i88 
NATURE NOTES 
various methods of aiding the expulsion and dispersal of seeds, 
but my object is to induce the reader to examine any or every 
fruit he can find when it is just “going to seed,” and he will be 
pretty sure to discover many little contrivances for the purpose 
of expulsion. Look at the elastic valves of spurges, the slippery 
scales of the involucres of Centaureas, “hard-heads,” the “ pores ” 
of snapdragons and toadflax, the recurved “ teeth ” in pinks, 
primroses, &c. Notice the reflexed involucre of dandelions, 
allowing for the escape of the pappus ; the anchor-like teeth on 
the ovary of the same ; the pod of the mignonette, open before it 
is ripe, &c., &c., and you will soon have plenty of observations 
wherewith to fill your note-book. 
THE REGENERATION OF THE NEW FOREST. 
— In your numbers for April and May, 1899, you 
deal with a matter of extreme importance to the 
public, namely, the preservation of the ancient woods 
of New Forest; and in so doing, state that the 
question arises whether it is not essential in the interests of the 
nation that parts of the Forest should be from time to time 
enclosed, to permit regeneration. 
I imagine from your words that you have not intimate 
personal acquaintance with New Forest, for you do not mention 
that thousands of acres have already been enclosed since 1851, 
planted and managed on alleged scientific methods. How far 
those enclosures have advanced the beauty of the Forest up to 
the present time, or are likely to do so in the future, a very 
short visit would enable you to judge. 
But the material point to which I wish to draw your atten- 
tion, and that of the readers of Nature Notes, is this. As a 
fact, capable of absolute proof, the beautiful old woods, ancestral 
glories of England, are, without enclosure, of their own strength 
perpetuating themselves. Thousands on thousands of vigorous 
seedlings are rising up wherever there is open air for them to 
breathe, and brambles and thorn-bush for their protection. The 
fear is rather that these young seedlings should come up so 
thickly as to create jungle rather than forest. Under the grand 
old beeches, with their interlacing net-w'ork of branches and thick 
canopy of foliage, it is by Nature’s law that not a young tree 
can be found ; the shade of the oaks even hinders the germina- 
tion of seedlings. 
But here and there the giants of old decay and fall, from age 
or tempest, and in a few years the open spaces so made are 
filled up with brambles and thorns, which in their maturity act 
as nurses to the successors of the old trees that have departed. 
Meanwhile around the margins of the deep shade, wherever such 
a nurse can be found, spring up thriving young oak, beech and 
