the soil round the foot of the tree. Before the true explanation was known, this gave rise to the belief that the canker was probably due to excessive. formation of resin, or canker in the soil. During the autumn the sporo Root of Spruce, showing a sporophore of the Root-Fungus (Trametes phorous receptacles (mushrooms) make their appearance on the dead plants Scots Pine, Spruce, Larch, Weymouth Pine-often breaking out with their honey-coloured heads (pilei) in large numbers around the stem of the Fig. 310. Young Scots Pine attacked and killed by the Honey-Fungus (Agaricus melleus). a. Branching subterraneous strands (Rhizomorpha subterranea) thrown out from the mycelium formed under the living bark of the Pine. b. Abortive sporophores produced at the extremity of a rhizomorphous strand. c. Normal sporophores produced at the extremity of a rhizomorphous strand. d. Sporophores produced in a cluster from the bark at the base of the stem of the dead Pine. plant, though not on all the plants attacked and killed, and producing the spores that are carried elsewhere by wind, animals, &c. On Beech stumps they occur numerously, and with much larger pilei as edible mushrooms. Although older stems also succumb to the attacks of this fungus, by far the greatest damage is done by it in young crops. Characteristic features of its occurrence are the dying off of the plants here and there in patches, and also the rapidity with which plants in excellent growth are attacked and killed off, after having perhaps during the same year developed very good growth in height. The damage arising from this cause is at once distinguishable from that occasioned by insects, drought, and the like, where individual plants gradually succumb after a period of sickly growth. Such blanks, often occurring in considerable number and extending over large patches, may sometimes render replanting and filling up of the blanks necessary for several years in succession; this should, if possible, be done with broad-leaved species only, as conifers are more exposed to a recurrence of the danger. "The best practical means for preventing the spread of the disease appears to be the pulling up of the plants attacked with all their roots and burning them, and the isolation of the infected spots by digging small trenches round them about 1 to 1 ft. in depth, so as to hinder the extension of the mycelial filaments under the soil. Careful collection of the larger mushrooms on old stumps is also to be recommended, and none the less on account of their being edible." II. Mistletoe (Viscum album) is also a parasitic plant which causes a partial or local diseased condition of the tree upon which it grows. Although of most frequent occurrence upon Apple-trees, it is also often to be found on Silver Fir and Pine among conifers, and on Poplars, Willows, Birches, and Limes (softwoods) among the broad-leaved trees. It is less frequently to be found on Maple and Sycamore, Horse-Chestnut and Aspen ; whilst it is seldom a Fig. 311. or never to be found on Oak, Beech, Alder, and Spruce, whose bark is rough, hard, or leathery. The seed is widely disseminated by means of birds; and when it germinates on smooth, soft, fleshy bark, the seedling can push its rootlet into the woody tissue, where it becomes embedded in the annual zone of the current year's growth. But as the ascending axis of the plant is still exposed to the action of the light, its foliage during the following year continues to assimilate, whilst food-supplies are withdrawn from the tree by the parasitic roots. These roots retain their life for a long period, and sometimes are found embedded to a depth of 3 to 4 in. by successive annual layers. Such portions of trees are useless for technical purposes, and look as if they had been bored through in all directions by wood-boring insects. Very often the portion of the branch dies off above the excrescence caused by the mistletoe owing to the parasitism of the latter. 1 "Dispersion of Seed by Birds.-Many birds travel more than 400 metres a minute, and are thus able in a very short space of time to carry to distant regions the seeds of plants on which they feed. "Signor Pistoni of Messina has been making observations on this subject in Sicily, where There is very little danger indeed of trees being destroyed by disease, provided they are planted upon a soil properly adapted to their requirements. This, generally speaking, it is in the power of the intelligent forester to accomplish-by drainage in the first place, and by a judicious selection and adaptation of the different kinds of trees to the different descriptions of land; and not less important is a judicious application of systematic thinning afterwards. It was formerly contended that a good deal of the disease seen among Scots Pine, Larch, &c., was mainly due to diseased seed. This explanation can hardly be made to coincide with the opinion of the great specialist on this subject, Professor R. Hartig of Munich, for with regard to the general health of crops raised from seed of rather inferior quality he has come to the conclusion (Lehrbuch der Baumkrankheiten, 1889, p. 16) that— "The hereditary transference of diseases to succeeding generations is unknown in the vegetable world. The seed of plants infected with all possible sorts of diseases can, without the slightest concern, be utilised for the formation of new crops." plants peculiar to northern climates are to be found alongside the indigenous plants of the country. On that island birds seek for, and disseminate, chiefly the following species : "Several curious examples of this method of disseminating seed are quoted. From the Botanical Garden at Palermo the small bulbs of Oxalis cernua were unearthed by birds, and in a short time sown in all the fields in the neighbourhood. Through the agency of wild pigeons, two Oaks (Q. Macedonica and Ægilops) are now growing in certain localities of Sicily and Sardinia. "Seeds swallowed by birds germinate easily after having been digested. In Sicily, where many quail are killed, it is the custom to remove the contents of their stomachs and plant them in pots, by which means rare and foreign plants are often obtained.”—Indian Forester, 1893, p. 133. But, at the same time, the seed will be of better germinable capacity, and capable of developing a finer growth of timber, if gathered only from healthy, well-grown trees in the localities best suited for any given species of tree; and its inherent capacity for future good development will be all the greater if the seed has attained maturity under circumstances favourable to the general health, energy, and thriving of the particular species. INJURIOUS INSECTS.1 The subject of forest entomology is one with which the British forester is far too little acquainted. A general knowledge of the nature and habits of the numerous insects which are found injurious to plantations would be of great benefit to him, and would enable him to devise the best means at his command for their destruction. The effort of the forester, therefore, should be towards becoming familiar with the natural history of these insects, so as to enable him successfully to use such measures as will prevent the attacks of the insects upon the plantations under his charge. Foresters need not be entomologists; but they ought to know as much of the subject as pertains to their daily work and duties in dealing with the insects injurious to forest-trees. I. Beetles (Coleoptera).—This is a very extensive and important order, which includes many of the worst enemies of our woods and plantations. The name of the order, meaning sheath-winged insects, is derived from the insects generally having the first pair of wings horny or chitinous, so as to serve as a covering to the true wings, while the latter are not in use. 1. The Pine-Beetle (Hylesinus piniperda), (Figs. 312-314).2This destructive little insect is only about one-sixth of an inch in length, nearly black in colour, downy, and cylindrical in form. It is very injurious among Pine plantations at nearly all stages of their growth, and until the trees are well advanced in age. Not only does it attack the young branches on the trees, but it also is found among decayed branches that are left lying in the plantations. It 1 The attention of students may here be called to Miss Ormerod's Injurious Insects; to Hutchinson's Natural History of Beetles and other Insects which infest Coniferæ, and Suggested Remedies, in Trans. Scot. Arbor. Socy., vol. vii., 1875, pp. 123-136; to Oliver's Insects Injurious to Forest Trees in Trans. of High, and Agri. Soc. of Scot., 1877, pp. 175-200; to Somerville's How to Combat the Attack of Injurious Insects in Trans. Royal Scot. Arbor. Socy., vol. xiii. Part I., 1891, pp. 5-20; to Blandford's article on Insects Injurious to Conifera in the Jour. Royal Hort. Society, vol. xiv., 1892, pp. 150-178; to the editor's translation of Kauschinger-Fürst's Protection of Woodlands, 1893, pp. 132-216; and to his Studies in Forestry, 1894, chap. xiv. pp. 306 et seq. 2 For an exhaustive account of this beetle and its ravages see the Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society, 1891, pp. 31-43; full sylvicultural details will also be found in Kauschinger-Fürst, op. cit., p. 146. lays its eggs under the bark of felled stems and branches of different kinds, and ascends the growing trees, doing much damage to the young shoots of Pines, Spruces, and sometimes also Larch. The following is the description of this species given by Somerville (Trans. High, Agri. Soc. Scot., 1891, p. 32): "Life History and Economic Importance.-The Pine-beetles pass the winter as perfect insects, for the most part in the thick bark which is more or less covered with moss or lichens at the base of old Scots Pines, and especially in those trees which have been much infested by the insects during the previous autumn. For purposes of hibernation, the beetle either withdraws under the bark scales, or, as is oftener the case, bores a passage Fig. 313. Fig. 312. Fig. 314. Bast side of bark, showing mother and tion-natural size. Shoot of Scots Pine, with a slice removed, showing the excavation caused by a Pine Beetle-two-thirds natural size. straight into the thick dry bark. As this passage pursues a radical course, and does not, as a rule, penetrate so far as the living cortex, little if any damage is done to the tree. "While the majority hibernate in the bark of the stem at the part known as the 'collar,' many Pine-beetles pass the winter in the bark of those roots which appear above the surface of the ground, but which are partially covered by leaves, grass, &c. Some also pass the winter in galleries in the bark at a distance of several feet from the ground, a few in the young shoots that have been attacked during summer and strewn upon the ground by the autumn wind, and a few in the centre of young shoots that have remained attached to the tree. "Towards the end of March-a little earlier or later, according to the character of the season-the beetles withdraw from their winter quarters, and immediately proceed in search of material in which to breed. So long |