120 ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, NOVEMBER 7, 1873. 



The ground already gained is valuable chiefly as being suggestive 

 of what may be expected in future, and the most likely methods to 

 be adopted in prosecuting the inquiry. So far as concerns results 

 already obtained, however, extremely little is positively known. 



The rapid rise in the price of coal, to which I alluded last 

 year, has attracted the attention of the Legislature, and a Coal 

 Commission Blue Book has appeared, while scientific opinions on 

 the state and prospects of our mineral fuel supplies have during the 

 past year been communicated from many quarters. Ln a country 

 where the •winter is long and severe, the supply of fuel at a 

 moderate price is as essential to the common welfare as a sufficient 

 supply of food. Indeed, every man who has any regard for the 

 comfort of the poorer classes must be watching with interest all the 

 schemes and discussions for saving fueL And in what Avay, it may 

 bo asked, is this connected with the work of foresters 1 "When we 

 see samples of peat compressed by various processes exhibited at 

 the Society of Arts, and notice that four companies with large 

 capital have been formed in different parts of Great Britain for 

 the purpose of manufacturing peat-moss into a useful fuel, it seems 

 certain that the branches and fragments of our woods, which are now 

 in many places unsaleable, may be disposed of to advantage. 

 This would, of course, greatly stimulate the planting of rocky bills 

 and waste places not now utilised, where trees might grow with 

 very little attention. I have endeavoured to make calculations to 

 prove the practicability of firewood sales in Scotland, but so much 

 depends on soil, climate, growth, and proximity to a market, 

 that it is not possible to give reliable figures. That the value 

 of firewood will rise much may reasonably be doubted on account 

 of the rapid and cheap means of communication, and because 

 the dearness of fuel would operate as a check to productive 

 industry. In country villages where a supply of firewood is 

 available, wood is still used for firing, and in large towns faggots 

 are in great demand. But from the analysis of manufactured peat 

 by Clayton's process, it seems probable that this article will come 

 into more general use than wood fuel The estimated cost of this 

 peat at the manufactory is about 8s. per ton. A recent analysis 

 which has been made shows that it gives 8000 cubic feet of gas per 

 ton. 



Many insects are most injurious to forest trees, and compara- 

 tively little has been recorded concerning them. In this country it is 

 known that our most useful trees have their particular enemies. 



