NOTES AND QUERIES. 249 



The housewife who happens to have a tree or two growing 

 near her house, will hammer some iron hooks thereto in order 

 that she may fasten up a clothes-line, and thoughtless youngsters 

 will throw strones into the clefts of roadside trees. 



In time the tree wraps itself, as it were, around all these 

 things, and they are never seen again until you see a damaged 

 saw at the mill, if not a damaged man or two. 



Sometimes a sharp eye can detect that all is not as it should 

 be, but very often no outward trace can be seen that anything 

 is amiss with the timber. The remedy for this state of affairs 

 is not so obvious as would at first appear. 



The head forester, or whoever is responsible for the repair 

 and upkeep of fences, should make it a strict rule that on no 

 account are trees to be used to support a fence in any way, 

 and that any fence which falls to be repaired or erected along 

 a line of trees shall be kept a reasonable distance clear of 

 such trees, and he should make a point of seeing that his 

 orders are carried out. He should also give orders to the 

 workmen under his charge to remove anything in the nature 

 of iron or stone which they may consider likely to come into 

 contact with growing trees. 



Nowadays when the young folks at school are being taught 

 botany, forestry, and other outdoor subjects, this point might 

 be emphasised. Not only is there the danger to the men who 

 handle the timber, but there is also a great waste of the best 

 part of the tree trunk — a waste which we cannot afford to 

 ignore at the present time. 



George Mowat. 



Planting Scrub Areas. 



It may be of interest to record experiences of planting up 

 ground covered by scrub in the north-west of Scotland, where 

 there are considerable areas of no commercial value occupying 

 land which would produce valuable timber. The scrub consists 

 usually of birch, hazel, or oak for the most part, with an 

 admixture of other species in smaller quantity. It was found 

 when the scrub was cut before planting that it was necessary 

 to burn it before anything could be done — a most laborious 

 and expensive undertaking — and that after planting took place, 



VOL. XXXVI, PART II. R 



