32 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



In Part VII. the question of technical instruction in forestry 

 is gone into, and it is pointed out that by the institution of 

 the Department's Forestry School at Avondale, in County 

 Wicklow, a considerable advance has already been made. That 

 school was opened in 1904 with a teaching staff of three, 

 the object being to train working woodmen as distinguished 

 from forestry experts. The following extract from the 

 Memorandum on the Avondale School is quoted as likely to 

 interest the readers of this journal : — 



"The main idea in view in connection with the school has 

 been the training of men in such practical forestry as is carried 

 out in well-managed woods in these countries. Before any 

 practical advance towards the reafforestation of Ireland can 

 be made, men must exist who not only know the theory of 

 planting, thinning, and felling woods, but are also able to 

 carry out these operations with their own hands. Such work 

 as the planting of waste land, or the clearing away of 

 worn-out woodland, and the formation of new plantations, 

 requires the services of skilled labourers, and the latter can 

 only be trained by men who themselves have handled the 

 spade, the axe, and the saw, and are able to supervise the 

 work of others in an intelligent and business-like manner. 



"The function of the Avondale Forestry School is neither 

 that of training men in the theory of forestry alone, nor of 

 manufacturing rule of thumb labourers, but in so combining 

 theory with practice that the men there trained can adapt 

 themselves to the varied conditions under which they will 

 probably have to work in the future. To attain this end, 

 applicants for training are received as apprentices, and practical 

 work has been made the basis of the instruction. Science and 

 theory are included in so far as they are necessary to supple- 

 ment practical work, and invest it with sufficient intelligent 

 interest to destroy its monotony, and prevent mere rule of 

 thumb practice. Before being admitted to the school, a man 

 must show that he not only has done manual work in the 

 past, but is willing to do such work in the future." 



The course occupies three years, and in 1906-07 there were 

 eighteen apprentices at the school. In regard to the question of 

 providing higher instruction, the Commissioners point out that 

 Scholarships are already being offered at the Royal College of 

 Science, and they recommend the development of these arrange- 



