120 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



treatise, and reproduces many of his plates. The text has been 

 increased in length by 59 pages, and the number of illustrations 

 within it has risen from 329 to 402. There are four full-page 

 plates instead of three. The new edition of this exhaustive work 

 will be much appreciated by all wood owners and wood managers, 

 as well as by teachers of Forestry. 



OBITUARY. 



John Booth, 1S36-1908. 



John Booth, who died at Berlin in February last, was of Scottish 

 descent, his grandfather being a Scotsman who established a 

 nursery garden near Hamburg. This nursery was extended by 

 Mr Booth's father, who was the first to plant and propagate the 

 Douglas fir in Germany. Mr Booth received a careful training 

 in botanical and arboricultural work, and for many years carried 

 on the nursery, at first in company with his brother and after- 

 wards alone. After retiring from business in 1884, he devoted 

 himself largely to scientific work, and especially to encouraging, 

 by every means in his power, the growth of exotic trees in 

 German forests. He especially interested himself in the Douglas 

 fir, and owing to the fact that he early gained the interest of 

 Prince Bismarck, he had opportunities of putting his views 

 into practice on a considerable scale. At first, at least, Mr 

 Booth's views met with considerable opposition from German 

 foresters, an opposition which was fanned by some early failures. 

 Before his death, however, Mr Booth had the satisfaction of 

 knowing that the cause which he represented had triumphed, 

 and that his work had definitely and decisively benefited German 

 forestry. Mr Booth was the author of a considerable number 

 of publications. An article from his pen appears in Vol. XVH. 

 of these Transactions, and in the present issue we give an abstract 

 of one of his papers sent to us not long before his death. Mr 

 Booth was a member of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society 

 from 1876 until his death. 



