OBITUARY. 127 



OBITUARY. 



Dr John Nisbet. 



By the death of Dr John Nisbet, Forestry Adviser to the 

 Board of Agriculture in Scotland, which took place on the 

 30th November last, at St Mary's Lodge, Exmouth, the Society 

 has lost a valued and honoured member. Dr Nisbet was a 

 pioneer, and one of the ablest exponents, of scientific forestry in 

 the United Kingdom. To him more than to anyone is due the 

 progress, little though it be, we have made towards a rational 

 appreciation of our responsibilities in the way of growing timber 

 for profit. 



Born in 1853, John Nisbet was educated at the Edinburgh 

 Institution and University. Thence he passed into the Indian 

 Forestry service in 1875. Studying at Munich during his 

 training, he took the degree of Doctor in National Economy, 

 and, as the favourite pupil of Gayer, acquired a profound know- 

 ledge of the science of forestry, which he carried with him into 

 his Indian service, from which he retired in 1900, after reaching 

 the rank of Conservator. Routine work, however telling, in 

 official service is known to but few, and Nisbet's contribution to 

 the development of Indian forestry is merged in the merit of the 

 Department. In recognition of this he was decorated with the 

 Kaiser-i-Hind gold medal for public services in India at the 

 Delhi Durbar, 1903. 



We in this country might have heard little, if anything, of him 

 had he not foreseen that the growing timber consumption of the 

 world, the reckless destruction of timber in virgin areas, and the 

 inadequate response of this country in the way of future supply, 

 were factors of a timber famine which must come upon Great 

 Britain unless timely steps were taken to improve its forestry. 

 Early in the nineties of last century, whilst still in the Indian 

 Service, Nisbet, gifted with a ready and instructive pen. began 

 to approach the public by lectures, by articles in magazines, and 

 by text-books of forestry, in his endeavour to stir up interest in 

 the problem of timber supply and scientific forestry. Among 

 his more important publications are British Forest Trees 

 (1893), Protection of Woodlands (1893), Essays on Silvicultural 

 Subjects (1893), Studies in Forestry (1894), Burina under British 



