130 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



centres has ever occurred to the minds of any of us who have 

 been concerned with the selection of the area. We have been 

 concerned with nothing but the quahty of the area itself, and 

 perhaps I may say that we believe, and I think we have made 

 out a good case for saying so, that the increased journey to 

 Aberdeen is not really the drawback which at first sight it may 

 seem. The school for apprentices, which there must be in 

 connection with the area, will be established there, and pre- 

 sumably the students will be there for a period of not less than 

 two years. To them it will not make much difference whether 

 the journey is an hour more or less. It will make all the 

 difference whether they are studying something worth studying. 

 For other students who will do most of their work at the 

 University as they do now with their professors, the journey will 

 not be very serious. They won't go to the forest for a day. 

 They will go for periods of three to six weeks, and they need not 

 grudge an hour more or less in the train if it is to take them to 

 a place where their studies can be prosecuted to better advantage. 

 Finally, I would say that in the great country of France, — where 

 forestry has been studied for a longer continuous period than in 

 any other country — they are content to have their forestry 

 school almost on the frontier at Nancy. They have it there 

 because they are within reach of woods of all kinds. The 

 distance from Bordeaux and the west of France to Nancy is 

 very much greater than any distance we can travel in Scotland. 

 I cannot help thinking that an arrangement which is wise in 

 France may be wise in Scotland. The support of this Society at 

 this time to this proposal, if you agree to give it, would be of the 

 greatest possible value, because, as I say, the proposal has its 

 critics, and the weight of your opinion will go a long way to 

 decide whether the matter is carried through or not." 



The Chairman said : — " This question of the purchase of 

 Ballogie has been urged on the Secretary for Scotland by the 

 Council. We were not at that time in possession of the 

 Advisory Committee's report. However, we can only say that 

 those members of our Society who were acting on the Advisory 

 Committee felt every confidence in their report. Now that the 

 thing has been made public, I think that a recommendation 

 from the Annual Meeting of the Society will have much more 

 weight than any opinion which the Council were able to give 

 on the occasion of their interview with Mr M'Kinnon Wood. 



