TEANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



EOYAL SCOTTISH ARBOEICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



I. Two Forest Arboretums near Brussels. 



By D. E. HUTCHINS. 



In the summer of 1913, while visiting the magnificent 

 suburban forest of Soigne, at the gates of Brussels, I spent some 

 time in the two Government arboretums which it contains. 

 They are both " group " arboretums, not single tree arboretums, 

 so that they represent forest conditions. 



The following notes regarding the growth of trees in them 

 may perhaps be of interest to British foresters. It will be many 

 years before similar results can be obtained in Britain ; and in 

 any case, these Belgian trees have got a start of a quarter of a 

 century while British State Forestry in the mossy island has 

 slept its deadly sleep ! These two arboretums near Brussels 

 have the special advantage, to Britons, of being in a climate 

 differing but slightly from that of the south-east of England. 

 From Dover to Brussels is but 140 miles as the crow flies, and 

 the warm westerly winds sweep on to Belgium with the same 

 maritime effect which we experience in England. 



Belgians insist upon the essentially maritime character of 

 their climate, as far as a good deal south of Brussels. 

 This, of course, is not to say that the climate of Brussels does 

 not differ slightly from the climate of Kent. The summer heat 

 at Brussels is a few degrees higher ; skating in winter is 

 more certain than in England, and there are trees which 

 succeed fairly well in parts of Britain and Ireland, but fail in 

 Belgium. An example is the tree which I have long considered 

 the finest and most valuable on this globe. Sequoia sempervirens ; 

 many of the heavy rainfall Japanese trees also, which, though 

 feeling the lack of sun-power, get along fairly in the British Isles, 

 have bad spells in Belgium from drought. Douglas too fears 

 drought in parts of Belgium. But, after all, this difference is 



VOL. XXX. PART I. A 



