THE IMMEDIATE NEEDS OF FORESTRY IN SCOTLAND. 12 3 



Scientific training in forestry is of very little use without 

 practical experience. I hope no one will say that Inverliever 

 will do for a Demonstration Forest. It will not do because 

 it has no plantations more than three years old. It is not 

 necessary that the demonstration area should be very large, 

 but it must have timber upon it, and land suitable for the 

 extension of the existing plantations. It is not necessary that 

 the existing plantations should be perfect. One of the most 

 valuable experiments it can provide will be that of turning bad 

 woodlands into good. That problem has to be faced in every 

 county in Scotland. There is reason to hope that such a 

 Demonstration Forest would pay its way. 



To turn now for a moment to minor matters. I think there is a 

 need of some scheme for training the foresters who are at this 

 moment responsible for our woods. Many of them have had 

 little or no scientific training, and though they desire to have it, 

 they are unable to attend the existing classes, which are held 

 during the winter months when they cannot be spared from their 

 duties. I hope that it may be possible to arrange summer 

 classes for the benefit of such students. 



Mr Haldane has called attention to a movement among 

 Scots proprietors for co-operation for various purposes connected 

 with silviculture. That movement has originated among 

 members of this Society who feel that the Society as a whole 

 cannot be asked to devote its influence and the time of its 

 officials to work which concerns only one branch of its members. 

 I hope that this co-operative movement may, among other good 

 results, bring about a better understanding between proprietors 

 and nurserymen, two classes of people who seem to have drifted 

 too widely apart. If there is to be the extension of planting 

 which we desire, a very large supply of plants will be required, 

 and I have no doubt that it will be possible to obtain these from 

 British nurserymen at reasonable prices if fair notice is given of 

 the number required. At present, too often plants are ordered 

 in January which are to be planted out the same spring. Under 

 any reasonable system of co-operation, they would be ordered at 

 least two years ahead, so that the nurserymen might know how 

 much to sow of each species. The present system of ordering 

 plants at the last moment is neither fair to the purchaser nor to 

 the nurseryman, and it is no doubt the principal cause of the 

 high prices which have usually obtained hitherto in this country. 



