ON FOREST SCHOOLS. 225 



XXV. On Forest Schools. By Rev. J. Croumbie Brown, LL.D.* 



In April last I addressed to the Bight Honourable the Lord 

 Brovost, the Magistrates, and the Town Councillors of Edinburgh ; 

 to the office-bearers of the Scottish Ai-borieultural Society ; to the 

 promoters of the purchase of ground at Inverleith to be trans- 

 ferred to Government for the formation of an Arboretum, and all 

 others whom it may concern, a letter supplying detailed information 

 in regard to schools of forestry on the Continent of Europe, and 

 advocating the creation of a school of forestry in connection with 

 the Arboretum in Edinburgh. 



It was extensively distributed among members of the Scottish 

 Arboricultural Society. Had I had the means of doing so, the 

 letter, or one somewhat similar, would have been sent to all ; and 

 I gladly avail myself of the permission which has been given to 

 me to address you on the subject, in the hope that you may now, 

 or at some future time, take part in discussing what may be the best 

 means of securing for young foresters an education corresponding 

 to that enjoyed by their brethren on the Continent of Europe. 



In prosecution of this purpose I shall supply some additional 

 information in regard to existing schools of forestry, and state 

 some points on which desiderated information is solicited from the 

 Association. 



The schools of forestry on the Continent of Europe are educa- 

 tional institutions in which provision has been made for leading 

 candidates for employment as foresters through a protracted course 

 of study similar to what is required in Scotland as a preparation 

 for the so-called learned professions of law, medicine, and divinity. 



They may be considered as a necessary requirement of the 

 system of forest management introduced on the Continent of 

 Europe in the beginning of the present century, and also as a means 

 of advancing the Fbrst- Wissenschaft or Forest Science of the day, 

 and of promoting its application to the treatment of forests, so as 

 to secure the greatest benefit from the system of forest economy 

 considered the best adapted to the circumstances and condition 

 and requirements of any particular case. 



Some three hundred years ago it was perceived by Sully, the 



distinguished minister of Henry IV., that France was being 



* Read at the Twenty-Fourth Animal Meeting, 6th November 1877. 

 VOL. VIII., PART III. Q 



