122 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



if they are to be improved and extended, every direct relation of 

 the tree to its physiographic environment is vital." 



The book is divided into two parts. The first part, which 

 deals with soils, is devoted to a very full consideration of their 

 origin and diversity together with their physical and chemical 

 features, while a description of the classification of soils completes 

 the part. 



Although not a treatise on forestry the book is one which 

 should be read by all students of forestry, as it deals with 

 matters which are of fundamental importance to forestry in all 

 its aspects. As might be expected, the enormous influence of 

 forests on soil conservation, drainage and water supply is 

 brought prominently before the reader. 



In maintaining the soil, and preserving and regulating the 

 water supply, the forest comes first in importance of all the 

 means which man can adopt to that end. The author points 

 out that the rapidity of erosion is, in many places, a matter of 

 grave concern. Over twenty years ago an estimate by Shaler 

 showed that in America about 4000 square miles of country had 

 been impoverished through wasteful agricultural methods, 

 representing a loss of food resources sufficient to support a 

 million people ; and that at least 5 % of the soils which at one 

 time proved fertile under tillage " are now unfit to produce 

 anything more valuable than scanty pasturage." The author 

 then goes on to say, "To us of a later generation this figure 

 appears gratifyingly small beside the figure that would express 

 the deplorable ruin of the past quarter century of reckless timber 

 cutting and baneful neglect of fields abandoned by the upland 

 farmer." An inference as to the powerful influence of the forest 

 in preventing flooding and erosion may be drawn from a 

 statement quoted from Fernow. " The forest litter, the moss- 

 covered and leaf-strewn ground, is capable of absorbing water 

 at the rate of from 40,000,000-50,000,000 cubic feet per square 

 mile in ten minutes — water whose progress is delayed by some 

 twelve to fifteen hours after the first eff'ects of a heavy freshet 

 have passed." 



Deforestation or want of afforestation may not only lead to 

 a loss of soil on the hill slopes and upland areas, but alluvial 

 lands of the valleys and plains may also suffer serious soil 

 deterioration through flooding. The question of proper forest 

 management in hilly and mountainous countries is of the 



