1 82 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETV. 



US — ' You have told us that in your country silviculture is very 

 much in need of assistance and development, and you have shown 

 us little else but well-wooded valleys and thriving plantations.' 



" Possibly the latter part of the tour has changed their views ; 

 if not, we must ask them to take it from us that we have only 

 shown them a small fraction of the promising field for afforesta- 

 tion now lying waste. In pursuit of our object, we have shown 

 to our guests as much of Scotland as perhaps it is possible to 

 show in a twelve days' tour. 



" It has been a one-sided tour turned towards silviculture and 

 silvicultural possibilities alone. We have resisted with iron 

 virtue every by-path leading to the tempting regions of art and 

 industry, of history and romance. And I think we have our 

 reward in having gained for our guests — and incidentally for 

 ourselves — a connected series of impressions of the object of our 

 study which may be compared to a cinematograph film. No 

 one, so far as I know, but ourselves, has taken such a rapid and 

 comprehensive survey of Scottish silviculture and its possibilities. 

 That by itself is a valuable experience, but it sinks into insignifi- 

 cance beside the privilege which we have enjoyed of making it 

 in a company representing, as may be said without exaggeration, 

 the silvicultural theory and practice of all the world. 



" It is not possible that such a temporary association can fail 

 to bear permanently useful fruit— it is for us to record and 

 tabulate and compare the experience gained. The benefit to 

 Scottish forestry will be great, even looking to existing conditions, 

 and far greater looking to future possibilities. For I think that 

 besides the Scotland of the latter part of our tour, the Scotland 

 of bare and rain-swept hills, of scanty patches of cultivation and 

 infrequent houses, our guests will carry away with them the 

 picture of another and a different Scotland. 



"The scientific imagination, working from known data, can 

 pass over as of no account the lapse of time required to bring to 

 perfection the fruits of a well-ordered plan, and can show us the 

 lower slopes of the hills no longer bare but forest-clad, the hill 

 streams harnessed for industrial service, and thriving villages in 

 place of lonely crofts. That this is no vain dream we can call 

 expert testimony from all the world to prove. 



" I have now to ask our guests to give us the advantage of 

 hearing some of the impressions which they have received of 

 Scotland as a field for silviculture. It will also be of the greatest 



