132 Remarks on the annual Layers of Trees. 



The best season for planting the oaks is in Fehriiarij : this is 

 also a proper time to plant the pines, except in dry soils, for 

 which November and December are better. 



The pinasters make as good nurses as Scotch pines, and will 

 grow better in wet land. They will also thrive better than 

 any other kind of pine, in very exposed situations on the sea 

 coast. 



Sweet chestnuts thrive well, both in the seed-bed and in plant- 

 ations, under the same system as the oak. The best seed is 

 imported from France. 



All wet land should be properly drained before it is planted. 

 The forest drains are open, 2 ft. wide and 2jt. deep, and cost 4c?. 

 per perch. The drains must be kept well cleaned. 



The pine trees must not be pruned till about March, for the 

 benefit of the oaks, which ^\io\x\i\Jirst receive air in the spring. 



The oaks, under this system, will require but little pruning. If 

 they grow well together, nature will do it best; but in forked or 

 branching trees the judicious use of the knife will be beneficial. 



In closing these minutes, praise must be given to Mr. 

 Turner for the free and liberal manner in which he affords his 

 valuable information to those gentlemen who feel interested in 

 the subject. 



[The above minutes were made in the year 1827, and some 

 copies of the article lithographed and circulated. Considering 

 it of great practical value, we applied to Mr. Davis for per- 

 mission to insert the paper in this Magazine, which, as far as he 

 is concerned, he very kindly granted. The very superior ma- 

 nagement of Mr. Turner has frequently been mentioned to us by 

 Mr. Page of Southampton ; and we have often wished for an 

 opportunity of making it known to the public. We are in- 

 formed by Mr. Milne, one of the Commissioners of Woods and 

 Forests, that the same practice as that described above still con- 

 tinues to be carried on in the government plantations of the New 

 Forest; and Mr. Milne has recently recommended it for adoption, 

 to a nobleman who applied to him to know what government had 

 found from experience to be the best method of raising oak 

 woods. — London, Oct, 1837.] 



Art. VII. Remarks on the annual Layers of Trees; •with the 

 Measurement of the annual Rings of a Larch planted in 1811. 

 By A. GoRRiE, F.H.S., C.H.S, &c., Annat Gardens, Perthshire. 



I HAVE uniformly observed that the thickness of the annual 

 deposit of wood, in most forest trees, was exactly in proportion to 

 the healthy foliage of such trees; and, if the balance of branches 



