PERIODICAL LITERATURE 565 



presence of beech. Whether Trametes is at all responsible is a ques- 

 tion. As far as known, the fungus never directly kills a spruce, even 

 though it may have been infected for many years. Red rot probably 

 seldom attacks perfectly healthy trees, but may get in through root in- 

 juries caused by wind-stresses, hoofs of cattle, and especially by haul- 

 ing out logs during the growing season. Red rot causes loss, not by 

 killing the tree or retarding growth, but because of the degrading of the 

 infected wood. In 1917, out of a total cut of about 10,500 cubic 

 meters, 1,120 was more or less rotten and sold for less than half of 

 what it would have brought if sound. It will hardly be wise to try to 

 check rot by introducing beech in spruce stands until certain that that 

 will help, because to do so will involve heavy thinnings and a consid- 

 erably lower yield per acre. W. N. S. 



Mayer, Karl. Die Rotfmilr. Forstwiss. Centralbl. 41 : 121-127 ; 185-195. 1019. 



M. G. Raymond reviews the heavy fire losses 

 Forest Fires in the forest of I'Esterel (Var) where in two 

 In France days most of the forest was burned (July 27-28, 



1918) during a drought and high winds. Other 

 fires in pine forests in the same region broke out during the same week. 

 Raymond raises the question whether the fires did not originate from 

 having dry branches rubbed against each other after being blown by 

 the wind. The tinder dry brush, needles, and resin would form good 

 kindling and possibly "the phenomena of generating electricity by rub- 

 bing" . . . (as in the Sahara) might partly account for the large 

 number of fires which started simultaneously and which could not have 

 been due to incendiarism. Such a theory might be studied on National 

 Forests in Southern California. 



T. S. W., Jr. 



Revue des Eaux ct Forets, 1919, pp. 157-159. 



Two sample plots in a stand of fir about 60 



Influence of years old and averaging respectively 9..'? and 11.2 



Si::e of Trees centimeters in diameter, were thinned in 1886 



on Results of and again in 1890. Careful records of growth 



Thinning which were maintained until 1911 showed that 



the increased growth resulting from the thinnings 



was uniformly greater briih in diameter and volume in the smaller trees. 



This difTcrcnco is j)r(jl)al)ly due to the fact that the smaller trees were 



