1885.] BEVIEWS OF BOOKS. 329 



within a few miles of the estate. Formerly the wood was cut by 

 the forester's staff, from 10 to 20 acres being cleared each year ; 

 but it is now sold standing to the wood merchant, who employs 

 men to cut it at 3d. per tree, and ^d. per tree to burn the brush- 

 wood. It is valued as propwood " from G inches at the thick end 

 to 3 inches at the small end, which obtains a price of 5s. 3d. per 

 100 feet lineal ; G-inch cuts measuring not less than 6 inches in 

 diameter, yielding 7s. 3d. by the same measure ; and 7-incli cuts 

 not less than 7 inches, and so for 10s. same standard is given." 

 For the larger Scots and spruce fir, 3d. per cubic foot is obtained. 

 The trees now being cut will measure on an average 30 cubic feet. 

 Mr. John M'Lean writes on " Natural Eeproduction of Forests." 

 Hardwoods may be thus reproduced by sowing the seed artificially. 

 Considering the seeds of hardwoods under three divisions, he classes 

 in the first alder, birch, and elm, and like woods, which may be 

 sown immediately after they are ripe ; in the second, the seeds of 

 the ash, cherry, hornbeam, and service, which must be gathered and 

 pitted for some time ; and in the third, the heavy seeds of such 

 trees as oak, beech, chestnuts, hazel, and maple, which cannot be far 

 dispersed by the wind, and which germinate the spring after they 

 ripen. Such heavy seeds, when gathered ripe, may be planted in 

 vacant spaces of the woods by dibbling them into the soil to the 

 depth of two inches, though the seeds of maples require only an 

 inch in depth. A few women and boys might be employed during 

 autumn to gather such seeds under the supervision of a skilled man, 

 who might previously number the most healthy seed-bearing trees 

 in summer, and see to the proper planting of the crop so won 

 in the vacant woodland spaces. Proper fencing is indispensable; 

 otherwise, ravages by rabbits and the like will exterminate the 

 seedlings. Eocky ledges, on whose almost inaccessible summits 

 there is no soil for the roots of even a young tree to grasp, might 

 be advantageously planted with such seeds. But hardwoods should 

 not be planted in places only fit for pines. The first can only be 

 grown to advantage in moderately low, sheltered situations, not upon 

 exposed sites at high altitudes, which are, however, admirably 

 adapted for conifers. 



This fasciculus of a new volume of Transactions is a decided 

 advance on previous issues. 



