NOTICES AND REVIEWS OF BOOKS. 235 



With reference to the section of the book with which we are 

 more immediately concerned, namely, that relating to forestry 

 matters, it may be remarked that the author deals in a very 

 interesting manner with the advantages attending the formation 

 of large compact areas of woodland on estates, when the 

 production of timber is the primary object in view. However, I 

 certainly cannot subscribe to the views he holds regarding soils 

 and tree-growth. If I understand him aright, he indicates 

 (page 341) that after a forest is established, the trees are quite 

 independent of surface-soil conditions, once their roots strike into 

 the subsoil. This is surely going against all the recognised 

 ideas of continental and other scientists who have studied 

 the question, and is contrary to fact. The author seems 

 quite to overlook the fact that the feeding rootlets may and do 

 return to the surface for nutrient materials. He forgets that the 

 condition of the surface-soil must also affect the fertility of the 

 under layers or subsoil. It has been proved beyond dispute 

 in continental investigations, that with bad surface-soil conditions 

 in the forest there is a loss of increment and predisposition to 

 disease. In fact, the whole success of silviculture, in the opinion of 

 continental forestry savants, hinges on this question of the proper 

 protection of the soil and the maintenance thereby of its fertility. 

 It is quite true, as the author points out, that the timber crop is 

 independent of tillage and manure (in the agricultural sense), but 

 he fails to notice that this is because a natural substitute is 

 provided both for tillage and manure in the fall of leafage, and 

 by the leafy canopy shading the soil and preventing the natural 

 manure from being dried up and dissipated by sun and wind. 

 It is for this reason that so much stress is laid by the continental 

 forester on the shade-enduring and soil-protecting qualities 

 of certain species. Soil protection is all the more necessary 

 because only poor and medium soils are available for forestry 

 purposes. 



Regarding the selection of species for the formation of estate 

 woodlands, the author's statements are much too vague and 

 general to be of any practical use to intending planters. 



Probably this section of the work is not intended to serve 

 the purpose of a text-book on the subject of forestry ; but, as 

 I have already indicated, although the chapters contain a great 

 deal of very interesting and useful information about trees, this 

 information is of much too general a nature, and the author 



