I So TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



commence. Experiments in introducing new species into the open 

 spaces and enclosures should be encouraged — the ash, so success- 

 ful at Loches, and the silver fir might well be tried. The Spanish 

 chestnut is succeeding so well that on all areas that have been 

 subjected to the final cutting its increase might well be encouraged 

 by artificial sowing, or planting in mixture with self-sown pine. 



Another possible outlet for the expansion of revenue is the 

 treatment of the heather (bruyere, Erica arborea). As has been 

 stated in the reports on the forests of the Toulon inspection, 

 the word bruyere is well known to be the parent of the English 

 corruption "briar," from which the famous briar-wood pipes are 

 made. In fact the great proportion of London pipes are manu- 

 factured from the roots of heather obtained in the forests between 

 Toulon and S. Raphael. Experiments in this industry might with 

 advantage be undertaken here, where two kinds of heather grow 

 in such profusion. One of them certainly bears a close external 

 resemblance to the species that has acquired on the Cote d'Azur 

 such a high market price (4d. per lb.) as pipe material. If the 

 industry should prove successful, the heather, which at Paulmy 

 is now regarded as an obnoxious weed, would prove a v^aluable 

 and important source of additional income. One block of the 

 root was prepared, but it was obviously of inferior quality. 

 A superior block should be specially prepared and submitted to 

 Loewe in the Haymarket for an opinion. 



Without doubt the forest of Paulmy presents many points of 

 interest to the Scottish owner and forester. Even in its present 

 condition and stocking, and with its network of roads and 

 immediate accessibility to the railway, it is a valuable little 

 property, of which the potentiality under scientific management 

 can scarcely be foreseen. The assumption that it is capable ot 

 improvement is supported by the hard fact that the Foretdomaniale 

 de Loches, situated 20 miles away, in a similar and not more 

 favourable natural environment, returns to the State an annual 

 net revenue 3.', times greater than that yielded by these private 

 woods. Hut if the conclusions now arrived at are justified 

 by experience, it is anticipated that this difference may be 

 materially bridged in the near future by the conversion of a 

 greater area to pine, combined with repeated but //i;/// thinnings. 



To Scottish owners the lesson indicated would seem to be the 

 necessity for expert advice, and a careful criticism of the custom of 

 the country, which is so often a bar to progress and improvement. 



