I46 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ing is a case in point. A number of years ago I saw in 

 Aberdeenshire a Scots pine wood which had been raised from 

 cheap seedlings of poor quality. The wood was then about 

 seventeen years of age, and the contrast between it and a neigh- 

 bouring Scots pine wood of the same age, which had been 

 raised from good strong seedlings, was very great. Most of 

 the trees in the wood raised from inferior seedlings were low, 

 crooked, and very branchy, while most of the trees in the wood 

 raised from good seedlings were tall, straight, and well 

 balanced. It is quite possible that some of the desirable and 

 undesirable qualities of the trees in these woods were inherited. 

 Seed selectors would do well to shun on all occasions woods of 

 the same class as the wood raised from inferior seedlings. 

 Cross fertilisation should, I think, receive more attention from 

 seed selectors and everybody interested in timber growing. 

 Even among coniferous varieties, in which botanists tell us 

 cross fertilisation is rare, there is ample scope for investigation. 

 In recent years so many new varieties have been introduced to 

 British woods that the opportunities for crossing will be greater 

 than ever in future years. Cross fertilisation between Abies 

 Nordmatmiana and Abies pectinata has been recorded. Now if 

 these species were not growing in the same locality, cross 

 fertilisation in the natural way at anyrate would be impossible. 

 On one occasion I heard it said that "no one ever succeeded 

 in growing good trees from bad plants," but I do not hesitate 

 to say that no one ever succeeded in rearing the best class of 

 plants or trees from bad seed. 



21. Forestry in the Past, Present and Future. 1 

 A Review. 



This little book consists of an introduction and fourteen 



propagandist articles on forestry in the past, during the war 



period, and in the future. The historical portion (Parts I. and 



II.) is, we presume, intended to place the reader in possession 



of facts which will enable him to understand the problems that 



the future presents, and there is, indeed, room for a book which 



will render accessible to the public the history of the woodlands 



1 Commercial Forestry in Britain: its Decline and Revival. By E. P. 

 Stebbing. pp. vi+186. 



