186 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The time before me this year is very short, and I am afraid to 
make promises as to what I shall get through ; but I hope very 
much to be able to complete a condensed course down to the end 
of Sylviculture. 
I hope also to arrange excursions on Saturday mornings to 
woods in the neighbourhood, varied by visits to the Arboretum, 
the Royal Botanic Garden, and the Museum of Science and Art, 
which contains a valuable collection of wood specimens and other 
objects of interest to foresters. 
I feel greatly encouraged by the comparatively large attendance 
of students to-day. I hope the numbers may be not only maintained 
but increased, and that in the course of time we may be able to 
attract surveyors, land agents, and landowners from this as well as 
from other parts of the United Kingdom. 
It may perhaps not be out of place if I say, in conclusion, that 
I am sure the departure of Dr Somerville, my predecessor, and 
the first lecturer on Forestry at this University, is much regretted. 
I can only hope that I may prove as successful an instructor as 
he was. 
