24 Studies in Forestry [CHAP. i. 



not promise remunerative returns, owing to the fact of the 

 timber marts being glutted with foreign timber, to the general 

 depression in trade which was then making itself felt, and to 

 the use of substitutes in many ways in which timber was 

 formerly employed. But it is important to note that among 

 Messrs. Thompson, Macgregor, and M c Quorquodale, the able 

 practical head foresters then in charge of the Strathspey, 

 Athole, and Scone forests, there was a consensus of opinion 

 that properly managed woodland crops are undoubtedly profit- 

 able. On this point the late Mr. Macgregor's evidence may 

 be briefly quoted : 



1 122. Then you think the forest area in Scotland might be largely 

 increased? Very largely ; it can be very much extended. 



1123. With profit ? With profit. 



This practical advice becomes of all the greater importance 

 when collated with my previous statement relative to the 

 gradual appreciation which can be proved in the case of timber 

 up till now. Simply as a commercial speculation, timber can 

 and should be grown to a much larger extent than at present. 

 If any one studies the relative and steady appreciation of timber 

 in the past, it requires no subtle arguments to make out a fair 

 case for the judicious sylvicultural utilization of the soil in 

 many parts of our island. 



I do not venture to make this indictment against the 

 Governments of late as well as of previous years, of being 

 utterly neglectful of really important national interests relative 

 to the already existing three million acres of woodlands, with- 

 out being in a position to offer some practical suggestion for 

 the removal of this blot on our system of technical education. 



But though I cannot agree with the Committee on Forestry 

 in attempting to remedy the defect for so small a sum as 500 

 a year (reducible by fees for diplomas), yet it need cost a mere 

 nothing in comparison with the housing and maintenance of 

 our national Natural History Museums at Kensington and 

 elsewhere. Sir Herbert Maxwell, in his paper on Woodlands 



