1879.] NOTES FROM THE PAPERS. 115 



reported in one of the late Mr Senior's conversations. Mr Senior had been 

 admiring the Baron's park at Vaux, where he was staying, but remarked on 

 the absence of fine trees. His guest answered, ' It is impossible to persuade 

 a Frenchman that trees are anything but a source of profit. My intendant 

 values them according to their cubic contents. As soon as my back is turned 

 he finds an excuse to cut down every one which he thinks has reached its 

 maturity, for sale ; so does every one else. There are more fine trees in Hyde 

 Park and Kensington Gardens than in all France.' If, therefore, the mass of 

 the French people do not value trees as an ornament, and few have, the means 

 of cultivating them for profit, it follows of course that but a small part of the 

 community will know anything about them. Contrast this with the state of 

 things in our own country, where every one is anxious to surround his dwell- 

 ing with trees, if they are not already there, and to learn a little at any rate 

 as to their management." 



A discussion which has been going on lately in the same paper sheds some 

 light upon that humdrum body, the Scottish Arboricultural Societj'. One 

 who seems to know something of the Society compares it to "a strong man 

 fast asleep," and draws a somewhat amusing picture of its doings. It is 

 asserted that competitive essays, upon arboricultural subjects, have been 

 sent into the Society, and been awarded high premiums, that have after- 

 wards, "for some inscrutable reason, been consigned to the depths of 

 oblivion" instead of being published in the 'Transactions,' as they ought to 

 be. It is hinted, however, that possibly the gentleman appointed to judge the 

 essays and the "publishing committee" may have differed in opinion as to 

 the merits of the papers sent in, and pleased themselves, accordingly, as to what 

 should be done with them. It does seem a little queer, however, that the 

 Scottish Arboricultural Society should give premiums to essays which it after- 

 wards sends to the waste-paper basket. Another member of the Society, Mr 

 France, who describes himself as " a member and councillor of some years' 

 standing," endeavours to explain the apparently amicable relationship thus 

 existing among the different sections of the Society, by stating that, "while 

 certain awards may be granted by the judges as an encouragement to young 

 or inexperienced writers to persevere and improve themselves," the publica- 

 tion of the papers may be a question of their "practical worth ; " from which 

 it can only be inferred that one of the objects of the Scottish Arboricultural 

 Society, in offering premiums for papers on practical forestry, is to teach 

 "reading, writing, and arithmetic;" and we may assume that pupils who 

 have passed in the " three Rs " will then be further encouraged by the pros- 

 pect of their papers being printed. Really one cannot sufficiently admire the 

 energy and enterprise of an already over-burdened Society like the Scottish 

 Arboricultural Society charging itself with such a task, and surely there can 

 be no tendency to go to sleep under such circumstances. 



A recent feature of your contemporary, ' The Garden,' is its excellent 

 articles on " Plant-culture for Market," which cannot fail to be acceptable to 

 its gardening readers. Gardeners who visit Covent Garden for the first time are 

 impressed, not more by the extent of the supply of decorative plants in pots 

 than they are by the superiority of the plants themselves. It may be safely 

 asserted, we think, that the plants exposed for sale in Covent Garden are, as a 

 rule, much superior to those of the same kind usually grown in private gardens 

 for similar purposes, and also that they are grown more cheaply and expedi- 

 tiously, as might be expected; for the market growers confine themselves to 

 specialities, and spare no pains to do them well. Their methods of culture may 



