NOTES AND QUERIES. IO9 



past returns, and present and future expenditure, is supplied in the 

 hope that it may be of public utility, and any criticism or 

 suggestions and advice will be welcomed by the owner from those 

 interested in the utilisation of waste and other lands for silvi- 

 culture. So far the work has only been carried out experimentally 

 in a moderate way, but it is hoped that the information from 

 time to time recorded will be of service to others who intend to 

 rear trees in the West of Scotland." 



Then follows a detailed description of each of the woods, 

 which, with 31 acres of timber-land cleared but not yet re- 

 stocked, cover about 380 acres. The advisability of giving 

 a period of "rest," varying from 8 to 12 years, before re- 

 planting ground cleared of old larch woods appears to be 

 open to question. But it is encouraging to learn that, on this 

 estate, the larch enjoys general immunity from disease ; the 

 conditions of any locality of which this can be said demand 

 the close attention of all who are interested in the growing of 

 larch woods. 



The proprietor cannot be too cordially congratulated on his 

 public spirited acts in permitting the use of his woods by 

 the West of Scotland College of Agriculture for experimental 

 purposes, and in publishing this account of them in the public 

 interest. Some day, no doubt, a working-plan will be prepared 

 for these woods, and for this the data now given will prove of 

 great utility. Mr Sutherland is also to be congratulated on the 

 excellent report he has drawn up. F. B. 



Coniferous versus Broad-leaved Forests. 



The volume of Forest Statistics, prepared for the Paris Exhibi- 

 tion of 1878, and giving results in the forests of France up to the 

 year 1876, records that, in the case of high-forest, the areas 

 under coniferous trees had yielded a much higher revenue than 

 those under broad-leaved species, chiefly on account of the form of 

 their stems, which enables a very large proportion of sawn timber 

 to be obtained from them ; but partly also on account of the 

 greater value of the thinnings made during the early stages of 

 growth — in the form, for example, of telegraph-posts, hop-poles,, 

 etc. F. B. 



