328 REVIEWS OF BOOKS. [Sept. 



paration into flax fibre for the linen manufacturer been made, the 

 crop paid better than the ordinary farm crops ; indeed, it yielded as 

 much as an acre of wheat and barley put together. 



Tin: SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Transactions of the Scottish Arloriculturcd Society, Vol. XI. Part I. 

 Secretary and Treasurer, John M'Laren, jun, Edinburgh, 

 1885. 



THIS is pre-eminently a Forestry Exhibition number of these 

 Transactions. The president's address, which was delivered 

 just after the opening of the late Murrayfield Exposition, brims 

 over with the subject ; there is the very full description of the 

 varied exhibits by Messrs. Dunn and M'Laren, deserving the full 

 meed of praise recently given it by Dr. Cleghorn ; and a special 

 description of the timber trees of Xew Brunswick by Professor 

 Bailey and Mr. Jack. Eive pictorical illustrations of the building 

 give plan, perspective, and three views of the Society's courts, in 

 one of which is shown not only blocks of timber and the like, but 

 physiognomic delineations of three leading promoters both of the 

 Society and the Exhibition. Altogether this is the best literary 

 memorial of the International Forestry Exhibition published. 



Amongst the general articles is a beautifully illustrated mono- 

 graph of " The New and Ptare Coniferai at Penrhyn Castle," by 

 A. D. Webster ; an essay on " Pruning : its Ornament and Utility," 

 by Alexander T. Gillanders of Skibo Castle, which may afford scope 

 for critics on this topic, who, as our readers know, are plentiful. 

 Mr. Barclay describes at length the plantations of Sorn in Ayrshire, 

 really begun by a Countess of Loudon, who, hearing of Dr. Johnson's 

 remarks on the treeless state of the Hebrides, which indeed were 

 extended to Scotland generally, exclaimed, " Deil tak' the man ! whar 

 was his een when he didna see my ebns ? " The arboricultural 

 work begun by the Countess was continued on a more extensive scale 

 by the late Miss Agnes Somervell, who increased the area of 

 plantations, as they are at present, to 600 acres, acting on the old 

 adage that " for agriculture to succeed, arboriculture must proceed." 

 The soil, for the most part, is peaty, in some places pure peat, 

 resting on a clayey sub-soil, and Scots and spruce fir are principally 

 grown. The crop finds ready sale in the neighbouring coal-fields 

 of upper Ayrshire, the extensive Airds Moss collieries being 



