46 IKANSACTIONS OK ROYAL SCOTTISH AKIiORlCULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of Lorey's Fonst E/icyc/opa-dia, edited by Wagner. This is a 

 manual of German forestry as complete as it can possibly be, 

 and since the present state of politics is such that for many a 

 year now none of us will be able to go and see things for 

 ourselves in Germany, it will only be possible to learn about 

 their forestry methods from books. No one, of course, doubts 

 the importance of those methods, even though they may some- 

 times be somewhat meticulous. This work is divided into all 

 the various branches of the subject, and each part is written by 

 a professor of the highest authority. The name of the book, 

 which is in four large volumes (not to be bought separately), is 

 Ila/iiBuc/i tier Forstwissenschaft, by Lorey, third edition by 

 Wagner, published by Laupp, Tubingen, price 105 francs, or 

 bound, 125 francs. 



According to M. Versepuy, however, the part called "Admin- 

 istration," by Schwappach, has a grave error in it, and 

 M. Versepuy 's statement exactly agrees with Huffel, whose 

 observations on the subject of the results in Germany from the 

 seed of Scots pine from Auvergne were mentioned in these notes 

 in last year's Transactions. Schwappach states emphatically 

 that the seed from Auvergne has resulted in absolute disaster 

 over very extensive areas in North Germany, from Holland 

 to Russia The fact of the disaster, and the fact that the 

 seed was from Auvergne, are both true ; but, according to M. 

 Versepuy, the inference is entirely false. The inference is that 

 Auvergne seed cannot safely be employed. Our author states 

 that the plantations which have failed so badly were made 

 about 1895, ^^'^ '^ ^o ^^y* ^'^ ^ *^^^^ when there was no seeds- 

 man's industry in France. At that time, however, there were 

 seedsmen in Germany and Austria, and they were accustomed to 

 import from Auvergne hundreds of waggons of cones collected 

 in August and September, whereas the cone is not ripe till 

 November. The whole outcry, according to M. Versepuy, 

 against the Auvergne seed, which, now that there are French 

 seedsmen, is in French hands, is a trade dodge — a thing, he 

 says, which has actually been admitted. 



III. Professor Engler (Switzerland) has found that the seed 

 of the Scots pine will germinate nearly equally well up to 

 2 years of storage ; after 4 or 5 years the power has decreased 

 by half; while after 7 years the power is, generally speaking, 

 reduced to about a tenth of that of fresh seed. 



