144 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



windstorm and snowstorm — the latter to an extent never ex- 

 perienced here. Forest fires occur in spite of careful pre- 

 cautionary measures. Insect and fungous pests are greater 

 than we can well imagine. Attacks of Bostrichus typographus 

 beetles, Liparis monacha and Fidonia piniaria caterpillars, and 

 cockchafer grubs, have ruined hundreds of square miles of forest, 

 and yet these insects are practically unknown in Scotland. 

 Of fungi, Trametes pint, Tratnetes radiciperda, Peridermium pint, 

 and Agaricus melleiis are a constant source of danger. 



We, in this country, have our difficulties, but the Germans, 

 I assure you, also have theirs. Indeed, the natural advantages 

 lie with us rather than with them. Germany's forests are better 

 than ours, not because Nature has been unusually kind, but 

 because German foresters have devoted their best thought, skill, 

 scientific knowledge, and industry to their task. If we select our 

 trees as skilfully, plant them as carefully, and thin them as 

 cautiously as do the Germans, our forest produce will be quite 

 as good as theirs. 



The Chairman : — I am sure you will all agree with me that we 

 should give a very hearty vote of thanks to Mr Story for his 

 excellent lecture, for showing us those excellent photographs 

 which were taken by himself and a friend, and for the instruction 

 he has given us. It is certainly most instructive to see, by means 

 of such photographs, how they do these things in Germany. 



Discussion having been invited by the Chairman, Mr Cadell, 

 Grange, said : — I am sure we have all been very much struck 

 with the regularity and method practised in Germany in the 

 growing of wood. Trees are allowed to grow until they are 

 say a hundred years of age, they are then cut down in a 

 methodical way, and the fellings replaced by young crops. 

 But I should like to know whether it really pays to grow 

 wood on the scale on which it is done in Germany. I have 

 seen it stated that a great deal of the wood produced in Germany 

 was grown simply on account of the mines, and officials of all 

 grades, and that it was the mines that kept the whole thing 

 going. I should also like to ask Mr Story's opinion about the 

 Japanese larch, and whether it is going to be a good forest tree 

 or not. Of course Germany may be better fitted for growing 

 wood than this country, for though it has a very cold winter it 

 has a very hot summer, which ripens the wood. I think the 



