40 TRANSACriONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and water in a series of vats, and of the subsequent evaporation 

 of the lye in shallow iron pans. For certain purposes, ^.^., soft 

 soap manufacture, the lye itself may be used. An experiment 

 was conducted in this connection and good samples of soft 

 soap produced; the biacken ash gave the best results in this 

 respect. 



The residue in the vats, when dried, has a certain manurial 

 value, as it consists largely of calcium, carbonate and phosphate. 

 The calcium phosphate contains about 8 per cent, of phosphoric 

 acid, and the wet residue has a water content of from 50 to 60 



per cent.' 



Marketing. 



It has been suggested that probably the best method of 

 marketing would be to store the material at the various centres 

 of production in quantities of from 5, 10, or 15 tons. The 

 material should be well mixed in bulk before being finally 

 bagged. A sample should then be taken from the heap and 

 sent for analyses and assessment, after which the consignment 

 may be sold direct to the purchaser. 



7. The District Advisory Forest Officers of the 

 Board of Agriculture. 



As is well known, the Board of Agriculture for Scotland 

 intend in the near future to appoint three District Forestry 

 Officers, whose services will be available to proprietors of wood- 

 lands and plantable lands in Scotland. One officer will be 

 attached to each of the three agricultural colleges, and his 

 services will be available in the area served by the college to 

 which he is attached. 



When these appointments have been made, the duty of the 

 officers will be to give advice generally on forestry management, 

 and their services will be further available for the preparation of 

 simple working-plans for woodlands and plantable lands which 

 the owners desire to treat mainly for profit. It is hoped that 

 this arrangement may be the means of initiating considerable 

 improvements in timber growing. The services of the District 

 Advisory Forest Officers will be given free of any further charge 



' See The Foresler, Nisbet, vol. ii. p. 608. 



