155 



found the only sure guide to proper timber-growing, and that scienti- 

 fically managed forests are alike a profit to the producer, a benefit to the 

 community of the region in which they are reared and a source of 

 national wealth. Once we have got so far as to create this opinion, the 

 funds for as extended a scheme of forestry education as may be necessary 

 will I venture to think, be forthcoming. 



44. There is still the other question to answer — Whence are the 

 teachers to come ? This is, I think, fundamental. For, given a 

 competent teacher, he will soon find opportunity for teaching. If to- 

 morrow the whole or even a half of the chairs suggested by Dr. Xisbet 

 as essential were founded, how should we meet the demand for men to 

 fill them ? We might, of course, draw upon the Indian Forest Service, 

 but I do not know where you would find teachers in Britain. But if 

 there is no prospect of such immediate requirement of teachers, that 

 does not make the fact of their deficiency of any less moment. There is 

 surely something wrong when men capable of giving scientific instruc- 

 tion in so important a practical subject are so scarce. 



45. This is how it touches us botanists, and upon our shoulders I am 

 disposed to throw the blame for the present outlook. We do not seem 

 to have realised, except in relation to medicine, that modern botany has 

 an outlet. Perhaps it has been the influence of medicine that has en- 

 gendered this. We find chemists and physicists devoting their science 

 to the furtherance of practical aims. Zoologists have applied theirs to 

 the elucidation af problems bearing on the fishery industry, and we see 

 in that monument to the ability and energy of Prof. Ray Lankester, the 

 marine biological laboratory at Plymouth, an experimental station 

 which, while it contributes to the nation's prosperity, serves at the same 

 time as a home of pure research. But where is the practical outcome 

 of modern botany ? I must not overlook such brilliant work as that of 

 Marshall Ward, full of purpose, and significant as it is to many large 

 industries, nor that of Oliver in its beiring on horticulture. But it 

 do3s seem to me that the general trend of botanical work in Britain is 

 not utilitarian. Perhaps as good an illustration as could be given of 

 the slight practical importance attached by the lay mind nowad iys to 

 botany is the fact that the Scottish Universities Commissioners have 

 made it — though I must add it is bracketed with zoology — optional wi^h 

 mathematics for the degree in agriculture. 



46. It is a matter of history that its utilitarian side gave the first im- 

 petus to the scientific study of botany. The plant -world, as the source 

 of products of economic value and drugs, attracted attention, and out 

 of this grew, by natural development, the systematic study of plants. 

 The whole teaching of botany was at the first, and continued for long 

 to be, systematic and economic, and it was from this point of view that, 

 the herbalist having become the physici in, botany became so essential 

 a branch of medical study. It is noteworthy that as an early practical 

 outcome of the study came the establishment of botanic gardens, which, 

 at their institution, were essentially what we would now style experi- 

 mental stations, and contributed materially to the introduction and dis- 

 tribution of medicinal and economic plants, and to the trial of their 

 products. If they are now in many instances simply appendages of 

 teaching establishments, or mera pleasure-grounds, we at least in Britain 



