194 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



or Calcutta, and ;^43 to Rangoon. And seniority in the 

 service should be given according to the results of this 

 final examination. 



During the Easter vacation at the University the probationers 

 should be taken, at Government expense, for a tour in the 

 Alpes Maritimes, the Pyrenees, and Gascony ; and after the 

 final examination, the selected candidates should, in July and 

 August, be taken to visit the forests of the Vosges, the Black 

 Forest, the forests of the Bavarian plateau and the Bavarian 

 Alps, the Swiss mountain forests, and the spruce, beech, oak, 

 and pine forests of Hanover, — these being undoubtedly the 

 European vi^oodlands that are by far the most instructive to 

 the Indian forester. 



If, after their year of probation, selected candidates appointed 

 to the Indian Forest Service could conveniently, immediately 

 on their arrival in India in November, be taken from Dehra 

 for an extensive tour in the lower Tiri-Gharwal, Kamaon 

 (Himalayan) and Siwalik forests and in Oudh, it would cer- 

 tainly be very useful in introducing them to practical work in 

 India, in accustoming them to camp life, and in getting them 

 into touch with their new surroundings under the most 

 favourable circumstances. And even if such a tour only 

 lasted for about four or five weeks, say from about 15th 

 November till near Christmas, it would help to prepare the 

 young officers for entering on their duties in the New Year 

 with a far better knowledge of, and preparation for, them 

 than were ever enjoyed by their predecessors, the men who 

 have, during these last forty years, made the Forest Department 

 a well-organised and efficient branch of our Administration 

 in India. 



