TRANSACTIONS 
OF THE 
ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
18. Address delivered at the Fifty-fourth Annual 
General Meeting, 5th February 1907. 
By Sir KENNETH J. MACKENZIE, Bart. of Gairloch, President of the Society. 
Two of the objects of our Society may be described as being— 
(rt) An effort to keep before the inhabitants of Scotland, 
and the Government of the day, the fact that in our 
opinion the desirability of retaining the population 
in the country districts can be most easily attained 
by a thorough development of tree-cultivation, on 
a systematic scale, on land at present more or less 
unproductive, much of which is suitable for produc- 
ing timber ; and 
(2) The wish to aid prospective planters, whether for 
appearance or for profit, with information that has 
been acquired from the experience and by the 
practice of our members. 
With regard to the question of maintaining a rural population, 
I have no personal belief that under any circumstances shall we 
ever be able to induce those members of the working classes 
who have settled in our big towns to return permanently to the 
country districts. And we cannot in reason expect it. The 
house in a town has conveniences which, to the wife who has 
become accustomed to them, far outbalance any problematic 
advantage of cheaper living and fresher air for the bairns in a 
country district. If we men had to do the housework, I put it 
to you that we should not only hesitate, but, in almost all cases, 
absolutely refuse to leave a house with gas and water laid on, 
for one where a paraffin lamp has to be cleaned, filled and lit, 
and to which water has to be carried some distance from a well. 
The grey mare is supposed to be the better horse, and while I 
am not disposed invariably to concur with this proverb, I think 
we must all admit that, in household matters, the woman has a 
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