General Notices. 639 



will never prove injurious, but will generally be covered, in great part or en- 

 tirely, by the advancing bark. The operation of cutting with the saw should 

 not only be performed under the owner's eye, if possible, but each branch 

 ought to be twice sawn, the first cut being merely to get rid of the weight of 

 the branch, in order to prevent splitting, and the second cut very carefully 

 made at the proper point, 1 or 2 feet lower down. The shoots of the first 

 summer will, perhaps, be weak, but afterwards very strong, until a new head, 

 capable of bearing every blast, has been completed : and we behold, instead 

 of a tall and hide-bound victim to the winds, a sturdy, storm-defying ash, 

 spreading its boughs in characteristic beauty. So, too, the old, misshapen, 

 wind-shattered ash of the hedgerow may be taught to exchange its ragged 

 blackened twigs, for those fresher branches which its venerable trunk is still 

 quite able to nourish, when relieved from the burden that was slowly yielding 

 to every storm, because its period of growth was past. (^Selby's History of 

 British 'Forest Trees, p. 92.) 



Rabbits and Gamekeepers great Enemies to Woods. — I would recommend 

 all proprietors of woods, if they wish to see them thrive, entirely to suppress 

 the preservation of hares and rabbits ; for they may rely upon it, there is not 

 a class of men who do their employers so much injury as keepers. In 

 the first place, they make a constant practice of gossiping with the men who 

 may be at work upon their estates, thereby robbing them of much labour ; and 

 they keep the minds of their employers constantly in a state of excitement, 

 rendering the improvement of woodland property almost impossible, by re- 

 presenting that this plantation must not be pruned, nor that wood felled, or 

 the game will all be driven away. {Gard. Cliron., vol. i. p. 214.) 



Autumn Planting is strongly recommended, because the damage done to the 

 roots is repaired to a great extent ; hot indeed, except in evergreens, by the 

 formation of new roots, but by the formation of granulations called a callus, 

 which act like roots, and in fact are the commencement of those organs. 

 {Ibid., p. 715.) 



On ce7'tain Species of European Pines ; by Capt. S. E. Widdrington, R.N. : 

 read at the meeting of the British Association, held at Plymouth in August 

 last. — In this paper the author gives an account of his observations upon 

 pines, during a recent tour in Austria and Upper Germany. 



Piiius austriaca, or nigrescens, partly covers the plain of Austria, S. and E. of 

 Vienna. It also occurs between Neustadt and the foot of the mountains that 

 divide Austria and Styria, and on the hills near Baden ; but, in ascending the 

 range, it is soon displaced by the spruce and Scotch firs. Considering the 

 elevation and geography of these habitats, the author thought that it must 

 be placed in the zone below sylvestris : at the same time there is no question 

 that it is sufficiently hardy to resist any cold to which it is liable to be exposed 

 in Great Britain. This species is very nearly connected with P. taurica, or 

 PallasMWfl. The foliage is scarcely to be distinguished ; but, on comparing the 

 cones of the two species as grown in the Botanic Garden at Vienna, the 

 author was struck with the difference in the form of the scales. From the 

 quick growth of this tree, the great beauty of its foliage, which is long, thick, 

 and tangled, and of the deepest green, as well as the great value of the tim- 

 ber, which the Austrian woodmen consider superior to that of P. sylvestris, 

 it cannot be too strongly recommended to the attention of planters. It is 

 equally fitted for the forest or the park, for use or for ornament, and its deep 

 tints would form an admirable contrast with the light and transparent foliage 

 of the elegant Pinus hispanica ; and it cannot be too generally used as a sub- 

 stitute for the Pinaster, which has rather unfortunately been tried in some 

 parts of the West of England, the timber of that species being comparatively 

 valueless, and in every other respect inferior to Pinus austriaca. The author 

 strongly urged on those who have the care of making fir plantations for future 

 utility, to plant the evergreens which are to remain at the requisite distances, 

 and to have the fillings up entirely of larch. He was of opinion that by 

 adopting this method, several advantages accrue. The woodmen make no 

 1841.— XII. SdSer. t t 



