114 TRAXSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETV. 



plants for hanging baskets is the most extraordinary which 

 we have come across in a fairly lengthened experience. The 

 index, though not absolutely accurate, is a redeeming feature. 

 J W. G. 



Webster's Foresters^ Pocket Diary. loth Edition, for 19 12. 

 Completely revised. London : William Rider & Son. 

 Price 2s. 6d. 



The new edition fully maintains the reputation of this useful 

 little book. 



Report on Cyprus Forestry. 93 pp., i map, 42 figs. By D. E. 

 HuTCHiNS, Chief Conservator of Forests, British East Africa. 

 Printed by Waterlow & Sons, Limited, London, 1909. 



Mr Hutchins, a visitor to Cyprus, was deputed by the 

 Government to report on the forests of the island. His report 

 is most interesting and instructive, and naturally, from his wide 

 experience elsewhere, is fortified by references to many other 

 countries and climates, and even includes discussions on cattle 

 breeding and the advantages of the tourist traffic. 



The forests of Cyprus are early mentioned in history. They 

 furnished the timber for the fleets of Alexander the Great in the 

 Mediterranean and on the Tigris and Euphrates ; then for the 

 war vessels of the Ptolemys, again for Guy de Lusignan, and finally 

 for the Venetian Republic. By this time they were greatly 

 depleted, and Turkish rule completed the havoc. Firewood, 

 which is the only fuel commonly used for domestic purposes, is now 

 scarce, selling at ^i a ton, a prohibitive price for the peasantry. 



In addition to destruction by axe, forest fires and a plague of 

 goats (which number one per head of the population) are the 

 greatest enemies of the woodlands. Lnsect pests are apparently 

 not prominent. 



With slight variations the above may fit the conditions of the 

 Scottish Highlands. In crusading times galleys from the 

 Hebrides were accounted the best to be had by the nobles 

 and knights adventuring from Gascony and even from Italy. 

 They were, of course, a Norwegian not a Celtic industry, and the 

 preference for them was probably due to the Norman blood in the 

 European chivalry of the day, and the remembrance of the 

 exploits of the Vikings. 



