54 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETV. 



9. Some Uses of a Demonstration Forest in 

 Forestry Education.' 



( With Plates.) 



By J. F. Annan'I). 



When we speak of forestry education we, obviously, do not 

 refer merely to class-room teaching. Class-room and laboratory 

 instruction are, of course, highly important and indeed quite 

 indispensable. But one of the most essential conditions of 

 success in the teaching of forestry is the provision of practical 

 training ground ; for forestry is nothing if not a practical 

 subject. 



If it is important for the future and the practising agri- 

 culturist to have the example of good farming before him, we 

 can safely and confidently claim that it is even more important 

 for the forester, who cannot hope to see the full effects of his 

 labour during a natural life-time, to have the example of con- 

 tinuous good forestry practice before him. As every one 

 connected with forestry knows, this practical example can be 

 provided in Great Britain only by means of Demonstration or 

 Example forests. It may be argued that in Continental states, 

 where the most scientific forestry is practised, we do not as 

 a rule find large tracts of forest land set aside especially for 

 Demonstration purposes, and consequently that there is no need 

 for it in our own case. But we have to remember that 50 per 

 cent, of the forests, in the countries referred to, are managed 

 and worked systematically, and more or less scientifically, on a 

 large scale. The work is often undertaken by the State or by 

 some large corporate body ; and it is carried on, as a rule, 

 as a great continuous commercial undertaking. Schemes of 

 management have been in working order for many decades. 

 No forest officer is given a position of such responsibility that 

 he can even modify materially a working-scheme, until he has 

 spent several years in the forests in some subordinate capacity. 

 In fact, the forest manager receives his training in the actual 

 forest which he is ultimately to control. 



In Great Britain the case is entirely different. Here we have 



^ Compiled from notes of an address (with lantern slides) given at the 

 Annual General Meeting of the Society, February 191 1. 



