1906.] Dewponds. 181 



facilitate the holding of short courses for practical foresters and 

 others desirous of acquiring a knowledge of the subject, while 

 as a practical demonstration area for the students attending the 

 -Gollege forestry class the woods will be invaluable, and should 

 render Newcastle an excellent centre for forestry instruction. 



, The disease known as " Slime-flux " is due to the activity of 

 certain very minute yeast-like organisms, which set up fermenta- 

 tion and subsequent dissolution of the 



" Slime-flux " elements of the wood and bark. This 

 on Beech Trees. , . , , • r , 



results m the formation of weepmg wounds. 



If such wounded parts are removed at an early stage, the cavity 

 treated with a fungicide, and afterwards carefully closed, but 

 little injury follows. On the other hand, if the disease is 

 allowed to run its course, the wood becomes sodden with water, 

 and the tree eventually dies. 



Enquiries are occasionally made as to the construction of 

 what are known as "dewponds," and it is thought that the 

 following extract from a book* by Messrs. 

 ' A. J. and G. Hubbard may be of interest : — 



" Theie is still in this country at least one wandering gang 

 of men who will construct for the modern farmer a pond 

 which in any situation in a sufficiently dry soil will always 

 contain water — more in the heat of summer than during winter 

 rains. This water is not derived from springs or rainfall, and 

 is speedily lost if even the smallest rivulet is allowed to flow 

 into the pond. The gang of dewpond makers commences 

 operations by hollowing out the earth for a space far in excess 

 of the apparent requirements of the proposed pond. They then 

 thickly cover the whole of the hollow with a coating of dry 

 straw. The straw in its turn is covered by a layer of well- 

 chosen, finely-puddled clay, and the upper surface of the clay is 

 then closely strewn with stones. Care has to be taken that the 

 margin of the straw is effectively protected by clay. The pond 

 will gradually become filled with water the more rapidly the 



* Neolithic Dewponds and^Cattle- Ways." (Longmans, 1905.) 



