HEART-ROT IN CONIFERS. 39 



above the drift limit the disease is absent, and, though the 

 rate of growth is slower, the technical quality of the timber 

 is much better. A similar state of affairs is reported from 

 parts of the county of Perth. 



In an 1 8-year-old Douglas fir plantation in Glentress Forest,. 

 Peeblesshire, a very severe attack of heart-rot, directly due 

 to Fames annosus, was encountered. Fructifications of the 

 fungus were common, occurring not only on the roots, but 

 in two cases on the base of the stem. A heavy thinning was 

 made, and the proportion of diseased stems in the thinnings 

 was 31 out of 342. In this case there had been a previous crop 

 of mature conifers leaving large stumps in the ground. 



In Kirkcudbrightshire, a milder attack was met with in a 

 32-year-old European larch wood, forming a second crop. A 

 proportion of 20 out of 75 of the thinnings was diseased. In 

 this district, however, a Scots pine wood was rather badly 

 attacked, its age being about 45 years. As the Scots pine 

 has a habit of shutting out the fungus from the base of the 

 stem by the production of a resin belt or zone, the usual 

 symptoms of attack are lacking in felled stems, namely, dis- 

 coloration and rot of the wood. Signs of attack, however, 

 are evident in standing stems, where, owing to the decay of 

 the roots, weakening, defoliation, and finally death takes place, 

 hastened by insect and other agencies. The death of these 

 stems is often rather a mystery, but it will be found to occur 

 in patches, and an inspection of the roots seldom fails to 

 discover the presence of typical sporophores. 



Similar attacks were observed in a 35 -year-old wood of the 

 same species on an estate in Kincardineshire, and in a lo-year- 

 old plantation in Aberdeenshire. The latter attack was severe. 

 In a Scots pine plantation in the Ballochbuie forest, a similar 

 attack was noted. On a Kirkcudbrightshire estate, heart-rot 

 was also reported from a Japanese larch plantation, 20 years 

 old, on rather peaty ground. In Aberdeenshire, an 18-year-old 

 Douglas fir wood was examined. Heart-rot was common, more 

 so than at Glentress. Many large stumps of a previous crop 

 were present, and the attacks were invariably centred around 

 these. Thirty per cent, of the thinnings were attacked. A 

 15-year-old Douglas fir plantation in Inverness-shire was found 

 to be attacked in patches. On some stems the decay had 

 reached an advanced stage. Seven per cent, of the thinnings 



