REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



191 



Maitland's Domesday Book and Beyond, for the passage where 

 this custom is mentioned is well known and much quoted. The 

 statement on one page (p. 18), that "the principal drain on the 

 timber... was caused by its demand for building and repairing 

 castles, bridges, and especially ships," contrasts curiously with 

 the details of the iron industry in the thirteenth and fourteenth 

 centuries given a little later (p. 26) ; but in any case the con- 

 sumption of timber for the humbler dwellings and farm buildings, 

 for firing and fencing and implements, cannot in the aggregate 

 have been inconsiderable. We may note, too, that Edward III. 

 was not reigning in 1320 (p. 26); the point does not affect the 

 argument, but such inaccuracies unnecessarily impair confidence. 

 "Old St Paul's" (p. 41), we may also remark, was no longer in 

 existence in the eighteenth century. 



Another historical point is of a different order. It may be 

 that at one period the beech woods in the Weald were practically 

 confined to the chalk downs, but we should like to have 

 authority for the statement (p. 13). Writing as we do on the 

 borders of the ancient forest and within sight of extensive beech 

 woods on the greensand, we very much doubt whether it was 

 ever true. 



We do not wish to end on a note of criticism. We welcome 

 especially a volume which deals with the economic history of a 

 forest area ; there is room for many such, and we hope that 

 more may figure in this series. If Miss Delany's book has faults 

 and mistakes, not many writers on forest history can afford to 

 throw stones, and all interested in the historical aspect of forests 

 would benefit by reading it. 



H. G. R. 



Sylva : Being the Annual Publication of the Edinburgh 

 University Forestry Society. No. 2, 1921. Price is. 

 The Society of which this publication forms the organ has for 

 its Hon. President Viscount Novar; its President is Mr C. C. 

 Stapleton, and its Vice-President and Editor, Mr R. M. Gorrie. 

 The contents of the journal include a summary of the activities 

 of the Society, which, during the present session, are to include 

 a number of addresses by personages well known in the forestry 

 world, as well as various social functions. Notes from past 

 students are also a feature of the issue. There are in addition 



