208 REPORT ON A VISIT TO SCOTTISH AND ENGLISH FORESTS, 
tural operations that can be undertaken are the periodical “ thin- 
nings,” and these are here conducted with great skill. There is no 
doubt, however, a great future in store for the Forest of Dean, 
thanks to the workmanlike manner in which it is managed, and to 
the laws regulating the pasturage, which date back to the time of 
Charles I. 
We were not able to suppress a certain vague feeling of sadness 
in wandering through these endless plantations, rendered so dreary 
and monotonous by the total absence of that undergrowth which 
seems to inspire the woods with freshness and life ; and it was with 
a sense of great relief that we emerged from them, and entered into 
a well-managed forest composed of standard oaks surmounting 
coppice-wood. 
This forest, comprising about 3400 acres, was formerly the pro- 
perty of Lord Gage, and was purchased by the Crown with a view 
to presenting it to the Duke of Wellington. It is composed of pure 
oak, and for more than a hundred years the coppice has been cut 
every eighteen years. We might add that the reserved trees form 
the staple element in this forest, for the coppice forms but a small 
proportion of the standing crop. These reserves, varying in age 
from twenty to a hundred’years, are in an excellent state of vegeta- 
tion, and number about eighty trees to the acre. The largest trees 
are about 4 or 5 feet in girth, and from 25 to 35 feet in height of 
stem. It would be a great pity to cut them until they have 
attained at least double their present age. This forest would form 
an excellent field for the study of the treatment of standard oaks. 
In such a forest, where the soil is so exceptionally fertile, it 
might be possible to find a solution to the oft-discussed problem of 
obtaining the maximum production in quality and quantity from a 
forest of oak. This was, at least, the impression we carried away 
with us as we turned our faces homewards. 
Forest School in Great Britain.—We had barely sufficient time, 
on our arrival in London, to pay our respects to the authorities at 
the India Office, when we were asked by Sir Louis Mallet to place 
on record the observations which we have now the honour to sub- 
mit, and to state whether, in our opinion, the immediate foundation 
of a Forest School in Great Britain is possible. In order to reply 
to this question, it was necessary for us, even at the risk of our 
narrative being found tedious, to enter into a somewhat detailed 
account of the Scottish and English forests. 
Were it only for the purpose of replanting the five or six millions 
