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JOURNAL 05" THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



should be treated as such in order to get the greatest possible 

 bulk of timber in a given time. 



I feel I cannot close this paper without recording a curious 

 fact observed in the working of the various Pine timbers I have 

 named. It was found that the wood of those Pines having three 

 leaves in a sheath was, as a rule, much harder than that of those 

 having only two, while all those having five leaves in the sheath 

 were uniformly soft, and when dressed had a silky appearance. 

 So general is this characteristic that one could almost at once 

 tell to what class a certain plank of Pine timber belonged. The 

 same rule holds good with the Abies tribe, the timber of the true 

 Spruce, as represented by the Norway Spruce, being quite dis- 

 tinct in appearance in every particular from the pseudo variety 

 represented by A. Douglasii and others. This distinction is 

 also plainly visible in the timber of the Silver Firs, the variety 

 represented by P. Pinsapo being quite like the timber of Spruce, 

 while those represented by P. nobilis resemble the wood of the 

 five-leaved Pines. 



While these characteristics are pretty general, it is well known 

 that soil, exposure, and elevation have a very marked effect on 

 the figure, quality, and quantity of timber, so much so that it is 

 difficult to get the ''points" of character constant unless the 

 trees are grown side by side and in masses. 



THE DISEASES OP CONIFERS. 

 By Prof. Maeshall Waed, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., &c. 



I UNDEESTAND that it is my duty to bring before your notice as 

 clear an account of the very long subject embraced under the 

 above title as can be summarised in comparatively few words. 

 The task is not an easy one for two reasons : firstly, because 

 there are so many diseases from which Conifers suffer, and, 

 secondly, because I cannot expect all my hearers to be well 

 acquainted with the class of facts with which I shall have to 

 deal, and from which generalisations must be drawn that lose 



