NOTES AND QUERIES. 1 1 I 



At present the Russian authorities insert a clause in all 

 contracts stipulating that Russian labour shall alone be employed. 

 As they are actively encouraging immigration, however, the 

 resultant hindrance to industry may be expected to diminish. 

 The report includes full schedules of the royalty levied on timber 

 of different classes and in the different areas. It also describes 

 the existing facilities for transport and shipping, which are still 

 in a predominantly undeveloped state. Other miscellaneous 

 information includes the terms of the forest regulations and 

 the scale of export duty. There is also an outline map. 



Pitting versus Notching. 

 ( With Plates.) 



On page 45, Mr Ribbentrop deals with this subject, and in 

 connection with it Sir Kenneth Mackenzie writes : — " When, 

 in 1904-5, I was planting various kinds of trees to form a shelter- 

 belt, I put in two rows of spruce, the plants being alternately 

 pitted and notched. By means of the accompanying photograph 

 (Plate XL), the results of the two methods after an interval of 

 four years may be compared ; and the advantage, during youth 

 at anyrate, of pitting is clearly indicated." 



Plate XII. shows the root development of one of the above- 

 mentioned " notched " plants as compared with that of one of 

 those which had been pitted. 



The main objections to the practice of notching may be thus 

 stated: — The young plants are placed in an unnatural position, 

 and this alone must be detrimental to them ; it is difficult to 

 insert them with the " collar " at the surface of the soil, many 

 being buried so deeply as to leave a considerable portion of the 

 stem covered. Plate XIII. shows how difficult it is to avoid this, 

 especially with plants trained in the nursery for notching ; the 

 root is restricted to a very small bulk of soil from which to 

 draw its moisture with food in solution — from ^^ to ^V ori^y of 

 the normal bulk of soil may be drawn upon ; the root, being dis- 

 posed near the surface, is exposed to disadvantageous variations 

 of temperature, with risk of damage by frost, and to variations 

 of moisture, which may involve drought; the young plants, 

 not being securely anchored all round, are specially liable to 

 disturbance by wind immediately they have been planted, and 



