364 
The Principles oj Forestry. 
" (a) Practical forestry. 
" (b) Botany. 
" (c) Vegetable physiology and Entomology, especially in connection 
with diseases and insects affecting the growth of trees. 
'•■ (d) Geology, with special reference to soils. 
" {e) Subjects connected with land-agency, such as land drainage, sur- 
veying, timber measuring, &c." 
Here again the report agrees substantially with the sugges- 
tions already quoted. 
It is difficult to conceive any better recommendations than 
those quoted, and if carried into effect the results that will ensue 
are such as will advance the wealth of landowners and the 
nation. The large areas now lying idle will be clothed with 
trees, and a system of culture will grow up similar to that in 
France and elsewhere. British forestry will no longer be open 
to the sinister comments of foreigners. 
AVe have a climate better adapted than any other country in 
Europe to the growth of commercial timber, and yet our supply, 
especially in England, is both trifling in quantity and poor in 
quality. As has been pointed out, millions of acres might be 
planted if landowners and the State could be induced to do it. 
Another satisfactory result would be, as I have before stated, 
that, instead of advancing money from local taxes to encourage 
emigration, we should be able to give employment to our bone 
and sinew at home ; and the villages now vacated, owing to the 
lapse of tillage, would again be full of life and acti\-ity. 
The end and aim of the Board, if constituted, should be to 
impress this with all the power of their official position upon the 
landowners ; because, if the inertia cannot be overcome, no Forest 
Board will be able to advance sylWculture in the least degree. 
The Board, too, must be an active and not a passive body. 
It must possess life and energy in the highest degree, because, 
in addition to the duty of directing study, it will have to foster 
and encourage a love for an art which is foreign to the sym- 
pathies of those interested in our landed industries. 
I have endeavoured in this article to lay before the reader the 
state of the woodlands of Great Britain and Ireland. I have con- 
demned their management, and supported my opinion thereon 
by the evidence taken before the Select Committee. Then I 
have shown that this arises from a lack of the knowledge of the 
true principles of forestry, and this I have also supported by evi- 
dence. I have shown, too, what these principles are, and how 
tbe knowledge of them may be acquired ; how the capital may 
be obtained for planting new areas, and how the existing areas 
may be improved by enlightened management ; how the revenue 
may be increased and rendered regular by a systematic method 
