NOTES AND QUERIES. 77 



the trees. By planting at 4 feet distance one has later to spend 

 a lot of money and skilled attention in early thinning, which is 

 now very costly, and is often neglected as the thinnings are 

 valueless, except for pea and bean rods. On less good ground 

 I should plant Douglas fir at 6 or 7 feet, but certainly no closer. 

 None of my Douglas at 8 or 9 feet were hurt by the snow." 



The Diseases of the Douglas Fir. 



Since the publication of the paper on Phomopsis Pseudotsugae 

 in the last number of the Transactions (vol. xxxiv., pt. 2, p. 145), 

 my attention has been drawn to two previous records which had 

 been overlooked and which very probably refer to this 

 species. 



In the report of the Honorary Consulting Cryptogamist 

 published in the Transactions, vol. xv., 1896-98, p. 190, Prof. 

 Somervi lie records the occurrence of a minute fungus "almost 

 certainly Phoma pilhya, Sacc," on a young Douglas fir about 

 4 feet high sent by Mr George Leven from St Quinox, Ayr. 

 Mr Leven remarks on the unhealthy colour and the compressed 

 appearance of the affected part, which occurred about half way 

 up the tree. The part above the wound was dying, while the 

 lower part was fairly healthy. 



In a note on Phoma pithya in the same number of the 

 Transactions (p. 319), Mr Leven makes some remarks on the 

 damage caused by the diseases of the Douglas fir which, in 

 view of later developments, have a peculiar interest and are 

 of great importance. He writes, "We have planted a large 

 number of Douglas fir each of the last three seasons, and fully 

 ID per cent, of them have been cleared out because of fungoid 

 disease. If there is much of this in this country (and there 

 may be more than we are aware of) something might be done 

 now to stamp it out ; and even if it may be classed amongst 

 the interesting observations just now, thirty years hence it 

 may prove a widespread calamity." 



The second record is by Chas. O. Farquharson (" Tree 

 Diseases due to Fungi, additional Scottish Records in 1910-11," 

 Annals of Scottish Natural History, 191 1, p. 240). This author 

 states " Phoma pithya, Sacc, is found commonly in Aberdeen- 



