34 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



in Ireland ; and would suffice to finance the national 



scheme with the exception of a sum of ;^i 3,600, which 



would require to be annually provided by Parliament 



for five decades, and ;^86oo for the sixth decade, after 



which a surplus would be available." 



This notice may be concluded by congratulating the Committee 



on having accomplished an important inquiry, and followed 



it up by valuable suggestions, which, it may be presumed, the 



Government are now engaged in studying. It is to be hoped 



that their studies will be expedited, for in such a case the 



country cannot aff"ord to lose much time, and delay may result 



in the cutting down of many of the most valuable existing 



woods before it is possible to stop it. 



6. The Zurich Woods. 



By Fraser Story. 



In Volume XIX. of this Society's Transactions Mr Meiklejohn 

 has already given us a most interesting account of his visit to 

 the Zurich forest. But I venture to think that he would be 

 the last to claim that he had exhausted the subject, so I may 

 be allowed to supplement his article with some notes which 

 I gathered together during a visit to Switzerland in 1907. 



When Mr Pinchot remarked that the town woods of Zurich 

 were well managed " before the discovery of America," he 

 was quite within the mark. Their history as an organised 

 forest dates back to 1491, when the first demarcation of 

 boundaries took place. But there are records of the com- 

 position and treatment of the forest in the thirteenth century ; 

 while the history of the ownership of the Sihlwald, and detached 

 notes regarding the woods, have actually been traced back 

 over a thousand years, to 85 1 ! 



The principal portion of the Ziirich corporation woods lies 

 on the left bank of the river Sihl, along which the forest 

 stretches for eight miles. The point that visitors ought to go 

 to first is Forsthaus Sihlwald, situated about nine miles from 

 Ziirich, with which there is convenient communication by rail. 

 The elevation of the forest varies from 1600 to 3000 feet above 

 sea-level — quite a moderate altitude for woods in Switzerland. 



