Forestry

Abstract

“SILVER and gold have I not; but what I have I am prepared to give.” This is what the author tells us towards the end of the present volume, and there can be no doubt that he has fully acted up to his promise. He has now presented the public with what appears to be the fifteenth volume on subjects of forestry, and he offers to publish some thirty additional volumes if the necessary inducement is held out. Surely Dr. Brown must be extremely philanthropic, or else the publishing of books is considerably cheaper than we have so far believed it to be. These works, published and unpublished, deal with forest subjects in almost every known country of the earth, and we wonder how Dr. Brown has managed to collect all the information. The above-mentioned offer seems to have been made in succession to a variety of bodies, but none of them have availed themselves of it, and the world at large must, for the present, be satisfied with the information contained in the fifteen volumes which have so far passed through the press. That, however, extends over a considerable range, including information regarding forests and schools of forestry in Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Russia, and the Cape; on modern forest economy; the effects of forests on humidity of climate; hydrology of South Africa, &c., &c. Now, it appears to us either that Dr. Brown's works are deficient in interest, or that his countrymen are very ungrateful in not availing themselves of his handsome offer. If we follow the dictates of common-sense, we must, it seems, decide in favour of the former alternative.

School of Forestry in Germany, with Addenda relating to a desiderated British National School of Forestry.

By John Croumbie Brown (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd; London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., 1887.)