NOTICES AND REVIEWS OF BOOKS. II7 



After heavy rains the subsoil water under a forest never stands 

 at so high a level as outside the forest, even close outside. (See 

 experiments of M. Henry in France and Russia, also experi- 

 ments in India after the monsoon.) This is encouraging for 

 Scotland and very wet countries. 



Sugar canes were formerly cultivated, but the soil necessary for 

 them has been denuded ; the vines have deteriorated from the 

 same cause. Much space in the report is given to the effect 

 of trees on the retention and absorption of water, for Mr 

 Hutchins claims that forests can moisten a dry soil and climate, 

 and also dry a soil and climate which is excessively moist to at 

 least an appreciable degree. 



The least observant of us are aware that the circulation of 

 moisture in and around a tropical palm (in the air and in the 

 soil) is not the same as occurs in and around a willow, for 

 instance. 



Following out this line of suggestion, Mr Hutchins is of opinion 

 that the slowest growing trees best favour the retention and 

 increase of moisture, while the quickest growing trees, in some 

 'cases, absorb more than they retain. In all cases winters are 

 less cold in and around forests than on the same area cleared of 

 them. These considerations influenced Mr Hutchins in his 

 recommendations as to the selection of species for Cyprus, and 

 they should also be borne in mind in any large scheme for 

 Scotland or elsewhere where the drying up and not the moistening 

 of the soil and climate is the desideratum. 



Space forbids a more detailed analysis of this fascinating 

 report, due as much to the co-operation of Mr Bovill, the head 

 of the Cyprus Forest Department, as to the visitor he so cordially 

 co-operated with. 



The report itself may be commended to all interested in 

 forestry, or indeed in national regeneration the world over. 



M. M. 



List of Seeds of Hardy Herbaceous Plants and of Trees and Shrubs. 



This list, price twopence, is published as a Bulletin of 

 Miscellaneous Information (Appendix i, of 1909), by the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It will be found useful to 

 both gardeners and foresters. The seeds had, for the most 

 part, ripened at Kew during the year 1908. 



