CONTINENTAL NOTES — FRANCE. 5 I 



working-plans have been so hard and fast, and the desire for 

 precision has been so strong, that artificial regeneration has 

 become the rule. The fact that natural regeneration cannot 

 be hurried has also led to this result. It is an important 

 reason, we think, but since artificial regeneration is so expensive, 

 why should not a combination of natural and artificial be 

 resorted to ? Herr Wagner points to the danger run by planta- 

 tions grown from seeds which are bought in the market and 

 have probably come from other countries, and may not be 

 suited to the locality, and which also may have been collected 

 from defective trees, whereas in a natural regrowth we have 

 plants deriving from the stems which have shown their 

 superiority on the spot, the best stems of the forest. Since 

 the struggle in height-growth leads to the elimination of all 

 but the best, these latter it is which survive to reproduce their 

 kind. Herr Wagner admits the difficulty of natural regeneration, 

 but considers that his particular methods meet the case com- 

 pletely. So far as we can see these methods are merely strip 

 felling, or ordinary Selection ; but it is worth noting that these 

 strips should, according to Herr Wagner, always proceed from 

 the north-west or the north to the south-east or the south (more 

 especially for the shallow-rooted spruce), so as to avoid the 

 danger of drying-up by sun and wind (it being supposed that, 

 as with us, the prevailing wind is from the south-west). 



II. M. Parde describes a most interesting tour made by him 

 in the forests of Portugal. The principal species are evergreen 

 oaks and the Maritime pine, and of late years eucalyptus and 

 Australian acacias have been introduced with signal success. 

 The country, of course, has a mild climate, good rainfall and 

 very little snow, and the number of exotics that have been 

 planted, and flourish exceedingly, is quite extraordinary. Some 

 of these exotics even reproduce themselves by seed. At Bussaco 

 and at Coimbra M. Parde saw some truly wonderful things. 

 Among very many other species he mentions Araucarias, 

 Himalayan and Mexican pines, cedars, Douglas, Sequoia, 

 Diospyros, Eugenia, Melia, Podocarpus, Ginko, cypresses. 

 Thujas, Cryptomeria, Grevillia, etc., etc. — not to mention many 

 varieties of eucalyptus and acacia — all thriving. 



This is all very well, but the most interesting parts of M. 

 Parde's article refer to the Government forest of Leiria, and to 

 a Mr Tait's extensive plantations of eucalyptus and acacia. 



