SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K*, 497 
operated unchecked for long periods of time, the resultant vegetation is so obviously 
associated with habitat that the principles of ecological survey and classification and 
the problems of their application in forest practice are easily appreciated. On the 
other hand, if human intervention has modified or replaced natural vegetation, the 
issues are obscured to varying degrees. 
In inhabited regions some of the most obvious differences in vegetation often bear 
little relation to site. The character of a forest may have been completely altered 
or the forest replaced by grassland and arable crops. However, in such areas, detailed 
investigations always reveal some qualitative or quantitative differences in vegetation 
according to site. The full significance of this fact cannot be appreciated apart from 
a recognition of the general truth. But, if the truth is accepted and due allowance 
is made for the successional development of vegetation, it will be realised that the 
distribution of unit-types or group-types, as the case may be, is always coincident 
with the extent of site-units or site-groups. 
In conclusion, the practical problem of recognising unit or group-types may be 
defined. In uninhabited or sparsely populated regions the types can easily be distin- 
guished by a direct survey of the vegetation. In developed regions a site survey is 
an essential preliminary. The historic record is rarely adequate for a direct solution 
of the problem, and therefore all investigations should be bascd on distinct sites. In 
all cases, both with natural or artificial vegetation, the degree to which unit-types 
can be differentiated depends upon the regional conditions. In some regions unit- 
types are clearly associated with site-units. In others practical considerations 
restrict survey to the recognition of group-types and site-groups. 
(If time permits, one of the examples which have been worked out in recent years 
in developed country and which clearly demonstrates the general truth, will be quoted 
in illustration of principle and method.) 
Mr. J. F. Annanp, O.B.E.—The Culbin Sands. 
The paper deals with the origin and composition of sand dunes on the north-east 
coast of Scotland, and particularly with the problem of the stabilisation and afforesta- 
_ tion of 5,000 acres of mobile sand dunes known as Culbin Sands on the Morayshire 
seaboard. The various stages of the work of stabilisation are described and the 
part played by natural plant life in completing the fixation process is examined. 
The merits of various species of pine for commercial timber crops on the sands are 
compared. Illustrations by photographs and lantern slides. 
Dr. M. L. AnpErson.—Preliminary Stages of an Investigation into various 
Races of European Larch. 
The Scandinavian theory of the existence of a Dunkeld race of European larch is 
examined. Points in the theory upon which further light is desirable are considered. 
Steps taken to investigate some of these points are described, and the paper deals 
particularly with an intensive nursery experiment, carried out simultaneously in 
eight nurseries with seed-lots of four different origins, one from the Tyrol, one from 
Silesia and two from Scotland. The difficulty of assessing differences in the early 
stages between plants derived from the four seed-lots is dealt with in some detail. 
The assessment is considered under the following heads: production of plants per 
pound of seed; size of plants produced; rate of germination; time of leaf-flush 
and defoliation ; resistance to disease; other differences. Under the last head a 
novel means will be described, whereby subtle differences between races have been 
demonstrated. Plants grown in this experiment have been planted out in four forests, 
and will be the subject of further study, this paper being concerned only with the 
seedling stage. 
Dr. A. S. Warr.—British Forestry and the Philosophy of Action. 
Present practice in British forestry is considered in relation to past British and 
current Continental practice. Modern practice in this country is not entirely the 
outcome of native experience but, based on an experience proper to Central Europe, 
lies unconformably upon it. Modern British forestry is not an organic growth racy 
of the soil; our art is imitative instead of being creative. 
The training in our universities is largely responsible for this acceptance of form 
and system without adequate consideration of the conditions of application. These 
conditions require scientific investigation, hitherto hampered by a too rigid and 
1931 KK 
