education, are accustomed to pay more 
attention to facts than to theories; here the teacher of a technical 
profession, resting solely on theories, would command very few 
disciples. It is therefore a matter of regret that, among all the 
forests visited by us in our travels, there is not a single one suitable 
for the teaching of sylviculture on that broad basis so essential 
when the pupils are called upon to apply it in all quarters of the 
globe.” Those who have for some time past endeavoured to carry 
on instruction in forestry without a practical training-ground of the 
kind above indicated, can best appreciate the want of it. The 
owners of Scottish woodlands have certainly been most generous in 
granting facilities for the visits of students or of organised parties 
of foresters, but it will be readily understood that, in this country 
‘forests which have for some time past been under scientific 
management” are rare, and that even the best managed of private 
forest estates lack that continuity of aim and action which 
alone can produce woods suitable in every respect for educational 
purposes. 
Forest ScHOOLS. 
To train for the superior staff of the French State Forest 
Service, officers who are to be charged with the administration of 
about 11,500 square miles of State and Communal forests, a 
National Forest School is maintained at Nancy, with a staff of 
thirteen professors and assistant professors, who teach sylviculture, 
working plans, geology, mineralogy, entomology, botany, forest law, 
political economy and forest statistics, surveying, forest engineering, 
and agriculture. The school is accommodated in spacious buildings, 
embracing residences for the staff and students, halls of study, 
recreation rooms, model rooms, museum, library, and chemical 
