KEVIEWS OF BOOKS. 



535 



nursery, which, if unchecked, develop in such a way as to make trans- 

 plantation a matter of much difficulty. 



The non-fastidious character, as regards soil, of the yew is rightly 

 emphasised, and even the reservatkn in respect of wet clay might have 

 been omitted, for the largest specimen in Britain, which grows in the 

 churchyard of Crowhurst, has attained its gigantic girth of 83 feet on 

 perhaps the purest clay in England — the Weald. It is not generally 

 known that the yew possesses curious spiral thickenings in the wood 

 cells, and these microscopic springs, amounting to millions in a cubic 

 inch, are the cause of the wonderful elasticity and resilience that have 

 placed the yew in the first position as a bow wood. 



It would have been interesting to have had the authors' opinion as to 

 the period of the introduction into England of the common walnut. Is 

 this a species we owe to the Romans ? or did it die out after they 

 introduced it ? or did they fail to bring with them a source of food that 

 they must often have utilised by the shores of the Mediterranean ? But 

 the authors are quite explicit as to the year of introduction (1656) of the 

 black walnut, one of the most valuable of our hardy exotics. This is a 

 tree that should be extensively cultivated where the conditions are 

 suitable, and now that the seed can be purchased for about 20s. per cwt. 

 (enough for half an acre), there is every encouragement to do so. If the 

 land can be ploughed and cleaned this should be done, and the nuts 

 should subsequently be planted at intervals of 3 feet, in rows 4 feet 

 apart. But it is a mistake to set out the nuts till they have sprouted, 

 seeing that in this way we can be sure that every seed will produce a 

 plant. A shallow trench, 3 feet wide, is made in the nursery, and the 

 nuts, as soon as they arrive, are placed therein to a depth of a foot. Old 

 manure bags are laid on the top, and on this stable dung is placed. In 

 May the nuts will start to germinate, when the dung can be thrown off, 

 and every week the nuts should be looked over, and those showing signs 

 of life removed to their permanent quarters. It sometimes happens 

 that many of the nuts remain dormant for a year, in which case they will 

 start to grow as early as March of the following year. The spaces 

 between the lines should be kept horse-hoed for two or three years, by 

 which time the young trees will be well established. The authors' 

 advice to grow the plants for the first year in boxes, at least 2 feet deep, 

 would probably be modified by further experience. Much better roots 

 will be got by using boxes only 9 inches deep, and the best root system 

 of all is obtained by placing the nuts in flower-pots about 8 inches 

 deep, though clearly, on a large scale, this is hardly practicable. 



The section dealing with the British oaks is worthy of its subject. 

 Never previously have such a mass of valuable information and so many 

 interesting statistics been brought together. The authors have most 

 generously made a wide distribution of a special reprint of this section, 

 and those are fortunate who have been favoured with a copy. 



As was to be expected, the larch comes in for exhaustive treatment. 

 Mr. Robertson, the forester at Chatsworth, is quoted in support of 

 Scottish as against Tyrolese larch, but it would be possible to cite 

 an equally high authority on the other side, namely the Commissioner 

 to his Majesty at Balmoral. Such difference of opinion may be due to 



