PURE FORESTS AND MIXED FORESTS. 13 



III. Pure Forests and Mixed Forests. Lecture delivered on 

 24th February 1899, by Sir Dietrich Brandis, K.C.I.E., 

 LL.D., late Inspector-General of Forests, India. 



It is a great honour to be allowed to speak here for the first 

 time before the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society. As early 

 as 1873 they did me the great honour of nominating me an 

 Honorary Member of the Society. That was an honour which I 

 value very highly. I have since then repeatedly sent contribu- 

 tions to the Transactions on general matters which, I was told, 

 would interest your members ; but I have not yet had an oppor- 

 tunity of speaking before you in this beautiful town of Edinburgh. 



There are plants and trees which by nature, by their individual 

 character, like to live in company of their kind. We call them 

 "gregarious." There are other plants and trees which you find 

 only scattered. Among the gregarious plants you will at once 

 remember the heather, the flowers of which in August and 

 September ornament your hills. It covers large areas, and where 

 you have the heather there is little else besides. Among the trees 

 you will at once remember the beautiful forests of Scots Pine at 

 Rothiemurchus, and on the hills near the Strathspey valley. 

 Those of you who accompanied Piofessor Schwappach on your 

 tour through the forests of Northern Germany will recollect the 

 extensive areas of Beech forest in that part of the country. Other 

 trees however — for instance the Maple, the Sycamore, or the 

 Ash — you will never find covering large areas by themselves. 



Concerning the Oak, I must, with your permission, enter a 

 little into detail. The Oak, which is commonly known as the 

 British Oak, foresters in Germany and France classify as two 

 distinct species — Quercus pedunculata, with the acorns on long 

 stalks ; and Quercus sessiliflora, with acorns on short stalks. The 

 former, in Germany, grows in the plains, often on low ground 

 along the banks of rivers, and here it forms ptire or nearly pure 

 forests, with an underwood of Hazel, Bramble, and other shrubs. 

 Quercus sessilijiora, on the other hand, mostly grows on the hills, 

 and, as a rule, in company with the Beech, the Hornbeam, or the 

 Silver Fir. It is very remarkable that these two kinds of Oak, 

 which are so nearly related to each other, that by English 

 botanists they are generally regarded as belonging to one species, 

 should be so different in their habits. 



Doubtless you are disposed to ask the question, What makes 



