6o TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



(apart from a substantial surplus) which will, no doubt, be fully 

 dealt with by Mr Stabbing in the expected Volume III. In the 

 meantime, it may be noted that the development of forest con- 

 servancy in India during the period 1 864-1 900 has had a great 

 influence upon the inauguration of similar measures in other 

 parts of the Empire, and not least in these islands. 



Professor Stebbing has given, in Volumes I. and II., a very 

 full account of the gradual progress of forest conservancy in 

 India up to the year 1900, and he has brought it into connection 

 with the political and administrative conditions of the times. 

 We admire his remarkable energy, in having brought together 

 such an immense amount of information, but it seems to us that 

 he has gone somewhat too far. The two volumes occupy already 

 1 140 pages, and that number may be brought up to some 1800 

 pages of text, if Volume III. is conceived on the same lines, 

 while the price has been fixed at six guineas. Many pages are 

 filled with details now of little or no value, which could have 

 been omitted without in any way interfering with the usefulness 

 of the book; in fact, it could have been brought down to half 

 the number of pages and the price reduced to an amount within 

 the means of the forester. 



There are passages in the book to which past and present 

 members of the staff are likely to take objection. For instance, 

 in the preface to Volume II., Mr Stebbing says that the true 

 foundation of forest conservancy in India was laid during the 

 period 185 7-1870, and that the work undertaken during the 

 period 1871-1900 was the natural corollary and outcome of the 

 lines laid down between 1857-1870. No doubt, the foundation 

 was laid during the earlier period, but from what has been 

 stated above it is evident that the most effective steps, upon 

 which success depended, were evolved and introduced after 

 1870; the Indian Forest Act, for instance, was not passed until 

 1878. 



Another instance will be found in chapter xiv. of Volume 

 II., where the progress of forest administration during the period 

 1871-1900 is summarised, demonstrating the remarkable success 

 of the system inaugurated by Brandis. Here Mr Stebbing 

 expresses the opinion that the administration of the Indian 

 forests was to a very considerable extent influenced by forest 

 officers of German nationality and training, and that it is open 

 to question whether a more rapid progress might not have been 



