SCHOOLS OF FORESTRY 63 



I spent in St. Peterburg the summer of 1878, and I 

 was invited to attend a congress of Russian foresters, to 

 be held in Warsaw about the time of my return to 

 England; but a similar congress of German foresters 

 was held about the same time in Dresden, and 1 found it 

 more expedient to return by Saxony. 



The correspondent of the St. Petersburg Exchange Gazette, 

 writing from Warsaw under date of 22nd August, 1878, 

 O.S., gave the following account of the foresters' 

 conference held there : 



' The details and minutes of the conference are known 

 to you from the reports issued. I wish to communicate 

 the outside or public influence of the conference on the 

 press and on the Polish nation. It is a question whether 

 any other Russian congress, or conference of similar char- 

 a^ter and aim, has ever produced so great an effect on the 

 public mind. The intelligent classes of the community 

 and the public press exhibited a lively interest in this, the 

 fourth Russian conference of foresters and landlords. The 

 specialists and the owners of forests who had arrived in 

 Warsaw were the heroes of the day, and the questions 

 discussed attracted the liveliest notice of the public. The 

 reports of the conference appeared in print daily; even 

 the illustrated papers contained views of the " Salon " 

 during the sitting of the congress. The vital question of 

 forestry was worthily discussed by the Polish press, and 

 the economical importance of forestry was energetically 

 advocated, The ground was preliminarily prepared by 

 free invitations to attend the congress, and by timely 

 issues of pamphlets and papers on the subject, the object 

 of which was to acquaint the public with the objects of 

 the congress. The intelligence of society in general was 

 adequate to the occasion. Thanks to this " coaching/' the 

 public were prepared to give the guests a hearty welcome ; 

 and many specialists and owners of land arrived from all 

 parts of Poland. Three hundred members attended the 

 first sitting. But the great attraction was the permission 



