1884] EDITORS BOX. 385 



Dendrometer, exhibiting it as such, and then and for ever consigning 

 it to the precincts of his antiquarian repository. It appeared to me 

 that the only fault, practically speaking, that this model instrument 

 had, was its faulty construction. It was said to be made by a well- 

 known philosophical instrument maker in Edinburgh, but I can 

 assure the maker that he had no credit for his work, the joints being 

 in a most rickety and unsatisfactory condition and much against the 

 instrument at the trial. 



The information I would ask Mr. Mackenzie to give is : What are 

 the merits of the instrument ? Will it do its work as shown in the 

 drawings referred to ? Are there really no calculations required in 

 working it ? Where can it be bought, and at what price ? The fact 

 of my being at first rather indifferent in watching the trial, and in 

 consequence only getting most of my information second hand, 

 makes me trouble you with this correspondence ; but I have no doubt 

 many foresters will be anxious for information on the same points. 



If this ' Mackenzie Dendrometer ' is what it was represented and 

 what it appeared to several to be, we cannot have one of them too 

 soon. It seemed quite a small article but had a rather long staff, 

 perhaps not an objection in walking through a rough country or 

 woods. Eatho. 



lUh February, 1884. 



Sir, — I have just received ' Forestry ' for February, and at page 

 300 I find that * P. J. Carter ' and ' J. L. L. McGregor ' make reference 

 to my ' Dendrometer,' and there state that ' the instrument is a very 

 old one, and is commonly known in Germany as Koenig's Messbrett, 

 and that it was brought under the notice of English foresters (not 

 Scotch) by Mr. Amery in his Notes on Forestry, in 1875.' It is 

 certainly somewhat flattering to find one's name identified with such 

 authorities. But I have to inform Messrs. Carter and McGregor that 

 I never saw nor heard of Koenig's Dendrometers, nor the work 

 published by Amery in 1875. 



* P. J. Carter' further remarks that ' it seems strange that a silver 

 medal should be awarded by the Scottish Arboricultural Society for an 

 old and well-known instrument of this kind.' I believe the Scottish 

 Arboricultural Society were as innocent of the knowledge of Koenig's 

 Messbrett as what Mr. Kay is. Hence the award was honestly won 

 I may also state that the idea is neither stolen nor strayed, and it may 

 astonish * P. J. Carter ' and * J. L. L. McGregor ' to know that I got an 

 award from the Scottish Arboricultural Society as far back as 1869 — 

 fifteen years ago, and sioe years before Amery jpublished his book ! At 



