HOW TO GROW GOOD TIMBER. 289 



greater care would be paid than in the case of ordinary plantations, 

 the young stock of oaks has been rendered quite unsaleable by the 

 pest. This year I have noticed the progress of the insect on two 

 groups of young English and Turkey oaks growing side by side ; and 

 although there are hundreds of galls on the English oaks, there are 

 none on the Turkey oaks. From this I am led to infer that the 

 species of cynips now under notice is confined in its depredations to 

 the English oak ; and as it invariably selects trees of younger or 

 restricted growth — probably because the temperature at a higher 

 elevation than ten or twelve feet from the earth is unfavourable to it — 

 it would seem that children might be advantageously employed in 

 young plantations in collecting the galls by means of cutting-hooks, 

 such as are used for thistles. The galls, when once collected, might 

 either be crushed for tanning purposes, or consumed by fire, and if 

 the process were repeated* for two or three seasons, it is more than 

 probable that the plantation would be altogether free from the pest. 



These able remarks not only well describe the 

 nature of the attack, but also point to a cure — a 

 matter to which we would direct the most serious 

 attention of the planter ; for we may state that, in 

 1853, we saw some very small oak trees, in the 

 neighbourhood of Dawlish, Devon, from which some 

 hundreds of these galls might have been gathered. 

 This was the first time we had noticed this pest, 

 though it appears that it had been under Mr. Parfitt's 

 notice as long as a dozen years. Since then (1853) 

 we have traced it in its progress as follows : — 



Having observed the galls in Devon in 1853, we 

 were yearly on the look-out in the Midland and 

 Eastern counties for its appearance, and the following 

 dates will show that its spread, though gradual, was 

 sufficiently rapid : — 



The galls were gathered in Devon in 1853 



The same kind in Somerset, in 1854 



In Gloucester, on the west side of the river Severn, 



Forest of Dean, in 1855 



