84 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



ArboretujH Mustila : Report on Experiments with Trees and 

 Shrubs of Foreign Origin in Afustila, 1901-1921. Vol. i. — 

 Conifers. By A. F. Tigerstedt. (Off-print from Acta 

 Fores tali a Fennica.) 



The book of the arboretum at Mustila in Finland is a 

 record of painstaking, public-spirited research. Although the 

 author claims to be neither a forester nor a botanist he is doing 

 excellent practical work in the service of both. When he took 

 over the estate of Mustila in 1901, he commenced immediately 

 to introduce and plant new species of trees from various parts 

 of the world, so that they might be tested and those that 

 ultimately proved of value added to the general wealth of the 

 country. 



The period over which such a test must extend is invariably 

 long in the case of forest trees, but it is generally shorter when 

 plants are sought for ornament. At Mustila regular forest 

 planting was done with all the species obtainable, except some 

 few trees whose scarcity made mass planting impracticable. 

 In addition, single specimens of all were planted for their 

 general interest. No money was spent unnecessarily on 

 amenity, but the whole plan of operations would appear to be 

 excellent from the point of view of the forester and the forest 

 botanist. 



In all experimental work with plants new to a district there 

 are bound to be failures, and it is the business of the experimenter 

 to persevere with these, to investigate them under various 

 conditions of soil, climate, and other factors, and to search 

 for those races and local varieties that bear the best qualities 

 of the species along with certain hereditary modifications that 

 render them more nearly suited to the locality. The experi- 

 menter whose operations are limited to a small district has no 

 choice of climates, and his investigations must be confined to 

 variations in soil, shelter, aspect and the like. Within the 

 space available at Mustila this seems to have been done, at 

 least to some extent, and the importance of the provenance of 

 seed is fully recognised. It has been found, for instance, that 

 Abies pectinata is of no value except in the shelter of large pines, 



