57 



of rock in which a plant could not be inserted, and makes a very neat and in- 

 teresting ornament. G. cinereum is of rather larger growth with ash-coloured 

 foliage, as the name implies. There is very little difference in general appear- 

 ance between this and the last, but the leaves are without the shining, silvery, 

 and silky gloss. Many of the seedlings of G. argenteum seem to pass into G. 

 cinereum , but the converse does not hold good. G. subcaulesce?2S, with a more 

 eastern range than the other two, being natives of Greece, is rather a taller 

 and more robust plant, rising with a short stem. The leaves are green and the 

 flowers dark purple. Though equally rare, it is generally thought less choice 

 than the others, with which it is closely allied. Two more must be mentioned, 

 both of biennial habit, and sowing themselves as weeds all over the garden. G. 

 Robertianum, of which I have two white forms, one with the anthers pink, and 

 in leaf and habit like the type, the other with the flowers uniform white, and 

 more compact in habit, with pale green leaves. These have preserved their dis- 

 tinct characters all over the garden for twenty years, and the type though com- 

 mon in the surrounding woods and lanes never comes into the garden. The 

 last I name is G. lucidum, which is not wild in the neighbourhood, but grows 

 all over the walls, ornamenting them with its glossy green leaves in winter, some 

 of which turn bright scarlet before the plant dies. 



Edge Hall, Malpas. C - WoLLEY DoD - 



GOVERNMENT NEGLECT OF FORESTRY. 



The Royal Commission on Forestry has, like most 

 Royal Commissions, resulted in little or nothing 

 beyond issuing a feeble report of their feeble reso- 

 lutions. In France and Germany forestry is a living 

 thing, of great importance to country folk and of 

 high value to the State. Forests planted on poor 

 hills and moors, useless for cultivation, add great 

 beauty to the country and return a good revenue 

 to the State. There is no such organisation here, 

 though the opportunities for planting in Wales and 

 Ireland and many poor lands in England are as good 

 as any on the continent. Where a few private indi- 

 viduals have planted in Ireland and Scotland the 

 results are extraordinary ; the most hopeless bog 

 and mountain producing very fine timber. 



The Pembrokeshire County Council at a re- 

 cent meeting unanimously resolved to communicate 

 with the other county councils of the Principality, 

 suggesting a conference to discuss the desirability 

 of establishing a school of forestry for the whole 

 of Wales. Mr. Edward Robinson, of Boncath, in 

 proposing the resolution, referred to the report 

 of the departmental committee on the subject as 

 disappointing, the scheme recommended being, 

 he declared, neither bold nor comprehensive. The 

 Government had hitherto held that public bodies 



must step into the breach and supply the long-felt 

 want, and, although a school of forestry was held 

 to be essential for India, had refused to establish 

 such a school in this country. Nearly every State 

 in Europe had its school of forestry, but in this 

 country the question was neglected, and millions 

 of money were consequently lost. Assuming there 

 were in the Principality a million acres of waste 

 land, which was a low estimate, this, by judicious 

 planting and cultivation, should at the end of thirty 

 years be worth £2 5,000,000 to £30,000,000. Their 

 waste lands could be made to furnish the whole 

 supply of pitwood to the South Wales collieries, 

 which now took from 750,000 to 1,000,000 tons, 

 worth nearly £1,000,000, annually from abroad, but 

 chiefly from France, where the plantations in the 

 province of Landes had been created since i860, 

 and were now worth over £30,000,000. We paid 

 about £25,000,000 annually to foreign countries for 

 timber, and he contended that if the waste lands of 

 the United Kingdom were properly afforested a 

 saving could be effected of £6,000,000 per annum. 

 That it paid to grow timber was beyond dispute. 

 The company he represented lately purchased in the 

 neighbourhood of Narberth, in their own county, 

 ten acres of land of forty-five years' growth, at £100 



