56 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



5. Forestry at Home and Abroad. 



By A. W. BoRTHWiCK, D.Sc. 



During the past few years some progress has been made 

 towards the development of Scottish forestry, but that progress, 

 it must be admitted, has been disappointingly slow. Undoubt- 

 edly the most important forward step made was the publication 

 of the Glen Mor Survey Report by Lord Lovat and Captain 

 Stirling. This pioneer and fundamental work leaves no room 

 for doubt or even for hesitation, in accepting the statement, that, 

 before the work of afforestation can be undertaken on a national 

 scale, we must first know the extent of land available for that 

 purpose. The prime importance of a general survey of the 

 ■whole country is admitted by foresters of all grades and by all 

 •who know anything about the possibilities of forestry, but while 

 much discussion is taking place about what are at the present 

 time more or less irrelevant details, the main line of development 

 is being lost sight of. The importance attached to survey work 

 "by eminent foresters in other countries, especially in America, 

 is well illustrated by the following extract from American 

 Forestry ^ : — 



" The Secretary of Agriculture recently signed an agreement 

 with the State of North Carolina for a co-operative study of 

 forest conditions in the eastern Piedmont region. The work 

 will be carried on by the Forest Service and by the State 

 geological and economic survey with one-half of the cost paid 

 "by each. 



" The study will determine the distribution and proportion of 

 forest lands, and the relative value of lands for timber and for 

 agriculture. It will take into account the present status of 

 lumbering, the causes and effects of forest fires, and will recom- 

 mend a system of fire protection and of forest planting. 



"The study just arranged supplements two already completed 

 in the more mountainous regions of the State. The first, a study 

 of forest conditions in the Appalachians, has been published as 

 a State report. A study of the forests of the western Piedmont 

 region was completed recently, and the results are being pre- 

 pared for publication. When the study of the eastern Piedmont 

 region is finished, it is planned to proceed to a similar study of 



^ American Forestry, vol. xix. , No. 8, p. 560. 



