318 LABOUR-SAVING APPLIANCES. [Sept. 



There was enough forest in the New Forest and the Forest of Dean 

 to iUustrate lectures on scientific forestry. 



Mr. Thiseltou Dyer, of Kew, advocated a knowledge of chemistry 

 as essential for the extended cultivation of forests. In France, 

 private woods were much in the same state as in England : in both, 

 skilled foresters might initiate most profitable improvements. The 

 picked men sent from Kew Gardens to the Colonies to give direc- 

 tions on forestry had generally been successful. Asked his opinion 

 as to the steps that should be taken with regard to this country, 

 he thought that India, where they had every advantage for study of 

 forestrj^, should be made the nucleus of forest education. A week 

 spent in a properly- worked forest was worth a month of lectures. 



Mr. Julian C. Eogers, secretary of the Surveyors' Institute, con- 

 curred with the previous witnesses as to the general advisableness 

 of instituting a forest school both for this country and the Colonies. 



The Committee will not sit again this session, but have reported 

 to the House that another Committee should complete the inquiry. 

 The House of Lords has sent a message to the House of Commons 

 requesting to be furnished with a copy of the evidence. 



The evidence has (August 22) now been published; our report is 

 condensed chiefly from the Field, and revised by a witness. 



LABOUR-SAVING APPLIANCES. 



{See page 262.) 



Comwmi Roofing Slates have hardly been appreciated as a help 

 in raising vines from cuttings out of doors. We place the rows 

 of cuttings one foot apart, covering the ground solid between them 

 with slates. These draw the heat of the sun, causing an immense 

 network of roots to run close to the surface under the slates, keep- 

 ing the ground warm, moist, and mellow ; they also do away, in a 

 large measure, with the expense of weeding and cultivating. When 

 cuttings are planted behind slates set at an angle half way in the 

 ground so as to catch on their faces the full rays of the sun, they 

 throw out a mass of roots ; while the j^oung bud which starts is 

 shaded from the direct solar rays. 



The Weed Annihilcdor of Mr. Jenkins is a half-circle of a boiler, 

 or heavy sheet-iron 12 feet or more in length, with a draft 

 chimney at the farther end, and is designed to burn the weeds 

 over a space 4 feet wide, and along its full length. It is then 

 drawn forward on runners or iron trucks, when the operation is 

 repeated. And thus a large surface of weeds can be burned over 

 in a short space of time. 



