53° 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December j, i88i. 
wind and rain account largely for the distribution 
of spores on the lower surface of the leaf ; but there 
are other ways in which the spores obtain a proper 
area for mischief. In Wardian cases, where the plant 
is kept damp, and the lower surfaces of the leaves 
become wet, I Hud the spores formed on a given spot 
simply wander by physical means on the film of 
water spread over the same leal, and germinate on 
another part of the same surface. So, too, one may 
often observe that a vigorous "rust spot" has dis- 
tributed many of its spores immediately around itself, 
as well as ou other leaves and plants rubbing against it. 
3. Does Hemikia occur in the seed, or stem, or root, 
<fcc. ? 
No. I find uo trace of the mycelium in any other 
part of the plant than the leaf, and the comparison 
of seeds and plants of West Indian as well as Javan 
and Indian codecs has conviticed me that no traces 
of ffemileia mycelium do occur elsewhere. The yellow 
streaks and marks ou what is called "diseased" or 
"bad" wood are evidences of poor nutrition, but 
there is no mycelium in the tissues. 
4. Is a tree already diseased, more or less liable to' 
infection than a healthy tree; and are selected trees 
able to resist the disease ? 
I find that the germinal tubes enter the green parts 
of a leif already spotted with disease as they do any 
other 1 af ; such leaves are neither more nor less liable 
to infection. Not only do I find no support to the view 
that certain trees resist disease ; but, aftur trying in- 
fection exuerimnts with all kinds of coffee, it teems 
that Ceylon varitties are no more liable to disease in 
this sense than Indian or Javan and Jamaican. 
5 Why do the lower leaves on the branch usually become 
worse diseased at first ? 
The lower leaves are the older, and have been 
longer exposed to serve a= a resting-place for any 
chance spores, blown through the air, or shaken from 
a higher part. In many cases, also, and especially 
in nurseries, &c. , they are nearer the ground, more 
shaded, and hence moist for longer periods than 
upper ones. The fact of their being older in many 
cafes explains also why they fall before the others ; 
having already done much work, they cannot long 
support the fungus mycelium, if the latter is iu any 
large quantity. 
FOBESTRY. 
(Gardeners' Chronicle, 24th September 1881.) 
My residence at Weybridge abuts on the beautiful 
property of Admiral Egerton, St. George's Hill. Through 
his kindness I have been in possession of about 2 acres 
of woodland for the last twelve years. This bit "of 
forest was formerly one mass of Spanish Chestnut 
stumps, grown for coopers' hoops, and interspersed with 
Scotch Fir, Birch, Beech, and Oak. The sod was sand 
or gravel, with about 6 inches of peaty mould on the 
surface, and the interspaces were covered with Heath, 
CalluDa vulgaris, and Erica Tetralix. I cleared the sod 
of nearly all the stumps, planting specimen Conifers, 
and leaving some of the trees, aU small, sowing Heather 
seed in the vacancies made by the extraction of the 
roots. Wishing to allow the eye to range over my 
shrubbery into the adjoining forest, and not wishing to 
cut down the trees I had left, I met the difficulty by 
cutting off ad the branches 15 feet from the ground, 
a proceeding which raised the most terrible opposition 
in my family circle. I was accused of destroying the 
trees, of turning them into mops or broomsticks. Such, 
I must confess, appeared to be the result of my forest- 
ing for several years, but results have followed, in the 
course of time, to which I wish to draw attention. 
Firstly, the mutilation of the trees was carried out 
in the spring, on my return from winter exile. In 
every instance the wounds made healed readdy during 
the summer period of active growth. Now the trees 
operated on — Firs, Chestnuts, Birch, Sycamore — have 
columnar shafts, like marble pillars, with scarcely any 
perceptible scar left. This I have not found to be the 
case with trees operated on in the autumn, when growth 
is aU but suspended. But the fact which has princip- 
aUy struck me is, that these trees, thus deprived of 
their lower branches for 15 feet- from the ground, have 
all shot up perpendicularly. No large branches have 
formed, only a mass of small branches, and the trees 
have all grown rapidly in height. It would seem as 
if aU the branches that are destined to make timber 
branches come naturally from the lower part of the 
tree, and that once they ; re removed only small branches 
appear, the vitality of the tree centres in its trunk, 
and the tree grows upwards. Thus there are many 
Scotch Firs, exposed nearly all round to the air and 
sun, that have gone up perpendicularly like an arrow, 
just as they do when planted closely together in a forest. 
The artificial removal of the lower branches for 15 feet 
appears to have produced the same effect as the absence 
of light and air produces in crowded forests — to have 
run them up perpendicularly ; above the amputated re- 
gion small branches have grown, and are gradually 
forming handsome trees. The Scotch Firs are becoming 
line, tad, elegant trees 50 or 60 feet high. The Birches 
and Beeches are assuming the same form, a vertical 
one. The Spanish Chestnuts are ascending, and appear 
likely to become handsome trees, although still rather 
too globular. The Oaks alone seem rebellious ; true to 
their nature, they will spread. 
The practical fact that the elimination of the lower 
branches entirely modifies the growth of Conifers and 
other trees, running them up vertically even when fully 
exposed to sun and light, is probably well known to 
foresters ; but it is new to me, and probably will be 
new to many of my readers. It is a valuable fact in 
landscape gardening, as it renders it possible to pre- 
serve many trees, destined to become handsome majestic 
denizens of the shrubbery or park, which otherwise 
would have to be sacrificed for the sake of the view. 
I may add that I have been clipping for some years 
Cedars, Deodars, and Wellingtonias periphericaUy, in 
open situations, where they are fully exposed to light, 
for want of space, with the same result. They have 
not made any large inferior branches, but have run up, 
forming handsome pyramidal columns. 
As the light and sun penetrated everywhere in my 
shrubbery, the Heather has clothed the ground ; I have 
had it clipped with the shears every autumn for the 
last five years, and now it entirely covers the sod with' 
a swarth of Heather. Becently, when in flower, the, 
ground was one sheet of bloom, and the effect was very 
good — the Heather with the tad trees rising out of it. 
— Henet Bbnnet, M.D., The Ferns, Weybridge. 
NOTES ON NEW ZEALAND TBEES. 
(Field, 8th October 1881.) 
There are several trees which are not mentioned ; 
but probably they do not grow in the Auckland dis- 
trict. About the chief of these is the koi-koi, which I 
think is one of the most beautiful of the native trees ; 
it grows to a large size ; the trunks are often 6ft. in 
diameter ; it usually grows to the height of about 50ft. 
Its leaves are of a beautiful dark shining green, and 
are something similar in shape to a walnut leaf, but 
somewhat larger; it bears large clusters of berries, 
somewhat like bunches of grapes, but they are not so 
thick, and are about as large as the seed of a horse 
chesnut ; when ripe they turn yellow, and have the 
appearance of sinad lemons. The seed is inside a sort 
of pod, very similar to that of the sweetbriar, and of 
a bright red colour. The pod, as I have already men- 
