NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



493 



mixed forest in which the Silver Lime (Tilia alha) is also conspicuous. 

 It is a characteristic forest for the hilly parts of the Balkan Peninsula, 

 and the author claims it as a distinct forest type from the variety and 

 number of species represented. Amongst the woodlands of Britain 

 there is a type distinguished by prevalence of the Ash (Fraxinus 

 excelsior) with a characteristic undergrowth, comparable in some ways 

 with the Manna Ash woodlands of the Balkans. In both cases the 

 dominant trees form an open canopy through which much light passes, 

 and this accounts for the rich ground-vegetation ; both formations are 

 also partial to calcareous soils though occurring also on others. The 

 Manna Ash formation is regarded by Dr. Adamovid as derived from an 

 original Oak forest, which is still found in patches where the Pubescent 

 Oak is dominant with our British Oak as a rarer species. The usual 

 scarcity of Oak is put down to disforesting by man, the valuable Oak 

 being taken and the less valued Manna Ash, Lime, Horse Chestnut, 

 &c., being left. After disforesting, the Oak is slow in natural regene- 

 ration, whereas its rivals grow up quickly in great numbers. Erosion, 

 again, during the time after disforesting, wastes the deep soils which 

 the Oaks prefer, but this does not affect its shallow-rooting competi- 

 tors. In the cooler northern parts of the Balkan-lands, Oak forest is 

 widely distributed about the valleys and lower slopes of the hills, but 

 here the characteristic Mediterranean associates of the ground-vegeta- 

 tion are lacking. In every way it is nearer the familiar British Oak 

 forest, although the dominance of the British Oak is disputed by the 

 Hungarian Oak {Quercus conferta). Amongst common trees and 

 shrubs may be noted Aspen, Birch, Ash, Wild Cherry, Apple, and 

 Hazel, all familiar enough in our own woodlands. The forests of the 

 higher mountains include Silver Fir, Scots Pine, and Beech, but 

 especial interest is attached to the Omorica Fir {Picea Omorica) dis- 

 covered last century and now one of the finest of introduced Conifers 

 in Britain ; it is indigenous in the valleys of the Dinaric Alps. 



Many plant formations of lower stature are also described in detail, 

 but reference must be made to the original. An important type may 

 be mentioned, the Sibljack," which has a wide distribution through 

 the whole Balkan Peninsula. It is a copse or bush rather suggesting 

 the " Maquis " so familiar to travellers along the Mediterranean 

 coasts, but the author regards it as distinct. The most famiUar of the 

 dominant shrubs of the " sibljack " is the Lilac, and one can imagine 

 the beauty of square miles of this in flower. It is also instructive that 

 the vegetation of the Balkan-lands, which begins in a Mediterranean 

 climate, ascends zone after zone till it finishes exactly where our 

 Olova Mountains do, in alpine crags scattered about in a mass of 

 Blaeberry and other species of Vaccinium on a peat soil, along with 

 the familiar Scottish associates of this formation. 



The agricultural products of the Balkan-lands are very varied, 

 rangmg from oats and wheat to maize, tobacco, and other crops of the 

 Mediterranean region. But the British farmer would be aghast at the 

 usual practice of the Balkan peasantry ' ' until thirty years ago under 



