I08 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCO'lTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



to work at. It was universally admitted that small-holdings 

 must have some other industry connected with them in order 

 to make them a success. .Small-holdings and afforestation, 

 therefore, made a very useful combination. What he would 

 suggest was that they should have a considerable section of 

 land in the neighbourhood of each township of small-holdings 

 properly planned for afforestation and carried out with a view 

 to continuity, and the small-holders or crofters employed in 

 carrying out the work. He urged that the Small-holders' 

 Organisation should press upon the Government the necessity, 

 first of all, of supplying some other industry to help small- 

 holdings, and forestry in particular as the one most suitable 

 for a great part of Scotland. The war had shown that we could 

 not live entirely on imported articles, and they should endeavour 

 to induce the Government to create a Forestry Department, 

 with responsible men at the head of it, to carry out a proper 

 national policy of afforestation. 



Ferro-Concrete Railway Sleepers. 



In Chambers' Joiir?ial for October 19 17, an interesting reference 

 is made to the use of ferro-concrete railway sleepers. It is 

 stated that the uses of concrete reinforced with steel bars 

 embedded therein, and known as ferro-concrete, appear to be 

 well-nigh inexhaustible — one of the latest being for railway 

 sleepers. These, though externally the same size as wood 

 sleepers, are made hollow. Their sides are i^ inch thick, 

 except where the rails rest on them, at which points the thick- 

 ness is increased to 2 inches, and added strength and resiliency 

 are given by oak filling pieces. Each sleeper contains 32 lbs. 

 of steel rods, and weighs about 3 cwts. Tests are being 

 made on these sleepers at Riverside, California, where they 

 are laid down along a stretch of railway. 



"Will Russia's Forests pay her War Debts?" 



A striking article in the Canadian Forestry Journal, by 

 A. J. Slack, Director, Russian Information Bureau, New York, 

 on the question, " Will Russia's forests pay her war debts ? " 

 brings out, among other interesting facts, that Russia can take, 

 and is going to take, the leading place in the world's timber 

 market. 



