NOTES AND QUERIES. II7 



time in the German forests, and has toured in the sub-tropical 

 forests of the south of France, which form a most instructive 

 study for a South African forest officer. He went out to the 

 forest department of Cape Colony in a junior capacity some 

 sixteen years ago, and rose by merit until he was selected to go 

 to the Transvaal after the Boer war. 



It will be recalled that although the area of the indigenous 

 forest of South Africa is comparatively small (only some half- 

 million acres all told), an important work is being performed in 

 the formation of extensive plantations of exotic trees. These 

 exotics are carefully selected as regards climatic suitability, and 

 are hardier and grow faster than the native trees. Some 

 ;^i 50,000 is spent yearly on South African forestry, of which 

 over one-third is at present returned as revenue. The young 

 plantations of exotic trees are already yielding, from thinnings 

 only, more revenue than the indigenous forest. 



Protection of Scots Pine against Black Game. 

 During last winter when there was a lot of snow, black 

 game did a considerable amount of damage by eating the buds 

 of newly planted Scots pine, and it occurred to the forester 

 that some sort of dressing might save the remainder. Two 

 dressings were tried, Smearoleum and a dressing made up at 

 home which consisted of one part of Archangel tar to two parts 

 of tallow fat boiled together. Only the terminal leading buds 

 were dressed, and the result in both cases was the same : those 

 buds which had been dressed were left alone, though the buds 

 on the side shoots were eaten as much as before, but the effect 

 of the Smearoleum was that the buds did not open or grow when 

 the spring came, while those dressed with the home-made 

 mixture grew well and have continued to do so. The method 

 of applying the dressing consisted in dropping a little on 

 the leading bud from a paint-brush. After a little practice the 

 men employed got over a great number of plants in a day ; it 

 was found that a man could do about 5000 in a day. The 

 dressing will have to be applied again on the new leading 

 bud until the plants have reached a size sufficient to make 

 them safe from black game. This year I propose to apply the 

 preparation in the nursery before planting out, and expect to 

 save time. W. Steuart Fothringham. 



