Il6 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr Mackenzie contributed articles on many forestry questions 

 to the Transactions of the Society, and gained two of the 

 Society's gold medals, besides many others of less value, and 

 he took a leading part in the discussion of the forestry 

 questions of the day. On many of these subjects he was in 

 advance of the opinion of the time, and when questions were 

 being discussed he frequently referred to what he had written 

 in the Transactions years before. He held advanced views on 

 the subject of afforestation of waste lands, to which he drew 

 particular attention in an address delivered by him at Dingwall 

 in 1890. On the subject of larch disease his views were not 

 in accordance with those of other experts, and it was well 

 known that he was anxious that the Society should make 

 further investigations into this subject. On various occasions 

 he spoke on behalf of the Society on deputations to members 

 of the Government, and he also gave evidence before the 

 Commission on Coast Erosion. 



In 1893, Mr Mackenzie prepared and presented to the 

 Society a collection of microscopic sections of the wood of 

 British-grown trees and shrubs, made into lantern slides, and 

 showing the tissue, medullary rays, etc., and two years later 

 he prepared and presented a collection of micro-photographic 

 slides illustrative of plant physiology, relating specially to 

 trees. In recognition of the original work represented by 

 these sections and slides, the Society awarded him the gold 

 medals mentioned above. 



The Mackenzie dendrometer was invented and patented 

 by Mr Mackenzie in 1883. It is self-calculating, and not 

 only measures the height of trees, and other objects, but can 

 also be used for finding the distance of any object. 



Mr Mackenzie was an Examiner in Forestry to the Highland 

 and Agricultural Society, and a Fellow of both the Surveyor's 

 Institution and the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. He 

 enjoyed an extensive practice as a consulting forester and 

 land valuator. 



While Mr Mackenzie made the most of the slender 

 educational facilities in connection with forestry which were 

 available in his youth, he, unfortunately, never had the 

 advantage of visiting continental forests and of studying 

 continental systems on the spot, which he himself was ready 

 to acknowledge would have been of immense advantage to 



