146 REVIEWS OF BOOKS. [Dec. 



progress; whilst over 500,000 indigenous saplings, which without 

 the care of the Department would have been stunted and useless, 

 are now being trained to make good timber trees; and 100,000 

 young trees have come up and been established in the enclosures 

 set apart for the renovation of the indigenous forests by natural 

 regeneration ; in all, the Department may be credited with having 

 added no less than 1,344,000 trees to the property of the colony. 

 There are six fully-equipped nurseries belonging to the Department, 

 capable of raising collectively about 1,000,000 of young trees 

 annually. Some 200 acres are imder a promising crop of wattles. 

 The present value of all live stock, buildings, fences, implements, 

 and the trees iu plantations, Mr. Brown estimates at about 

 £100,000. An interesting feature in the work of the Department 

 has been to plant the lands round railway stations, and along the 

 railway lines in some cases, with olives. This has been done by 

 the labour of the unemployed, a social ill prevalent in our fair 

 southern colony, as well as at our doors. 



The JoiLTnal of the Royal AgriculUmd Soeicty of England. Second 

 Series. Volume the Twentieth, Part XL., ISTo. XL, October 

 1884. London: John Murray. 



Trom a repertory of valuable papers, to which we may afterwards 

 recur, — such as that of Lawes and Gilbert on the Continuous Growth 

 of Wheat, or that on the Chemistry of Ensilage, — that on the Quality 

 of Creosote suitable for Protecting Hop-Poles, Wood Fences, etc. 

 against Decay, by Dr. Voelcker, appears worthy of foresters' atten- 

 tion. Mr. F. de Laune, who introduced crude commercial creosote 

 for preserving timber more than a dozen years ago with great 

 success, has recently found wood impregnated with creosote supplied 

 to him a year or two ago, became rotten more rapidly than he believes 

 it would have been had it not been subjected to the creosoting 

 process. The question has naturally then arisen. Has an impure 

 material been supplied ? Dr. Voelcker recently found in a commercial 

 creosote no less than 14' 7 6 per cent, of ammoniacal water. In 

 other two specimens sent him by hop-growers in Kent, he found 

 only 3 to 4 per cent, of crude carbolic acid ; whereas, in his 

 judgment, creosote suitable for preserving hop-poles or wooden 

 fences should contain not less than 10 per cent, of crude carbolic 

 and crysilic acid, if above 10 per cent, so much the better is the 

 preservative iluid. Dr. Voelcker adds the following specification 

 to govern the quality of supplies of creosoting liquor : — 



" 1. Tlie liquor must be free from the admixture of any oil or 



