468 Forestry Quarterly. 



trying hard to keep out of the country. In the yellow aecidia of 

 this rust there lives a lilac colored fungus, Tuberculina maxima, 

 which spreads over the mycelium of the blister rust under the 

 bark and forms conidia, which as the bark splits are dispersed 

 over the blister rust aecidiae, suppress these and inhibit fur- 

 ther spore formation, thus hindering the spread of the disease. 

 It requires, however, experimentation to find out how far the ef- 

 fect of the parasite goes, to determine whether this biological 

 method of fighting the disease may become practical. 



Biologische Bekdmpfung von Pilzkrankheiten der PAansen. Nat.urw. 

 ZeJtschrift fiir Forst-und Landwirtschaft. Jan., 1914, pp. 11-19. 



SOIL, WATER AND CLIMATE. 



Russian investigators are active in try- 

 Forest ing to establish the truth of the influences 



Influences. of forestcover. The forestal significance 



of the retention of precipitation of crowns 

 is under discussion in the Journal of the St. Petersburg Foresters 

 Society. Five year observations show that in a pine forest of 

 .6 to .7 density 23% of the precipitation was retained by the 

 crowns; of snow 12 to 15% was so retained. In the majority 

 of cases (50% of the rainy days) from 26 to 50^ remained in 

 the crowns ; the lighter rainfalls, which are more frequent, na- 

 turally are retained to a greater extent. With regard to snow the 

 wind plays a role ; the severer winds benefiting the soil by larger 

 masses being deposited, while rain is more rapidly evaporated 

 and lost to the vegetation. 



A technical expertise regarding the devastating floods in Trans- 

 caucasia, especially on the southern slopes, which annually de- 

 stroy millions of property with loss of life, states the affected 

 water basins as 13 142 square werst and estimates the needed 

 preliminary expenses for reboisement work at over $8oo,ocxD. 

 Conditions- are more difficult than in the French Mountains, since 

 the streams rise at elevations of 8000 to iiooo feet, the slopes 

 are steep, and the rocks easily disintegrating sandstone, with 

 marl, clay and lime layers. 



The forest region extends to 7000 feet ; the forest area is partly 



