NOTES AND QUERIES. 83 



afternoon excursions are organised to places of forestry interest 

 in the district; this year Wester Elchies, Lossiemouth, Darnaway 

 Castle, Gordon Castle, and Culbin were visited. During August 

 and September a short course of lectures in Practical Forestry 

 was given in Forres and Elgin, which was well attended. In 

 winter, a further series of lectures will form the chief activity. 

 The syllabus for the coming winter is very attractive and 

 varied, including several papers on technical matters and on 

 the wider questions of forest policy. The speakers are all 

 men of standing in their own departments, and the winter's 

 work should prove very instructive. Some of the meetings will 

 be in Elgin, some in Forres, and at least one in Nairn. The 

 idea of bringing the meetings to different parts of the district 

 is a very good one, and will do much to widen the scope of 

 the Society. An evening class of lectures in forestry is to be 

 held in Forres, in connection with the Education Authority, 

 and the Society has been instrumental in pushing forward the 

 scheme. The formation of this new type of society is an 

 excellent step in the right direction, and the example of the 

 Moray and Nairn foresters might be followed with great profit 

 by those of other districts. 



The Manufacture of Walking-Sticks. 



A pamphlet has been issued by the Rural Industries 

 Intelligence Bureau, dealing with the possibilities of promoting 

 in this country an industry in making sticks that could compete 

 with the imported foreign articles. 



According to their type sticks can be readily divided into 

 two main groups — the '* natural " and the '* artificial." The 

 former are sticks obtained practically to shape as cut from the 

 plantations, the others have gone through several processes 

 before being put on the market. The collection of natural sticks 

 is at present, to some extent, a British trade, while manufactured 

 sticks mainly come from the Continent. The making of walking- 

 sticks is not an art of great difficulty, and foresters who have a 

 liking for work of this sort would be well advised to write to the 

 Secretary, Rural Industries Intelligence Bureau, 259-262 West- 

 minster Bridge Road, London, S.E, i, making application for 

 Leaflet No. 5. 



