330 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBOEICULll'RAL SOCIETY. 



contents represent approximately the actual contents, which are 

 about 25 per cent, more than the results got by the quarter-girth 

 system of measurement as employed in this country. If, for 

 instance, an Englishman were to measure a lot of trees, and give 

 his result as 10,000 cubic feet, a German would make out about 

 12,500 cubic feet, a result due to the fact that our system takes 

 no account of slabs. Then, again, in connection with the list of 

 species already referred to, the author says: "The species are 

 given in each class in the order of their importance as timber 

 tree3 ; " but who will agree with him that the Corsican Fir and 

 Cluster Fir are the second and third most impoitant species 

 of the Coni/erce, while the Larch comes but twelfth on the list ! 

 Possibly this arrangement is the result of confusion between 

 "Class" and "Species," but he who essays to wiite on "The 

 New Forestry," should show no unsteadiness in his nomen- 

 clature. Finally — to bring the unpleasant task of fault-finding 

 to a close — it may be pointed out that the book would have 

 gained by the omission of the chapter on " Insects and Diseases." 

 We are asked to believe that Hylobius abietis attacks only young 

 shoots, whereas most foresters know that it attacks every part of 

 young pines. The definition, " The pine beetle is veiy small, 

 slender, and dark," is of no sort of value. The author professes 

 to have had no experience of Trametes radiciperda, whereas the 

 context shows that he has confounded it with Agaricus melleus. 

 At the end there follows the surprising statement, " Beetles and 

 insects named as attacking the Scotch and other firs, also attack 

 the larch." Turning to the list of insects attacking the Scotch 

 and other firs (p. 190), we find but four enumerated, and, of 

 these, three are the pine beetle, the pine saw-fly, and the pine 

 geometer moth. It would be interesting to know on how many 

 occasions he has found these insects attacking the larch ! 



But with its many defects the book is well worth reading, and 

 where the author is on the solid ground of his own experience, 

 his remarks are both valuable and fearless. His condemnation 

 of the attempt to practise economic forestry in the presence of a 

 large head of game is no more than just. In this connection, he 

 says: "Here is a description of what usually goes on wherever 

 game, and particularly pheasants, are preserved to any consider- 

 able extent, and where the keeper's object is to show a good head 

 of game regardless of the general interests of the estate. From 

 March to Midsummer, as little work as possible must be per- 



