l88 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



extend that work somehow, and though I do not know how 

 much it will be extended, the policy has been adopted, and it is 

 intended that it shall be developed. As regards the question of 

 silviculture, Canada is hardly in a position to say very much to 

 Scotland. One of the things that impressed me very much, on 

 coming to .Scotland, was to find the extent to which Scotsmen 

 had looked abroad and tried experiments with introduced species, 

 and I was quite pleased to find that among the species which 

 you considered as very suitable ones here, are the Douglas fir 

 and Sitka spruce. Both of these are growing in British 

 Columbia, Canada, and they are there considered very satis- 

 factory. They make good growth in a climate similar in many 

 respects to yours, that is to say, a soft climate with a good deal 

 of moisture. The timber produced is very fine, and I see no 

 reason why the same result should not be obtained in Scotland. 

 I should like to say in closing that in our work in forestry in 

 Canada, we have been very much indebted to a large number 

 of Scotsmen. I do not suppose you care to have them go away, 

 but I must say that travelling round the old district of Argyll, 

 I felt rather sad at heart myself to see so many desolate glens, 

 although I suppose some of my ancestors are responsible for 

 some of the desolation. We have a number of young men 

 from Scotland who are assisting us in our forestry work in 

 Canada." 



Dr John Nisbet said : — " I have to thank you very heartily 

 for the great honour you have done me in electing me an 

 Honorary Member of your Society. I feel the honour is very 

 much enhanced by my name being placed in the list along with 

 such illustrious Scotsmen as the Right Honourable Sir Ronald 

 Munro Ferguson and the Right Honourable Sir Herbert E. 

 Maxwell. Those who know the history of Scottish forestry for 

 the last thirty years must remember that Sir Herbert Maxwell, 

 who was President of this Society from 1886 to 1888, took an 

 active part in the Parliamentary Committee on silviculture from 

 1885 to 1887, that delivered in August 1887 a very good report, 

 which, if it had been acted upon to a far greater extent than it 

 was, would have placed Scotland in a better position regarding 

 silviculture than it occupies to-day. Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson 

 was also President from 1894 to 1897, and it does not require 

 any words of mine to bring to your recollection the great services 

 he has done for the cause of afforestation, both in the House of 



