210 REPORT ON A VISIT TO SCOTTISH AND ENGLISH FORESTS, 
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 charac- 
ter and their mode of education, are accustomed to pay more atten- 
tion 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. In 
England, as in Scotland, all the woodlands may be arranged in two 
categories—the one containing plantations too young, recently 
created by the hand of man, the other containing plantations too 
old, or too much overworked, to be useful for the purpose ; nowhere 
did we see a high timber forest formed of really mature trees. 
Natural Forest required.—Moreover, a plantation must always 
be incomplete as a field of study, and especially for persons who 
will generally have to deal with natural forests. Nature, ever 
prodigal of her bounties, if left to herself, scatters them broadcast 
without any regard for the particular wants and requirements of 
man. It is then the work of the forester to control this generous 
prodigality, and, by careful selection, to concentrate her fertilising 
powers on such trees as are best adapted to meet the general 
demand. In the case of a plantation there is no need for this inter- 
ference ; here, natural selection, the struggle for supremacy amongst 
the different species, and even art herself, can play but a very insig- 
nificant part in the various phases of its existence. 
In a forest, then, of this nature it would only be possible to apply 
a very limited number of the principles of sylviculture. 
A practical Englishman will have no difficulty in understanding 
our meaning. 
It is not to be supposed, however, that the foundation of a Forest 
School is at present an impossibility ; for, while leaving the ques- 
tion of time and place to be settled hereafter, it would be advisable 
to at once decide, in principle, on its creation. Such a decision is 
the only mode of arriving at its foundation. It is necessary, also, 
to take measures for preparing the public mind to regard the science 
of sylviculture as an additional means of developing the national 
resources, and to take steps for the gradual creation of accessory 
forests. 
