﻿'.'A7 



These shorter papers of Dr. Prain contain much that is of 

 interest to botanists and to others; and the manner of republication 

 (retaining the old pagination, with the addition of a general index 

 to the volume) is a model for adoption in similar reprints. 



C. B. Clarke. 



Studies in Forestry; behu, a ,ho,t course of Lectures on the Principles 



thi Bilary 1893. Bj -John nIsbetJ 



D. Oec. Oxford : Clarendon Press. 1894. 8vo, pp. ix, 355. 

 Price 6s. 



If English scientific and technical literature a short time ago 

 was as poor in works on forestry as England itself is deficient in 

 State forests, Dr. Nisbet has of late been doing his best to redeem 

 it from this reproach. So rapidly indeed have considerable works 

 on forestry, translated a: ,. r from his p< n, that 



some fear is perhaps excusable lest he should merely repeat himself, 

 and create a supply in excess of the demand. As he himself says 

 in the preface to the present work, it "will be apparent throughout 

 every chapter " that his "convictions regarding economic forestry, 

 i.e., .sylviculture, have been formed in a Teutonic school"; but 

 this is, to as, as the author says it ought to be, a matter of perfect 

 ace. It is, however, a satisfaction that, though the in- 

 spiration is German, the book itself is English, and no mere 

 translation or adaptation in semi-Anglicised language. We must 



of these lectures at the Oxford Garden, which has so many asso- 

 ciations with rural economy; but we are glad to say that Dr. Nisbet 



the incorporation of his six Essays on Sylvicultural Subjects, pub- 

 lished by the Indian Government la.^t ye u\ which would otherwise 

 perhaps have been little known save to Indian Forest Officers. 



The fourteen chapters into which the book is divided, though 

 necessarily brief and suggestive rather than exhaustive, and without 

 any illustrations, cover a large part of the field of sylviculture, and 

 do so in systematic order. They deal with forestry in Britain as an 

 economic question, with the cultural characteristics of our British 

 forest trees, their food, the influence of soil and situation, the 

 advantages and treatment of mixed timber-crops, and other cognate 

 questions of management; and the two concluding chapters are 

 devoted to their fungoid and insect enemies. Fortunately some of 

 these diseases, though common in Germany, are as yet rare in this 

 country. 



We can perhaps best serve Dr. Nisbet's purpose by re-stating 

 here two or three of the leading conclusions at which he arrives, 

 which he enforces with a wealth of detailed fact, and with which 

 we most cordially agree. Firstly, with the present fall in the value 

 of land, there is now scope for applying a knowledge of sylviculture 

 to large tracts now unproductive. Secondly, mixed woods are 

 more profitable than pure forest. Thirdly, it is important to 



