ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, NOVEMBER 3, 1875. 7 



foresters. There can be no doubt that forest schools might be 

 established in this country, which would fulfil all the important 

 conditions required for the student. 



There are certain matters connected with forest management 

 which may be best illustrated on a large scale, but there seems to 

 be no reason why our students of forestry should be sent to the 

 Continent for their training. There ought to be sufficient means 

 in Britain for imparting practical instruction in the management 

 of forests. 



The Secretary of State for India has adopted the plan of send- 

 ing the students abroad. By so doing, the students are compelled 

 to study the language of these countries in the first instance, for 

 it is impossible to understand lectures and demonstrations without 

 a thorough knowledge of the language in which they are given, 

 and especially with the peculiar technical language used (and 

 which cannot be got in books). Much time is thus spent, which 

 might be better employed in studying some of the languages of 

 India, so as to fit the forester for his employment in that country. 



I am disposed to think that the education of foresters should be 

 conducted on some such plan as the following : — 



In the first place, we must suppose that students have had a 

 fair education in English, arithmetic, writing, and composition. 

 Instruction should next be given in the elements of natural 

 sciences, especially botany, with its bearings on arboriculture, the 

 nature of soils, and their adaptation for different kinds of trees, 

 along with a knowledge of elementary chemistry. In studying 

 botany, the young forester should attend to the mode in which 

 plants are nourished, the functions of the root, stem, and leaves, 

 the structure of the wood, the effects of vegetation on climate, rain- 

 fall, etc., the diseases to which trees are liable, and the mode of 

 prevention and cure. The necessary information in regard to the 

 elementary sciences can now be acquired at many of our schools. 

 A certain amount of knowledge of Latin is valuable for the names of 

 trees. The instruction given in science should not be merely from 

 books, but should be by practical demonstration, and by teaching 

 the principles of forest cultivation. Schools for practical forestry 

 might be established in the vicinity of well-wooded distiicts, where 

 draining, planting, thinning, pruning, felling, drying, and trans- 

 portation could be practised, and the remedies for diseases tested. 



I believe that the requisite instruction for candidates for the 

 forest departments in India and our colonies could be acquired 



