54 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



something over 300 square miles in extent. A part still 

 suffers from the damage done in past centuries by temporary 

 glass factories, which not only used the wood, but for a long 

 distance round collected the dead leaves for potash. In 

 passing we may draw attention to the fact that proprietors at 

 home are often careless in regard to this most pernicious custom. 

 Very much apropos is M. Henry's contention that he has 

 now distinctly proved, from careful experiments, that dead 

 leaves can, especially when the substratum is moist, actually 

 fix the free nitrogen of the air through the presence of micro- 

 organisms. If this is true, and the contention is confirmed 

 by other subsequent observers, it is a new scientific discovery 

 of the utmost importance. Here, precisely, is the kind of 

 result that research stations will achieve. 



Other parts of the Spessart contain most marvellous oaks with 



straight boles, free of branches to a great height. The timber is 



famous for its straight fibre and regular growth, and is of a 



beautiful golden yellow. The prices obtained are so enormous, 



that the writer has heard it stated that oak is actually 



brought round by sea from Hungary, and passed off as 



Spessart oak. A sale of Spessart oak in 1907 resulted in the 



following figures : — 332 oaks, 350 to 480 years old, produced 



777 logs which without bark cubed 2,744,100 cubic feet, 



bringing in an average of about 3s. 7d. or 3s. 8d. a cubic 



foot; 24,053 cubic feet stacked of boarding (probably slabs), 



laths, etc., about 7d. or 8d. a cubic foot stacked ; and 43,478 



cubic feet stacked of fuel. Among the logs, the ten finest, 



cubing about 1480 cubic feet, were sold at a little over 8s. 



the cubic foot. The highest price off^ered, which was for a 



log about 26 feet 4 inches long, with a mid diameter of 31^ 



inches, was about 9s. the cubic foot. A single tree fetched 



nearly ;^i5o. The prices have never yet been quite so good, 



but better are expected next year. There are not a great 



number of very old trees left, and when these are gone there 



is bound to be a hiatus. The wonderful growth would not, 



one would imagine, have been attained had not the soil been 



kept properly covered, for M. Huffel says of it that it is a more 



or less clayey sand, somewhat poor, but capable of carrying the 



finest tree crops, provided the indispensable moisture is 



retained. 



II. MM. Mathey and Buffault have long articles on the 



