Science and Teaching of Forestry. 



forth find a powerful auxiliary in the forester. After making every allowance 

 for the great fertility of the soil in Great Britain, we feel certain that in 

 many districts more than one of the forests which were cleared some time 

 back, would now be jealously preserved by the same proprietors who formerly 

 cut them down. It must also be borne in mind that the British empire is 

 not confined to Great Britain and Ireland, and that, by reason of her 

 immense possessions, England is, perhaps of all nations in the world, the 

 most richly endowed with valuable timber forests. It is by hundreds of 

 millions of acres that we may reckon the forests of Canada, India and Australia, 

 New Zealand, and Cape Colony, not to speak of those in the West Indies 

 and Borneo. All these natural resources of wealth are worked by British 

 enterprise and British capital, and, seeing the present wonderful develop- 

 ment of commerce throughout the globe, it is a matter of importance to 

 every civilised nation that this vast accumulation of forest riches should not 

 fall into the hands of ignorant persons, or be squandered away regardless of 

 the future. For these reasons the establishment of a Forest School in 

 England becomes a matter of primary importance." To come to figures, 

 Great Britain has the smallest proportion of woodland to area of any State 

 in Europe, little more than three per cent., the acreage being -England and 

 Wales nearly H millions, Scotland little over 730,000, and Ireland 325,000 

 acres. The private plantations of Scotland are mainly coniferous ; but in 

 England 125,000 acres are in the occupation of the Crown, being mostly 

 mixed forest. The chief state forests are the New Forest, in Hampshire, of 

 76,000 ; the^Forest of Dean, in this county, of 22,000 ; and Windsor Park of 

 14,000 acres. The total acreage of forest in the British Empire is estimated 

 at 340,000,000 acres. 



If, then, the forests of our colonies are important for sanitary reasons and 

 with reference to the timber supply of the world, and it is desirable that 

 we should produce as much timber as possible, as cheaply as possible, for 

 our home consumption, mines, railways, building, &c., I wish next to show 

 the value of timber as an investment, the value as capital of a growing tree. 



Now, leaving increase of height out of consideration, since trees reach 

 their full height before they attain their greatest dimensions, a healthy 

 forest tree makes a new ring of wood each year of approximately equal 

 width. If, then, we number these circles 1, 2, 3, 4, See., from within out- 

 wards, their areas will be as the squares of these numbers, 1, 4, 9, 16 &c. 

 or the yearly gain as the difference of these squares 3, 5, 7, 9, an arith- 

 metical series having a common difference of 2. Few other investments 

 can approach this rate of return. 



In order to secure this return it is no doubt necessary in the first place to 

 lay out a considerable capital ; secondly, to lay it out properly ; thirdly, not 

 to trench upon this capital, but to expend a certain annual amount to sustain 

 it, and lastly, to wait some years for the return. Obviously, then, the plant- 

 ing of woodland is a matter for proprietors rather than tenants. Few sober 

 foresters claim that timber can be relied upon in England to pay the rental 

 of the best agricultural land. The costliness of transport and the uncertainty 

 of the market are important considerations ; but it is maintained that many 

 upland tracts, and other districts now barren, or nearly so, might be made to 

 yield a handsome return to capital. For this, however, scientific manage- 

 ment is necessary. 



The science of forestry consists of two main divisions ; sylviculture and 

 forest administration. Sylviculture is concerned with geology so far as it 

 relates to the soils suitable to various species ; with meteorology in reference 

 to aspect, altitude, and other climatic conditions ; with chemistry as to- the 



