248 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
DISEASED Scots PINES ON LAND FORMERLY ARABLE,! 
It is not infrequently noticed that when a wood of Scots pines, 
partly on land that has never been under the plough and partly 
on old arable land, reaches the age of twenty to thirty years, 
the trees under the latter conditions become unhealthy, and © 
subsequently begin to die off. In the early years of the life of 
the wood, the trees growing on the land originally arable were 
probably the more vigorous, but in the middle or latter half of 
the rotation they are apt to develop unsatisfactory symptoms. 
The kind of soil appears to make no difference, the evil being 
found on dry sand as well as on good loam. ‘The disease seems 
to start at certain points and to spread outwards. Scots pines 
alone are affected, all other trees being apparently immune. 
The direct cause of the trouble has been traced to the attack 
of two root-fungi, Polyporus annosus and Agaricus melleus (or 
Armillaria mellea), the latter appearing subsequently to the 
former, and completing its work. Although these parasites 
are not unknown on other trees, they are chiefly met with 
on pines. 
The subject is discussed by Forstmeister Frombling in the 
March issue of the Zeit. fiir Forst- und Jagdwesen, who advances 
the theory that trees growing on old tillage land, being more 
“forced” in youth, have comparatively little power of resistance 
to attack. The fungi, too, find very favourable conditions of 
growth on old arable land, the residues of farmyard manure 
and the open texture of the soil favouring their development. 
Frombling suggests that where it is intended to afforest arable 
land, the following points should be observed:—(1) avoid using 
Scots pines; (2) avoid using farmyard manure for some years 
before planting; (3) exhaust the soil by growing two or three 
corn crops in succession. 
DEGREE IN FORESTRY AT THE EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY. 
The new Calendar announces that a Degree of Bachelor of 
Science in Forestry is conferred by the University, and gives 
details of the Preliminary Examination, the Courses of Instruc- 
tion, and other matters connected therewith. 
1 Reproduced from the Journal of the Board of Agriculture for May 1906, 
by permission of the Controller of His Majesty’s Stationery Office. 
