ADVERTISEMENT. 



five years before with the two-fold object (1) of ascertain- 

 ing and making generally known the economic resources 

 of the Colony, as regards its indigenous vegetable produc- 

 tions, and its fitness for the growth of valuable exotic 

 trees and other plants ; and (2) of perfecting our know- 

 ledge of the flora of South Africa, and thus contributing 

 to the advancement of botanical science. 



" On making my first tour of the Colony to see its flora 

 and its capabilities, I found myself face to face with a 

 difficulty in the way of the development of these capa- 

 bilities, arising from a reckless destruction of forests and 

 forest products which was going on, and a progressive 

 desiccation of the climate, accompanying or following the 

 destruction of forests and the burning of herbage and 

 bush in connection with agricultural operations and pas- 

 toral husbandry. And I knew not then, nor do I know 

 now, of a single work published in England from which I 

 could then procure information in regard to the treatment 

 required by aboriginal forests, to secure their conservation 

 and improvement, excepting ' The Forests and Gardens of 

 South India,' by Dr Cleghorn, then Conservator of Forests 

 in the Madras Presidency ; ' The Forester,' by Dr James 

 Brown ; ' The Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum,' by 

 Louden ; and ' English Forests and Forest Trees,' an 

 anonymous work published by Ingram, Cooke, and Co., 

 London. But none of these supplied the information I 

 required. 



" Contrast with this the richness of Continental lan- 

 guages in literature on such subjects. I have had sent to 

 me lately ' Operdght of Svensha Shogsliteraturen, Bihliografisha 

 Stvdierenof Axel CnaUingiics,' a list of many books and papers 

 on Forest Science published in Sweden ; I have also had 



