Non-com petitive Exhibits. 
165 
importatious, may still be found profitable enough in the 
Eastern Counties to justify the extension of Willow cultivation. 
In Section 3 the Duke of Wellington’s Forester and Mr. 
Havelock showed really admirable series of photographs, taken 
I believe in both cases by themselves, of trees and plantations, 
and Mr. Richardson sent his well-known photographs of the 
giant brown oaks, which he has done so much to make famous. 
In Section 4, Timbers, &c., one of the most remarkable 
exhibits was a section of a Spanish chestnut tree from Burghley, 
two hundred years old, showing that in some districts at least 
this durable and valuable timber attains maturity without 
becoming shaky, a defect which immensely decreases its value 
in most places unless cut when quite young. Lord Egerton of 
Tatton showed a collection of twenty-five kinds of British 
grown woods, which I hope he will forgive me for saying 
were spoilt by a coat of varnish which hid their natural colour. 
Lord Yarborough’s collection of home-grown wood, on account 
of the great number of kinds (no less than eighty boards being 
shown), their correct nomenclature, and the skill and care 
which had been taken in their selection and preparation, was 
of quite unusual excellence, and should do much to encourage 
the owners of estates to utilise their own timber for manj 
ornamental purposes for which foreign wood is now generally 
preferred. Among the less known woods which I specially 
admired were those of the Portugal laurel, the American black 
cherry, the bird cherry, the crab-apple, and the medlar. If 
such a collection of fine woods can be shown from North East 
Lincolnshire, where the soil and climate are by no means 
favourable to the growth of many exotic species, what might 
not be done by the owners of great estates in the more favoured 
counties of the south of England, where many American and 
other hard woods producing ornamental timber grow very well ? 
In this class there were several other exhibits of interest, 
but the one from Messrs. Wisden showing the manufacture of 
Cricket Bats was insufficient to educate the would-be grower 
of the valuable close barked willow in this still somewhat 
mysterious question, which I do not think will be fully under- 
stood unless some distinguished cricketers will come to our 
help, for those I have consulted seem to judge a bat rather by 
its balance and its feel in the hand, than by the wood of which 
it is made, and it is quite possible that some of the willows 
which at present are not of high value, might prove to be as 
good or nearly so, if grown under the same condition.' 
In Section 5, Insects and Diseases affecting Trees, many 
valuable specimens were shown by the Board of Agriculture 
* A very interesting paper on this subject has just been published in the 
Kew Bulletin (No. 8), and should be consulted by all those interested. 
