56 TRANSACTIONS OF ROVAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The Acacia pycnantha has succeeded best. The A. nielanoxylon 

 has very valuable timber, but does not grow well here, preferring 

 granitic soil. The result of any felling is a quick regeneration. 

 The seeds lie dormant for some time but germinate with the 

 coming of the light, and especially well where a tire has 

 occurred — the envelope of the seed being thick. 



We think that, in spite of the lack of data for a plan, the 

 proprietor ought to work on some definite scheme of exploitation. 

 It should be tentative of course, but there should always be 

 so»ie method ; otherwise things will always be in confusion, and 

 no data will ever be arrived at. One would say this for all 

 cases once the cuttings have begun, and even before them it is a 

 wise method to plant with regularity and successively, so as to 

 produce an annual sequence of crops for future years. It is the 

 fact, however, that such things are not as a rule considered. 



One interesting observation is that the eucalyptus is drying 

 up all the springs in the New Tasmania plantation — a some- 

 what dangerous fact, save where moisture is in excess. 



III. The regeneration of Piniis Halepensis, a tree of great 

 importance in Algeria, whether for the extraction of resin or 

 otherwise, is receiving careful study at the moment. It appears 

 that ordinarily there is some difficulty about its regeneration, 

 but that after a fire an extraordinary crop of seedlings may result. 

 The writer of the article under quotation says he has known an 

 area of as much as 25,000 acres covered with a crop of saplings 

 of one age (15 to 20 years), so thick as to be impenetrable. 

 He explains the phenomenon thus : — The opening of the cones 

 is extremely slow; they remain shut from 10 to 15 years. 

 Quite rotten closed cones, that can be easily pulverised in the 

 fingers, but containing seeds, may often be found on the trees. 

 The heat of the fire opens the cones, and for seven or eight days 

 after the least wind will provoke a shower of seeds. But 

 whereas the burnt area is covered with seedlings fifteen to twenty 

 days after a fire, the neighbouring unburnt portions, where the 

 seed also falls in abundance, produce no seedlings, for if the seeds 

 germinate the seedlings disappear at once. The writer asks, " Is 

 this success of the seedlings on the burnt area due to mechanical 

 action (breaking up of the soil surface) or to chemical action 

 (production of salts rendering basic the soil previously made 

 acid by the humus)?" There is certainly a very great deal to 

 be yet discovered in this particular direction ; perhaps this is 



