CONTINENTAL NOTES — FRANCE. 47 



On the silicious soils it is also good to use as principal 

 species various conifers, among them the Douglas; but 

 M. Broilliard says it is always wise to go cautiously with 

 exotics, planting them, to start with, as individuals in the woods 

 and watching their development. Such advice is, of course, 

 sound ; but as to the Douglas, its value in Europe is surely 

 now fully established, and we need no longer hesitate much. 

 It is stated to have given remarkable results nearly throughout 

 Belgium, and we know how well it does with ourselves. 

 As compared with larch and spruce it has been found to 

 give four times the value in an equal time, and the wood is 

 known to be excellent.^ 



Some of our author's dicta are interesting, as, for example — 

 " A thinning has not as its object the prevention of a struggle 

 among the crowns, but its abridgment." 



M. Broilliard has an important note about the "June oak," 

 which occurs at a certain locality which he specifies. Being a 

 month later, in flower and leaf, than the ordinary oak, it is safe 

 from spring frosts, caterpillars, and cockchafers (which can 

 completely defoliate a whole forest), and is also, apparently, 

 strong enough to resist heavy winter frosts. Since the wood 

 is first class, its acorns should be collected and sown in 

 nurseries. Evidently this June oak should be studied, and the 

 cause of its appearance discovered. 



It may be mentioned that M. Broilliard speaks very highly 

 of the acacia (we presume he means Robinia pseud-acacia), but 

 says it should not be pruned nor coppiced early. We are 

 inclined to think that the old eighteenth-century craze for this 

 species was sound, and its planting might well be revived on 

 warm aspects and free soils. The wood is valuable, and the 

 outturn may be most paying. 



A long article, dealing with many soils, is concluded with the 

 advice to avoid yielding to the common desire to plant together 

 a crowd of exotics of which the behaviour is not known. 

 M. Broilliard expressively calls it a " salad." 



2. In France, as with us, the question of taxation of wood- 

 lands is a burning one ; the woodland proprietors have at least 

 progressed so far as to extract from the Minister of Finance 

 an admission that the existing law is defective, and he has 



^ The variety referred to is probably the Vancouver or Oregon type. — 

 Hon. Ed. 



