524 TJic y oil ma I of Forestry. 



CiiESTNi'T Teees.— A fcroall black fly, species unknowr, has made fell havoc 

 amongst the chestnut trees in some parts of the Pyrenees of late years. Bark 

 and wood alike have been destroyed on the finest trees. The destruction is 

 described as " immense," and the insect is said to be extending its attacks to 

 the neighbouring oaks. 



Deseontainea Sfinosa in Scotland. — A.t the Marquis of Tweeddale's fine 

 old gardens at Tester, in Haddingtonshire, is a noble plant of this in flower in 

 the open air. It is about 4 feet high, and nearly as much through, and bears 

 numerous flowers. It is growirtg in a pot, and set out in the open air in 

 summer, and no doubt protected in winter in a cool house. In this way this 

 brilliant plant is well worth growing where it does not thrive out of doors, 

 such as it does in Wales, the south of England, and Ireland. 



Is Gas Tar Injukious to Tkees? — My experience entirely justifies Downing's 

 recommendation of the use of gas tar as a preventive of the attacks of rabbits 

 upon the bark of newly planted trees. I have used gas tar, sometimes mixed 

 with a little benzoline if very stiff", for twenty-five years for ash trees, oak, larclu 

 ivy, and other plants, without being aware of a single instance of injury. It 

 has even been applied without injury to parts of the stem which have been 

 already bitten and laid bare, whilst I never knew rabbits touch plants which 

 have been so treated. I have also tarred the cuts of trees of all ages, after 

 removing limbs close to the trunk, to keep wet from decaying the timber, 

 instead of paint, with good effect, especially if the limbs are cut off" in early 

 summer when the sap is rising. — J. L. Rogers, Penrose, Helston. 



Peeserving Posts. — In reference to this subject, Mr. C. A. Wheeler, of 

 Gloucester Villas, Swindon, writes : — I have experimented upon larch posts; and, 

 in order to their preservation, I simply invert them. I have often done so ; 

 and after many years, when taken out of the ground, they were not only sound, 

 but all that portion which had been under ground bore so much the nature of 

 petrifaction that it was impossible to cut or saw it. The soil was clay. It lias 

 ever seemed to me thus accounted for : as sap ascends the trunk of a tree by 

 capillary attraction through the pores nature supplied for the process, and as 

 the trunk of the tree had been reversed, so would the action and " determina- 

 tion " of sap to the root be the result. Though forgetting where I learned it, 

 I well remember once before laying these remarks before the public. It should 

 be remembered that, as decay of posts is generally between wind and water, 

 through evaporation, the descending moisture leaves nothing to so evaporate. 



Irtsii Plantations. — According to the recently issued agricultural returns 



the acreage of land, underwoods, and plantations in the several provinces of 



Ireland is as follows : — 



Acres. 



T . ^ (1876 101,358 



T-^ei'^s^er j^^g77 100 33^ 



,r ^ (1876 106,759 



Mu^ster 1 1377 i(^8,437 



TT, ^ 3 1876 62,811 



IJlster ^;^877 54739 



^ ,, fl876 53,224 



Connaught ... |;^877 M,903 



Total ^1877 



1876 324,152 

 328,413 



