NOTES AND QUERIES. 253 
Great Britain, but it will tend to reduce emigration to some 
extent, and will thus help agricultural interests in North Sweden ; 
while last, but not least, it will tend to be a good factor in our 
efforts to build a firm base for a steady and enduring timber- 
stock in Sweden. Eis NILSON, 
Ljungbyhed, Sweden. 
“FROM THE IcE AGE TO THE PRESENT.” 
This extremely important and interesting article by Professor 
James Geikie, F.R.S., appeared in the Scottish Geographical 
Magazine for August 1906. Many years ago the Professor 
pointed out that the variation in the vegetation of the country, 
as indicated by certain deposits or layers of the peat-mosses, 
was the outcome of climatic changes, the forest beds indicating 
periods of relatively dry or continental conditions, while the 
layers of peat are the evidence of colder and moister conditions, 
Formerly, the views held by writers on the origin of Scottish 
peat-bogs were at variance and of an incomplete and 
unsatisfactory nature. The crux of the whole question was 
that they did not take into consideration the influence of 
climatic changes in bringing about the variation of the 
vegetation as recorded in the different layers of our peat- 
mosses. The soundness of the reasoning which led Professor 
Geikie to the conclusion that the succession of these types of 
vegetation were due to climatic influences has been recently 
confirmed by the admirable researches of Mr Francis J. Lewis 
of the University of Liverpool, who has shown beyond all doubt 
that the various types of vegetation found in each layer of the 
Scottish peat-bogs represent forms requiring special climatic 
conditions for their growth. In the limited space at our disposal 
it is impossible to give the various phenomena and their 
interpretation which gave the Professor the key to the correct 
solution of this interesting problem. It is of great interest to 
foresters, in so far as it deals with the appearance and disappear- 
ance of forests and the conditions attending these changes. 
After all, it would seem that the distribution or the occurrence 
or non-occurrence of forests in space and time are due to the 
same fundamental conditions, viz., climatic conditions. 
A. W. Bortuwick, D.Sc. 
