327 



Seed experiments with Pinus sylvestris. The Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. Sept. 17, 1910, p. 213. 



An interesting experiment as yet in its initial stages, is being 

 conducted at Bangor in Wales and in various Continental investi- 

 gation stations. The experiment in question is designed to ,test 

 the truth of the common opinion that seed of the Scots Pine 

 obtained from trees grown in Scotland yields the best plants. An 

 account of the results obtained up to the present time is given by 

 Mr Eraser Story in the Transactions of the Royal Scottish Arbor- 

 icultural Society (XXIII, Part II, July, 1910). 



For the purposes of the investigation seed was obtained from 

 the following countries: Scotland, France, Prussia (2), Belgium, 

 Bavaria, Russia (2); the Scotch seed being supplied by Mr. J. Grant- 

 Thomson, Granton-on-Spey. Mr. Story finds that of the plants raised 

 from seeds from the above mentioned sources, those from Scotch 

 seed were at the end of two years smaller than any of the others, 

 thus, at Bangor the average height of 2 445 seedlings from Scotch 

 seed was 3 inches, whereas that of 2 520 seedlings raised from Belgian 

 seed was 5 f /4 inches, and the average height of the seedlings 

 produced by seed derived from the other countries was interme- 

 diate between the Scotch and the Belgian seedlings. 



At the end of the third year (first year after transplanting, the 

 following averages were observed: Belgian seed io x / 2 inches and 

 Scotland 7 inches, and the estimate of the plants was that the 

 Belgians were "much the best," Bavarian "second,, and Scotch 

 " small but good. " 



Similar, and in some respects more striking, results with respect 

 to rate of growth were obtained in a series of experiments at Chozin 

 (Prussia) where whilst seedlings from Scotch seeds showed a growth 

 of little over 2 inches, the Belgian plants grew to 7 inches. 



It remains to be seen, of course, whether the Scotch seedlings 

 will remain inferior in rate of growth to those derived from Belgian 

 seed, or whether it is merely a case of making haste slowly. 



HENRY M. CADELL. Sitka Spruce. On the growth of the Sitka 

 Spruce and other trees in Linlithgowshire and Stirling- 

 shire. Trans, of the R. Scottish Arbor. Soc. 9 Vol. XXIII, P. II, 

 pp. 157-167. Edinburgh, July 1910. 



" As a tree for hill planting the Sitka Spruce has proved its 

 superiority over larch, Scotch pine, and Norway spruce in a marked 



