GENERAL REQUIREMENTS. 3 



woodlands are like banks, often overdrawn upon, and 

 are not treated with that consideration which they 

 deserve. The wholesale destruction of valuable 

 timber to meet pressing demands has greatly marred 

 the beauty and wealth of our woods ; and if every 

 proprietor were free to cut and sell as he pleased, 

 i.e., if he were without legal restraint, it is possible to 

 believe that a very much smaller area would now exist. 



What is required is to encourage the judicious 

 planting of new areas, and to preserve and improve 

 carefully those in existence. To do this requires the 

 employment of skilled foresters, and to obtain this 

 class must be the mainspring from which all future 

 success will arise. Efforts hitherto made by many 

 landowners have been nipped in the bud by failure, 

 and nine times out of ten these failures have arisen 

 from deplorable ignorance in the men employed. 

 Until the idea is exploded that any fool can plant a 

 tree there can be little hope of success. 



Perhaps of all branches of culture arboriculture is 

 the one that needs most culture in the individual. 

 He is not called upon to sow a crop which he will 

 reap the following season, but to sow, tend, and 

 judiciously thin a crop which is to stand through 

 future and distant generations. He must be cognisant 

 at least of the principles which govern plant life, 

 although he need not be deeply learned in vegetable 

 physiology. He must understand the nature of soils 

 and their preparation for tree life ; and, above all, 

 must he be aware of the trees adapted to each. 

 Wherein can a greater failure lie than in the wrong 

 selection of trees? We venture to assert that, take 



