FOREST NURSERIES AND GARDENS — SOME SUGGESTIONS. 55 



dealt with by the lecturer, clear and abiding ideas cannot be 

 imparted by means of class-room lectures alone, nor otherwise 

 than by frequent visits with the lecturer (or without him in any 

 spare time the students may find) to some place where practical 

 illustrations may be seen. Students must make themselves 

 thoroughly familiar with the appearance at different seasons of 

 the year, and with the rate and manner of development in crown 

 and root of the various species up to the age at which they are 

 to be found in the garden. They must also be familiar with the 

 behaviour during youth of the various species when grown in 

 mixture, and with their effect on each other. They should also 

 do nursery work, planting and direct sowing, with their own 

 hands. The students have very little time at their disposal for 

 excursions, and it is evident that unless the Forest Garden be 

 " close at hand," effectual practical instruction in elementary 

 forest work cannot be given. If a Demonstration Forest were so 

 situated, there would evidently be no need to provide a Forest 

 Garden ; for in the former would be seen all that it could be 

 desired to show in the latter, and a great deal more in addition. 

 But there is no hope that a large forest can be established in the 

 immediate vicinity of any of the present teaching centres, and 

 hence arises the necessity for each such centre possessing its own 

 Forest Garden, in which the evolution of a forest crop up to a 

 certain stage in its development can be practically illustrated. 

 If the Forest Garden is not near enough to the lecture-room to 

 serve this purpose, it would be sheer waste of money to establish 

 it. I would rather take a small area suitably located than a 

 larger one situated at a distance which would render it very 

 much less useful to me. 



It is beyond doubt that the Committee intended the garden to 

 be an adjunct to the lecture-room, provided to enable the lecturer 

 to illustrate his teaching; and it cannot serve this purpose unless 

 it be placed under the control of the teacher, who should be given 

 a free hand in all details of its management. 



It is of course necessary to provide a nursery, and a part of 

 the garden must be devoted to this use ; but on account of the 

 difficulty of obtaining so large an area as loo to 200 acres near 

 to the lecture-room, it may be necessary to rest content with a 

 nursery so situated, leaving the garden to be formed on the 

 nearest suitable site that may be available. The nursery and 

 the garden will therefore be considered separately. 



