782 MISCELLANEOUS. [April 



After a careful study of the subject, Professor P. D. Penhallow 

 concludes that the formation of the so-called " annual rmgs " of 

 growth in trees is chiefly determined liy whatever operates to 

 produce alternating periods of physiological rest and activity. 

 In cold climates the rings are an approximately correct, but not 

 always certain, index of age. In warm climates, however, the 

 rings are of no value in this respect, as the growth is more likely to 

 mark a period of rainfall than the yearly hot season of summer. 



MoNTEATH, in his Foresters Guide, strongly recommends the dis- 

 barking of trees in the spring before they are to be felled ; and the 

 effect in hardening the timber is certainly very great, but in a hot 

 summer the exposed alburnum is apt to split more or less. A 

 better mode has been found to be that of merely cutting out clean a 

 rim, about four inches in widtli, of the bark close to the ground, 

 which in larches seems to cause the turpentine to be w^holly incor- 

 porated in the wood, instead of passing down to the roots ; and, in 

 fact, it so totally alters the condition of the trees that the workmen 

 complain of their Ijeing much more difficult to saw. The effect of 

 this process in establishing the straightness of the wood is, more- 

 over, very beneficial. A ladder made from a larch so treated will 

 be straight, while one not so seasoned will twist so as to be quite 

 worthless. 



PiUSsiAN Marshes. — Eussia has been for years engaged in 

 draining the Pinsk marshes. They are situated on the Ptusso-Polish 

 confines, and are very much larger than Ireland. In 1870, we believe, 

 the Piussiau Government first took in hand seriously the draining of 

 this territory, which, owing to being more or less submerged, and 

 covered with a jungle growth of forest, prevented not only communi- 

 cation between the Pussian districts on either side, but also between 

 Eussia and Austro-Germany. Consequently, a large staff' of engineer 

 officers and several thousand troops were drafted into the region, 

 and these have been engaged on the undertaking since. Up to 

 the present moment about 4,000,000 acres have been reclaimed, 

 thanks to the construction of several thousand miles of ditches, and 

 oi canals so broad as to be navio;able for barges of several hundred 

 tons burden. Just now the engineers are drawing up the programme 

 for next year, which comprises the drainage of 350,000 acres by 

 means of the construction of 120 miles of ditches and canals. Of 

 the 4,000,000 acres already reclaimed, 600,000 acres consisted of 

 sheer Ijog, which have been converted into good meadow land; 

 900,000 acres of "forest tangle," which have been prepared for 

 timber purposes by cutting down all the underwood and thinning 

 the trees; 500,000 acres of good forest land, forest oases in the 

 midst of the marshes, hitherto inaccessible, but which liave been 



