i6" Studies in Forestry [CHAP. i. 



But even during the period of active vegetation the trees 

 may perhaps be growing in a way that is not at all economical ; 

 they may be dissipating their vital energy in an excessive 

 development of branches and crown instead of conserving and 

 utilizing it for the rapid formation of a longer, straighter, and 

 more full-wooded bole yielding the maximum of technically 

 useful, and at the same time financially profitable, timber. 

 Moreover, whilst that may be a very suitable motto for an 

 Arboricultural Society ', concerned to a certain extent with the 

 planting of trees for their natural beauty, the full aesthetic 

 effect of which can only be attained by letting them hang as 

 they grow ', it would be utterly out of place so far as Forestry 

 is concerned ; for woodland trees require to be tended, and 

 educated, and carefully ministered to, during all the several 

 stages of their development, in order to produce the largest re- 

 turns during the various periodical thinnings, combined with the 

 largest and most valuable final yield, materially and financially, 

 when the crop attains its full maturity, and has to be cleared 

 for the reproduction of a younger generation of trees. And 

 can any one in his sound senses think that Forestry, any 

 more than Agriculture, may be conducted profitably and 

 economically merely by following old saws or unthinking rule 

 of thumb ? Does the old Horatian maxim, doctrina sed vim 

 promovet insitam^ not equally hold good with regard to sylvi- 

 culture, as well as to other arts and sciences ? Is Forestry so 

 essentially different in its natural laws and fundamental prin- 

 ciples from Agriculture, that whilst University chairs have 

 been founded for the latter at Edinburgh, Belfast, Newcastle, 

 and in a manner also at Oxford 1 , and properly equipped 

 Schools of Agriculture are located at Edinburgh, Carlisle, 

 Cirencester, and Downton, absolutely next to nothing has yet 

 been done for the dissemination of sound and properly quali- 

 fied instruction in sylviculture ? 



1 The Sibthorpian Professorship of Rural Economy at Oxford is at present 

 suspended, but has hitherto been held only by an Agriculturist. 



