ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, NOVEMBER 4, 1874. 199 



XXIII. — Address delivered at the Twmty-Jvrst Annual Meeting. 

 By Hugh Cleghorn, M.D., F.R.S.E., late Conservator of 

 Forests, Madras. 



Gentlemen, — The time has again returned when, according to 

 custom, a word of encouragement, and I hope I may say of instruc- 

 tion, is wont to reach you from this chair. Twice you have heen 

 pleased to elect me your President, and this is the third time that 

 I have heen called upon to address you at the Annual Meeting. 



The framing of an annual address is no easy task, and many 

 general subjects suitable to bring to your notice have been discussed 

 over and over again by my predecessors. Perhaps, however, I can- 

 not do better on this occasion than refer briefly to the rise and 

 progress of arboriculture, and advert to some facts and proceedings 

 in this and other countries which bear upon the advancement of the 

 science which has brought us together to-day. 



I think that our Society has reason to regard its quiet progress 

 during the past year with some degree of satisfaction. The roll of 

 members has received a considerable number of working recruits, 

 and the new part of our Transactions contains some excellent 

 articles, and quite sustains the character of its predecessors. There 

 are fifteen essays to be reported upon by the judges to-day, relating 

 to nine subjects offered for competition, and only five of the subjects 

 advertised have not been taken up. 



Arboriculture comprises all that relates to the culture of trees, 

 and is one of the great divisions of agriculture. It is a branch of 

 rural economy of much more recent date than either the culture of 

 grain and herbs, or the breeding and rearing of cattle. The cultiva- 

 tion of those plants which supply the food of man and of the 

 domestic animals occupied his attention exclusively for many ages ; 

 whilst the timber required for houses, ships, machines, and for fuel, 

 was found in the native woods. Artificial plantations appear to 

 have been formed in Germany sooner than in any other country, 

 apparently in the fifteenth century. In Britain planting was begun, 

 though sparingly, a century later. 



The Hon. G. P. Marsh (" The Earth as Modified by Human 

 Action, 1847, p. 307 ") thus describes the condition of Britain in 

 the sixteenth century, when wood fuel began to be scarce : — 

 " Contrivances for economising fuel were of later introduction in 

 this country than on the Continent. Before the introduction of 



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