CHAP, i.] Forestry in Britain 19 



The course of lectures which was organized in 1889 at Edin- 

 burgh University is, as at present constituted, merely a make- 

 shift ; and even as a temporary compromise it is only satis- 

 factory on the broad principle that ' half a loaf is better than 

 no bread.' At the present moment reference is made only 

 to a course of technical instruction fitting young men of 

 liberal education for the management of estates containing 

 a considerable area of woodlands. It does not take into 

 consideration the wants of that other very important class of 

 less highly educated men occupying the position of foresters, 

 wood-reeves, bailiffs, overseers, &c., for whose improved edu- 

 cation an experimental system of instruction has recently been 

 inaugurated by Professor Balfour at the Botanic Garden in 

 Edinburgh. For the ultimate success of both of these Schools 

 every lover of Forestry and of woodland growth must hope. 



The only educational institution properly equipped with 

 duly qualified teachers for granting a sound Sylvicultural edu- 

 cation at the present moment is Cooper's Hill College, near 

 Staines in Surrey, originally built and fitted up as an Indian 

 Engineering College at a cost of 134,000. Without con- 

 sidering the causes which led to the necessity for terminating 

 the original course of study of the probationers for the Indian 

 Forest Service in Germany and France, and without discussing 

 whether the cessation of the continental training has proved 

 itself beneficial or not, it may be said that Cooper's Hill was 

 not primarily selected for any local or other advantages 

 it offered per se. Its selection was mainly due to other 

 reasons ; because it was an expensive establishment already 

 in the hands of the India Office, and needed financial support 

 after the reduction in the number of young officers annually 

 required in the Public Works or Civil Engineering Depart- 

 ment (in consequence of the fall in the rupee), for the 

 education of whom alone the maintenance of the College 

 had become unduly expensive. Previous to the education 

 of the probationers for the Indian Forest Service being 



c 2 



