]883.] TEE ENGLISE ARBORICULTUBAL SOCIETY. 100 



at the same time they, and the decomposing parts of the trees that reach 

 the ground, increase the soil's share of its beneficial organic or ' mould,' 

 matter — spoken of by some as humus. The nitrates of soil occupied by 

 trees are not nearly so apt to be washed out as they are from soil 

 under tillage and underdrained. "What of the rainfall in woods that 

 is not carried away in the surface drains is eventually taken up by the 

 trees and evaporated from their leaves. Any nitrates that may find 

 their way to the subsoil will soon be seized on by the roots of the 

 trees, and be once more transferred to the surface. And then attain 

 it is questionable whether the process of nitrification can go on in 

 damp and shaded woods. At anyrate, the more it is hindered, the less 

 chance there will be of waste of the gradually accimiulating nitrogenous 

 matter. The thinner the tre^s on the ground, and the drier the soil, 

 the greater likelihood there will be of its proceeding. And these are 

 the places where we meet with ' grass, brackens, and other weeds.' 

 Now it has been found, and we have it on the good authority of 

 Sir J. B. Lawes, that there is far less waste of nitrates from soil con- 

 tinually covered with herbage than from bare soils or those that carry 

 a crop during only certain seasons of the year ; that, moreover, there 

 is less waste from a badly cleaned field than from a well weeded one ; 

 but let that be no excuse for dirtiness. The grasses, and some of the 

 weeds, are rarely altogether dead or dormant, even in the dead of 

 winter, and their roots are ever ready to avail themselves of what is 

 going in the soil. As the nitrates are formed they are made use of ; 

 and so with other plant food in the soil. The growth of each season 

 being left to wither, the decayed matter gradually comes to be 

 assimilated to the mould that gathers in the network of rootlets 

 beneath such herbage, and which constitutes the great agricultural 

 virtue of old sward — so full of matter that insures enormous crops 

 of corn. And thus the natural process of enricliing the surface 

 soil at the expense of the subsoil and the atmosphere may go on 

 indefinitely so long as the trees remain unfelled, and the annual 

 growth of herbage is not removed, but allowed to die and decay 

 where it grew. 



R H. 



The English Abboricultcral Societt. — The second annual meeting of the 

 members of this society was held in the Town Hall, Hexham, on Saturday, Nov. 

 24th, Mr. C. J. Bates, of Heddon and Langley Castle, in the chair. New 

 members were approved, and resolutions passed urging greater effort in the 

 creation of a deeper interest in forestry among landowners and others. At the 

 close of the business part of the meeting an interesting paper on ' The Experi- 

 mental Planting of Trees not generally Known, or as yet not Fairly Tested, in 

 the North of England,' was read by Mr. J. N. Kobson, Nurseryman, Hexham. 



I 



