THE ANNUAL EXCURSION. 67 



are housed in temporary buildings which have been adapted for 

 the purpose, and I was therefore unable to gain any ideas as to 

 the most suitable type of building for a forestry school. None 

 of them possesses a museum, nor is there even adequate 

 accommodation for the collections of material necessary for 

 class work. 



The most pressing needs of the United States and Canada 

 in connection with forestry at present lie in the better manage- 

 ment of the woods and forests, and it is therefore natural to 

 find that the work in their newly established forestry schools 

 is almost entirely directed towards giving students a thorough 

 training in the silvicultural side of forestry. 



The study of Timber Physics, under which term I include 

 all such studies as are undertaken at the Forest Products 

 Laboratory, occupies quite a secondary position in the curricula 

 of forestry schools, and except for microscopical studies of 

 timber structure, no other research work is carried on. 



II. The Annual Excursion. 



{With Plate.) 



By Wm. Dawson, M.A., B.Sc. 



The Society this year visited the north-eastern part of Scotland, 

 and spent the week beginning June 24th in the valley of the 

 Dee. The party was much larger than usual, there being 

 nearly a hundred members present. The district visited is one 

 of the best-wooded parts of Scotland, and includes places which 

 have long been recognised as almost unique silviculturally. 

 The old forest of Ballochbuie, in which the Excursion started, 

 is almost the last remaining area of the native pine forests 

 which once covered a large portion of the country, while Durris, 

 at which it closed, is unique for the number and size of its 

 exotic timber trees. The places visited between these extremes 

 had, likewise, much to interest the silviculturist in the size and 

 variety of their woodland areas. A point of interest is the fact 

 that the Kirktown of Braemar, from which the Excursion 

 started, stands at an elevation of about 1000 feet above sea-level 

 — an elevation which for most parts of Scotland is recognised as 

 beyond, or at the utmost limits of, the "timber line." Yet, in 

 this particular district, trees of more t*han one species flourish 



