NOTES AND QUERIES. 239 



is not known. The total area of these excluded subjects is 

 1,136,887 acres.i 



In many cases the rental includes other subjects. 



Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh : Proposed Guild. 



It will be of interest to all former members of the staff ot 

 the Royal Botanic Garden, many of whom are members of the 

 Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society, to know that at an 

 informal meeting which took place in spring at the Garden, 

 a strong feeling was expressed in favour of establishing a 

 Guild of past and present members of the staff. A temporary 

 committee was formed to take the necessary steps in forwarding 

 the movement. The committee will be glad if all old members 

 of the staff will communicate their addresses either to the Head 

 Gardener, Mr R. L. Harrow, or to the interim Secretary, Mr 

 W. H. Morland, so that the list may be made as complete 

 as possible. A circular containing the proposed rules will then 

 be forwarded to them. 



Testing of Forest Seeds. 

 The Board of Agriculture for Scotland have made arrange- 

 ments whereby laboratory tests for purity and germination will 

 be applied to forest seeds free of charge. Seeds for testing 

 should be addressed to the Secretary to the Board, 29 St Andrew 

 Square, Edinburgh. Small seeds should be sent in i oz. and 

 large seeds in 3 oz. quantities. 



Appointments. 



Mr Augustine Henry, Reader in Forestry at the University 

 of Cambridge, has been appointed Professor of Forestry in the 

 Royal College of Science, Dublin. Mr Henry is a Fellow of the 



' A glance al the above figures will show how desirable and urgent is the 

 need for further investigation. It is of the greatest importance to know what 

 proportion of the 1,136,887 acres included in these deer forests lies below 

 the looo-feet level. 



The Departmental Committee on Forestry, appointed by Lord Pentland 

 in 1911, recommended, among their various proposals, that a flying survey 

 should be made to gauge roughly the extent of the field for afforestation in 

 Scotland. Until such a survey is completed, we are in ignorance as regards 

 the extent of the available plantable area in this country. The above returns 

 are in themselves very interesting, but for the foresters' purpose investigations 

 must be carried out on different lines. A perusal of them will show how 

 little is accurately known as regards the area available in Scotland for aflfores- 

 tation, or for any other purpose except the present one to which such land 

 can be put. — Hon. Ed. 



