PLANTING AND MANAGEMENT OF TIMBER. 
45 
approaching to it is not uncommon in most 
houses towards the decline of the summer ; 
but in this instance their numbers were so 
great, and their appearance so sudden, as to 
surpass anything of tht kind I had ever be- 
fore witnessed. It was not till after a fort- 
night had elapsed from the time of these 
insects being first noticed that I had an op- 
portunity of seeing them myself, during which 
interval their numbers had been greatly 
thinned by fumigations of tobacco and other 
substances employed as a means of destroying 
them ; nevertheless, they were still in im- 
mense profusion, and my informant told me 
that in the first instance the greater part of 
the ceiling, towards the window of the room, 
was so thickly covered as not to be visible. 
The exact day of the month on which these 
insects first showed themselves was not no- 
ticed, but, as far as could be remembered, it 
was about the 17th of September. They ap- 
pear to have entered the room very early in 
the morning, by a window looking due north, 
which had been open during a part of the 
night, being first observed between eight and 
nine a. m. A few were noticed in the ad- 
jacent rooms facing the same way, although, 
comparatively speaking, in no great quantity ; 
perhaps, in consequence of the windows of 
those rooms not being opened at quite so 
early an hour. None at all, however, had 
been seen in the house previously to that day. 
"We are at present so ignorant of the habits 
and economy of the minuter tribes of insects, 
that it is not easy to give an explanation of 
this phenomenon. It would be interesting 
to know whether the above had been all bred 
in the immediate neighbourhood, and at the 
same time, or whether they were swarms that 
had collected from different quarters for the 
purpose of migration. Many facts are on re- 
cord which seem to confirm the idea that 
insects do occasionally change their quarters 
in immense bodies; and some have occurred 
to myself, which I have no doubt, were con- 
nected with such a circumstance, not only 
from the large numbers of the insects ob- 
served, but from the steadiness of their flight, 
and their continually persevering in one 
given direction. It is worth noticing, with 
respect to the present case, that King's Lodge 
is situated close to the river Cam, which at 
that place runs nearly due north and south ; 
and it is just possible that this circumstance 
may have had some inlluenee in directing the 
movements of these insects. I find also, by 
referring to a journal of the weather, kept in 
the neighbourhood of Cambridge, that, about 
the time when they were first observed, the 
wind was N.N.W., and that it had been 
blowing steadily from that quarter for four 
successive days." — Pp. 275—277. 
From these it will be seen that there is no 
connexion in the facts ; they are isolated 
and independent ; they may or may not have 
been observed before ; perhaps in some in- 
stances recorded and published before, but 
for the most part they are certainly new. 
The work may be looked upon as a book of 
instruction, one which may be read with ad- 
vantage by persons of all ages ; as good for 
the school as for the library, if it were only 
for the introduction, which we confess we 
like better than the facts. It is neatly printed 
and well got up, quite after the usual style of 
the publisher, Van Voorst. 
PLANTING AND MANAGEMENT OF 
TIMBER. 
There would seem to be little or no differ- 
ence at first sight between planting fruit and 
planting forest trees; but, in one respect, they 
may require treatment so different as not to 
seem like the same operations. For instance, 
the orchard must be had, the wood may be 
had, the orchard must have the particular 
fruit trees required for use, the wood may 
have the trees which best suit the soil; the 
soil, if improper for an orchard, must be re- 
moved to be replaced by that which is proper, 
or mixed, and changed in its properties to suit 
the tree placed there ; and when we have 
done all we can to suit the trees, they must 
grow until their roots find their way through 
the prepared ground, and touch the ungenial 
soil, when they will begin to decline : the 
larger the hole filled with proper soil, the 
longer the tree will last, and provision must 
always be made for a succession. But prepa- 
ration of soil for timber trees would be ridicu- 
lous. Fruit trees may be renewed every ten 
years if it were required ; one set of trees 
under another might be produced without 
difficulty ; but for timber trees, which are 
to stand a century, artificial means are worse 
than lost time; so long as the roots find room 
in the prepared soil the trees flourish, so soon 
as they reach the native soil they feel the con- 
sequences. If the native soil be congenial, 
all the artificial means will have been useless ; 
and if not, the trees fail after the loss of all 
the years they may have been planted. The 
answer to this may be, perhaps the means 
were not sufficient ; our reply is, no purse 
would be equal to an extensive plantation in 
artificial soil sufficient to perfect the timber. 
But let any one who desires to plant, consider 
that which will best suit the soil ; let the 
growth be natural, and it will be permanent ; 
make it artificial, and though it may flourish 
long enough to get the steward called a clever 
fellow, the sons and grandsons of the owner 
will find stunted unhealthy timber fit only for 
fire wood, and too slow of growth to be worth 
