12 PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



this false economy has had something to do with the 

 unsatisfactory condition of our woodland. Perhaps, 

 if more intelligence had been exercised we should 

 not now see so much that is really wanting in the 

 sense of a true systematic course of forestry. 



We have, in our somewhat long experience, seen 

 forestry at home and abroad, and have seldom seen 

 that display of knowledge and system which we all 

 desire to see. We have seen, too, the deplorable 

 state of large areas of woodland through absolute 

 neglect on the one hand, and extravagance and 

 ignorance on the other. The former is apparent in 

 the weakly timber, the decaying and moss-grown 

 stems, the drains stopped and overflowing ; the latter 

 in the sweeping away of all good timber, to meet 

 pressing emergencies, and in the existence of ill- 

 grown and faulty timber of little or no commercial 

 value. When called in to advise we have too often 

 had to find fault with past mismanagement, and to 

 point out the necessity of a long series of years of 

 reclamation and improvement, unattended by pre- 

 sent remuneration. 



This state of things can only be remedied by the 

 introduction of a class of men really intelligent and 

 possessing a fair knowledge of the sciences attaching 

 to the subject, as well as a practical knowledge of 

 ordinary field - engineering and woodmen's work. 

 More than this, the forester must, if he is to organise 

 and control large forest operations, qualify himself in 

 nursery work. Forestry on a large scale can never 

 pay without a forest nursery, and to place this in the 

 hands of an ignorant man is folly of the greatest 



