no TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



The value of other wood sold or used at home, e.^. pit props, 

 small thinnings, cord wood, faggots, bavins, etc., and the value 

 of osiers sold, together make the total value of timber of all kinds 

 sold or utilised during the year about ^800,000. — Journal 

 of the Board of Agriculture (By permission of the Controller of 

 H.M. Stationery Office). 



Appointments. 



Mr G. P. Gordon, a B.Sc. in Forestry and Agriculture, and 

 a probationer for the Indian Forest Service, has been appointed 

 Lecturer in Forestry, West of Scotland Agricultural College, in 

 succession to Dr Nisbet. 



Mr James W. Newton, B.Sc. (Agriculture and Forestry), has 

 been appointed Forest Conservator to the Colonial Government, 

 British East Africa. 



The Action of Grass on Fruit Trees. ^ 



In this report an account is given of the experiments carried 

 out during the past sixteen years on the effect of grass on 

 fruit trees. 



The conclusion arrived at is that the action is so deleterious 

 that it arrests all growth, and often causes the death of the 

 tree. In no cases has recovery been noticed, except where the 

 roots began to extend beyond the grassed area. Trees which 

 become grassed over gradually during the course of several 

 years apparently accommodate themselves to the altering 

 conditions, and suffer much less than when the grass is actually 

 sown over their roots. It is suggested that it is partially due 

 to this circumstance that the effect of grass in commercial 

 orchards is often less than that on the experimental farm ; 

 differences in the nature of the soil have also an important effect, 

 the evil effects of grass being much more noticeable on some 

 soils than on others. The same effect is also seen in the case 

 of trees which have become well established before the grass 

 was sown. 



In connection with apple trees, a point of practical interest 



1 Thirteenth Report of the IVoburn Experimental Fruit Farm, by the 

 Duke of Bedford, K.G., F.R.S., and Spencer U. Pickering, M.A., F.R.S., 

 1911. 



