258 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
may, Or may not, have succeeded in putting the matter in a 
different light. I leave this for others to judge, but before 
coming to any definite conclusion, I would earnestly ask foresters 
and those interested in the growth of trees to give the matter a 
trial, in the full conviction that the results will justify experiments 
in this direction. The argument might probably be raised that 
the use of artificial manures in forestry would not pay on account 
of the comparatively small return got from the forest, but, as 
Dr Giersberg has pointed out, probably these small returns are 
in many cases due to neglect of this important factor of 
production. 
As stated at the outset, the whole question is a comparatively 
new one—hence the data at present available are somewhat 
limited, but there is no reason why the good results achieved 
on the Continent should not be repeated in this country. The 
benefits to be derived from a more rapid growth of the young 
trees in the nursery as well as in the open, the earlier establish- 
ment of canopy, and the quicker returns from thinnings, are 
sufficiently obvious without further comment. In addition to 
this, we have here a means of rapidly producing screens, wind- 
breaks, and shelter-belts. Finally, the possibilities of artificial 
manures in arboriculture are equally promising. In town or 
country, in park or garden, ornamental trees, to properly fulfil 
their function, must be preserved in a condition of robust health 
and vigorous vegetation, and in order to maintain them in such 
a state we must see to their proper nutrition, and here again is 
indicated the possibilities of artificial manures. 
