TI4 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



upon his own observations in woods there. In this county 

 larch is grown in pure plantations, and also mixed with birch, 

 oak, Scots fir, and in some cases spruce, on various aspects, 

 at elevations varying from loo to looo feet above sea-level. 

 The canker is to be found in all these woods on the under- 

 side of suppressed branches, or on suppressed trees, wherever 

 there is little circulation of air and a constantly damp atmosphere, 

 A healthy tree which was planted for purposes of experiment 

 in an unfavourable situation, i.e., in one permanently shady 

 and moist, was very severely attacked by the disease. In 

 another case a larch growing beside a clump of rhododendrons, 

 and with its branches suppressed on the shaded side, was found 

 to have these suppressed and the shaded branches attacked. 

 Again, the author finds that wounds caused by rabbits and 

 squirrels are not attacked by the fungus, unless the vitality of 

 the tree has been reduced by too dense shading, or by attacks 

 of larch aphis. In general, Mr Macintosh emphasises the 

 necessity for abundant air and light, and the danger of mixing 

 larch with Scots fir, spruce, or birch, unless as a very temporary 

 expedient followed by speedy removal. The later-leafing hard- 

 woods seem to him to be a less dansrerous admixture. 



Sir Walter Scott on Thinning. 



Extract from a letter written at Abbotsford by Miss Edgeworth 

 on 9th August 1823.1 



" You would like him (Sir Walter) for his love of trees ; a 

 great part of his time out-of-doors is taken up in pruning 

 his trees, I have this hour heard a gentleman say to him, 

 'You have had a great deal of experience in planting, Sir 

 Walter; do you advise much thinning or not?' " 



" I should advise much thinning, but little at a time. If you 

 thin much at a time, you let in the wind and hurt your trees." 



Appointment. 



Dr John Xisbet, D.CEc, has been appointed Lecturer in 

 Forestry at the West of Scotland Agricultural College, Glasgow, 

 in succession to Mr W. F. A. Hudson, M,A., who has been 

 compelled to resign owing to ill health. 



1 The Gentlest Art, by E. V. Lucas, p. 233. 



