NATURE 



309 



THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1884 



FORESTRY 

 Introduction to the Study of Modern Forest Economy, 

 and Forestry in Norway, with Notices of the Physical 

 Geography of the Country. By John Croumbie Brown, 

 LL.D. (Edinburgh : Oliver and Boyd, 1884.) 

 T7VERYTHING connected with forestry is especially 

 attractive just now when so much attention is being 

 drawn to the subject in its very varied aspects by the 

 Exhibition at Edinburgh. Dr. J. C. Brown is one of the 

 most voluminous writers we have on forest matters ; his 

 pen indeed is scarcely ever at rest, for he has told us 

 about forests and forest management in various parts of 

 the world, both in ancient and modern times, and now he 

 publishes just at an opportune moment two little books 

 the titles of which are given above. The first of these he 

 tells us is issued in accordance with, and in discharge of, 

 obligations imposed by a resolution passed on March 28 

 last year by a " scientific, practical, and professional " 

 assemblage presided over by the Marquess of Lothian for 

 the purpose of furthering " the establishment of a national 

 School of Forestry in Scotland," and the promotion of " an 

 International Forestry Exhibition in Edinburgh in iSS4,"the 

 last of which is now being realised, but the former has yet 

 to be accomplished, we hope, however, at no distant date. 

 Dr. Brown's first book commences by defining what a 

 forest is, and he then goes on to point out that " in the 

 conservation, culture, and exploitation, or profitable dis- 

 posal, of forest products considerable differences of practice 

 exists," as, for instance, the preservation of game in this 

 country, while on the Continent the wood is the primary' 

 object. " In Britain," he says, " we hear much of arbori- 

 culture ; on the Continent we hear much of sylviculture ; 

 the former refers to woods and plantations, the other 

 term speaks of woods and forests ; in the one case the 

 unit is the tree, and the wood is considered as the collec- 

 tion of trees ; in the other the wood is the unit, and the 

 trees are considered only as the constituent parts. In the 

 former attention is given primarily to the sowing and 

 planting, and pruning it may be, and general culture of 

 the tree ; nowhere perhaps has this arboriculture been 

 carried nearer to perfection than it has been in Britain, 

 and the effects produced by the resulting woods are 

 wonderful. In the latter, attention is given primarily to 

 the wood or forest as a whole, capable of yielding pro- 

 ducts which can be profitably utilised ; and the result 

 generally is to produce a much greater proportion of fine 

 trees than does even the arboriculture which has been 

 referred to. And not less different is the exploitation of 

 woods in Britain and on the Continent. In Britain the 

 pecuniary return obtained from woods is considered a 

 secondary matter in comparison with the amenity and 

 shelter which they afford ; but on the Continent the 

 materials or pecuniary product, or other economic good, 

 is made the object of primary importance." 



This opens the subject of forestry in its widest aspect, 

 and Dr. Brown naturally draws from it a moral on the 

 necessity of forming the much talked of British School of 

 Forestry. The book is divided into three parts, in the first 

 of which the successive chapters treat of the following sub- 

 Vol. xxx.- No. 770 



jects : Ancient Forests of Europe, the disappearance of 

 European Forests, the evils which have followed their de- 

 struction, scarcity of timber and firewood, droughts, floods, 

 landslips, and sand drifts. The second part is devoted to 

 the consideration of " Elements of Modern Forest Eco- 

 nomy," under which head we fiid chapters on Forest 

 Conservation, Replanting or Reboisement, as Dr. Brown 

 prefers to call it after the French usage ; Exploitation or 

 Management, Sartage and Jardinage, or Clearance and 

 Selection, &c, concluding this part with a chapter on the 

 study of Pathology. The third part is simply a short notice 

 of modern forest conservancy in general. AH these points 

 are of extreme importance in a well-organised system of 

 forest teaching, and under each head Dr. Brown brings 

 together a quantity of matter which, besides being of a 

 practical character, and consequently valuable, is also 

 interesting reading. He possesses the power in an emi- 

 nent degree of weaving into one uniform fabric what has 

 been said by various writers on the subject that he has 

 so much at heart, for Dr. Brown's books contain long and 

 numerous quotations, through which it will not be necessary 

 to follow him. On the study of pathology, however, as 

 one of the branches in the curriculum of a forest officer's 

 education, we entirely agree with him as to its great im- 

 portance. It should indeed be equally imperative that a 

 young forester should know something of the nature of 

 the diseases with which the trees under his care are liable 

 to be attacked, as that he should be acquainted with the 

 structure, constitution, and habits of those trees, so that 

 he may be enabled, if occasion requires, to cope with 

 their diseases, and if possible save the victims from 

 premature decay. For this reason a pathological 

 museum should be attached to every forest school, 

 and specimens might be continually added to it 

 by preserving those that might be brought into 

 the school for determination. Such a museum indeed 

 is referred to by Dr. Brown in the following paragraph : — 

 " In the Museum of the Prussian Forest Institute at 

 Eberwalde the impression produced upon the mind of the 

 visitor is that there are there specimens representative of 

 every disease to which trees are heir ; specimens exhibiting 

 the progress of the disease from the attack to the consum- 

 mation ; and, hard by, the bark, the wood, the insect, or 

 the parasitic herb or fungus by which it has been induced, 

 the insect and the fungus being exhibited under all the 

 transformations through which they pass ; while specimens 

 of the effects of lightning and other physical causes of the 

 decay or destruction of trees are not lacking. And similar 

 collections sufficient to afford facilities for the study of the 

 diseases of trees and of means of preventing or of remedy- 

 ing the evils done are to be found in many other similar 

 institutions." Dr. Brown concludes his first book with a 

 sketch of the curriculum of the Spanish School of 

 Forestry, which includes a wide range of subjects in me- 

 chanics,physics,acoustics, heat, optics, electricity, meteoro- 

 logy, chemistry, natural history, including botany and 

 zoology. "The instruction is given (1) by oral lectures 

 and lessons in drawing by the professors ; (2) by written 

 exercises, calculations, and analyses on the subjects em- 

 braced by these lectures ; (3) by the detailed study of the 

 animals, rocks, plants, and forest products which consti- 

 tute the collections and adjuncts of the establishment ; 

 (4) by the practice of topography, land-surveying, the 



