372 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. [Sess. Lxxm. 
We shall all, therefore, cordially hail the announcement as 
the first great step in a national system of afforestation from 
which results of great value must ultimately be reaped. 
Immediate results are not to be expected. It is just because 
work of this nature involves considerable, and probably for a 
long period unremunerative, expenditure and the financial 
credit of a State guarantee, that it is essential the experi- 
mental work should be undertaken by Government and not 
by private individuals. The estate extends to some 12,000 
acres, but appears to be chiefly unwooded. While it is fitted 
to be an important object-lesson in many departments of 
forestry, it nevertheless falls short of what is required in 
many other respects. It has been pointed out that for 
adequate forestry demonstration purposes it is essential to 
have blocks of well-grown timber, and there is nothing of this 
kind at Inverleiver. The place aiso is inaccessible from any 
of the teaching centres. The rainfall of the west coast is 
normally greatly in excess of the east, and what might suit 
Inverleiver might be inadvisable in a district with a lower 
rainfall. While great good would accrue from the systematic 
afforestation of lands in the Highlands at present yielding 
probably not more than 3s. per acre, it is pointed out that 
one great practical problem at the present time is the im- 
provement of existing woods by a scientific system of under- 
planting. Ina valuable letter to the “Scotsman” on 11th 
November 1907, Lord Balcarres rightly indicates that the 
treatment and re-stocking of existing woodlands throughout 
Great Britain, amounting to some 3,000,000 acres, is as great 
a necessity as tlie planting of new forests.. It appears to be 
the general opinion of experienced horticulturists that while 
the recent purchase is all in the right direction it does not 
go far enough. I observe with satisfaction that the East of 
Scotland College of Agriculture has taken steps to acquire 
an easily accessible piece of wooded land on the Penicuik 
estate. But it seems to me that to meet the case in a 
satisfactory manner it ought not to be left to an Institution 
which, though deserving of all commendation for the energy 
and success with which it seeks to apply scientific methods 
to the promotion of the basal industry of the country, can 
hardly be expected to have the resources necessary to provide 
a demonstration forest on an adequate scale. We must 
