favourite the Margill, compared further with which it is a much hardier and freer grower, as well as a more abundant and certain bearer. Of two young specimens of that rather rare fungus (the large puff-ball, Bovista gigantea of Linnæus, and the Lycoperdon giganteum of more recent authors), which were growing together in the avenue, we had the satisfaction of partaking somewhat largely at dinner, they having been cooked as recommended by “A Rural D.D." in The Farmer of Aug. 23, 1865, and can bear testimony to its being "a delicious dish. Sliced and seasoned with butter and salt, and fried in a pan, no French oinelette is half so good in richness and delicacy of flavour." What a pity that prejudice should debar the use of young puff balls, as well as many other excellent and nutritious fungi, while only a little careful observation is all that is needed to distinguish between them and the comparatively few that are really deleterious. But it is not to arboriculturists and horticulturists alone that Woll presents much that is interesting. For farming, as the proprietor does the whole estate, besides a large farm at his native place in East Lothian, his agricultural doings are equally, if not still more interesting and important. Prominent among these is the draining, breaking up, and cropping of out-lying moorlands, as well as the improving of more inland arable ground, with the view of laying down the whole or nearly the whole with superior permanent pasture. On a portion of the former, where oats scarcely ripened last year, he this season cut Sherriff's Early Fellow Oat from the 20th to the 24th of August, and had all stacked by the 5th of September. That other new oat, Sherriff's Fine Fellow, was only a few days later, and while he considers the first to be much earlier than any of the earliest old varieties, he looks upon both as being great acquisitions for growing in high late districts. Two of the more inland divisions are this year sown out with mixed grass-seeds; and that the young plants should have the advantage of shelter and shade without being deprived of their due nutriment by accompanying corn crops, a slight mixture of barley was added, with the view of its being eaten down when green. This is, however, found to be a mistake, as the plants shot too rapidly into ear, and the awns are so annoying to the sheep that they reject both stems and ears, so that for this purpose oats will be substituted for barley in future. And, as shewing the remarkable earliness of the past season, we may mention that a 10-acre field, averaging fully 800 feet in altitude, which was sown with tares slightly mixed with oats, and intended for being eaten off by sheep, exhibited such an abundant and well-ripened crop in August that they were cut and stacked for seed. In going from Woll to Minto on the 14th we noticed only two fields of corn in course of being cut, and as both were finished before evening that date may be taken for the conclusion of reaping in that usually very late district. Several old belts and clumps of plantation, seen from the public road, and which had evidently been intended for shelter, exhibited the common error of planting only the summits or ridges for this purpose, whereby the wind is allowed to sweep through under the branches when the trees grow up, and the plantation shade is cast too far over the adjoining lands. To avoid which it is better to run the upper fence a little under the highest ground, and the opposite one considerably lower, so that the shade is shortened, and effectual shelter from wind is provided by the branches of the lower placed trees, forming a protecting mass, opposite and under the bare stems of the highest ones. On banks by the roadside at Hassendean we observed a profuse growth of that excellent, but in Scotland entirely neglected spinaceous plant, the Good King Henry, tota bona, fat hen, or perennial spinach (Chenopodium bonus-Henricus), which, from being only found about ruins and old inhabited places, is looked upon by some as a doubtful native, at least of North Britain, being considered as only the offspring of cultivation in past ages, when its usefulness as an early spring and summer culinary vegetable was better known and appreciated. How the wives and bairns rushed to their doors, staring and wondering at seeing a carriage stop near the village school, and one get out with spud in hand, to grub up and appropriate what they looked upon as only "midden dokens." Doubtless their Border reiving forefathers better knew the uses and worth of these now neglected and despised weeds. Arriving at Minto, we proceeded to the grand and romantic crags, where Dickson of Hassendean, in the early part of this century, found the rare Asplenium alternifolium, better known among modern fern growers by the less appropiate name of A. germanicum; and although it has occasionaly been found there since-Professor Balfour and his class obtaining a specimen or two within the last two years-we could not discover a single plant. A common opinion prevails that the A. alternifolum is a hybrid or mule between the A. septentrionale and the A. ruta muraria, but while we saw many plants of the former, not a single one of the latter was observed on any of the Minto crags. Leaving which we had a pleasant walk through the grounds and gardens, and particularly admired many unusually fine old larch, silver fir, spruce, beech, hemlock spruce, and other trees, some of the two first of which were pointed out by the Earl of Minto's intelligent forester, Mr J. Ballantine, as being above 100 feet in height, and of these, as well as others, we hope to be furnished with particular dimensions. The kitchen garden here, although in fair condition as to crops and keeping, is in a too low and damp situation, as well as too closely surrounded by high trees; and the same may be said of the arboretum, which, however, contains some excellent specimens of the leading conifers. The only regret that one can have at visiting this fine place is that of seeing it entirely over-run with rabbits, the mischievous effects of which are everywhere apparent, from the closely eaten-in plants of the Asplenium septentrionale, wherever they can be reached by them on the craig cliffs, to some of the rarer larger specimens of conifers in the arboretum. May these pests of vegetation be visited with swift and sure destruction. is In regard to the field crops throughout the district visited, wheat, wherever it is grown, this year an unprecedentedly bulky and excellent crop; barley fully an average in quantity, and above that in quality; oats are deficient in some of the lower and dryer districts, but in the higher parts they are bulky and of unusual excellency. Turnips have, with very trifling exceptions, brairded well, and on the whole are likely to be at least an average yield, although suffering in the lower parts along the banks of the Tweed, Ettrick, and Yarrow, with mildew, which will be partly remedied by the recent heavy rainfalls; and potatoes were, at the time of our visit, everywhere free from disease, although complaints were common of their assuming a second growth. In a low part of a field near Hassendean, fully an acre was completely blackened in the foliage by frost, and in several other low waterside fields they had suffered from the same cause, but to a less extent. On the 15th stubbles were everywhere cleared, except on about half-a-dozen of fields in the parish of Ashkirk, and on the higher ground between it and Hawick. Plantations and Hedges. ON THE SUPPLY OF TIMBER FROM SWEDEN AND NORWAY. IF BY ANDREW MURRAY, F.L.S. F our statesmen have done wisely in making inquisition into the supply of coal in this country, and the length of time it is likely to last at the present rate of consumption, similar inquiries into the amount and probable duration of their supply of wood would seem to be not less called for on the part of the governments of Sweden and Norway. Those who have not looked into the subject have little idea of the rate at which this vital product of these countries is disappear ing from the Scandinavian hills. I had occasion, not long since, to examine some statistics of the exports of timber from these countries, and I was so struck with their extent, and the rapidity of their increase, that I felt convinced that a serious question of exhaustion of supply must lie behind, and took means to obtain more complete and accurate information on the subject from the countries themselves. This I have now received from Sweden, and, although still very imperfect, it seems of sufficient importance to justify my drawing the attention of the public to the present position and probable future of the timber supply of the north of Europe. I had been under the impression that the Governments of these countries not only had, by the sagacity of their ancestors, been provided with laws whereby to protect the country from its own improvidence, but that their alarm had been excited by the amount of the recent exports, and that they were, in consequence, enforcing these protective and prohibitive regulations. Mr Laing, in his "Residence in Norway," says that in Sweden and Norway, more especially in the former, uccessive Govern ments have enacted laws restricting the free use of his own forests by the proprietor. He is, according to him, only allowed to fell a certain quantity of timber each year, and in the more northern districts of Norway (Norrland and Finmark), where the wood grows of a diminutive size, and in limited quantity, it has been thought necessary to preserve it entirely for the use of the inhabitants, and its exportation is entirely prohibited. I find, however, that in this I was in error, and that the means of protection, which on the faith of this I had supposed to exist, are practically without effect. The information I have received in answer to my inquiries on this subject is as follows :— "There are no special laws regulating the amount of wood which private individuals may cut down on their own estate, applicable to the whole country. The only law of that kind relates to the woods belonging to the settlers (nybygger) in Norrland, about which I will speak directly. Still we find in Sveriege Rike's law, now in force, the following (B. B. cap. 10. sec. 8)—'Ratepayer (skattebonde) may use his private wood for household use and sale, but so sparingly, that the wood is not destroyed, and his home-farm (hemmariet) not spoiled. He is bound to take first what is blown down by the wind, dry trees, sprigs and stabs for fuel before he fells green trees. If it should be discovered that the ratepayer misuses his liberty he shall be fined $10.' There is, however, not one instance where this law has been called into action, when a ratepayer has misused his private wood. "With reference to the settlers (nybygger) in Norrland, it is stated that they allowed to take of the settlement (nybyggeskog) for household use without past, that when the advantage of a man's pos pointing out (utsyning) or special permission; but if he will sell something from the settlement wood, then the inspector of the settlement (nybyggetjöustman) points out the timber (wirke) for sale, which can be taken out without damaging the wood. This law is in force for all present settlements, even after they are paying rates." So much for the actual law, and on inquiring whether the Government were taking any, or what steps to arrest a too great diswooding of the country, I have received the following reply: "This question concerns of course the private woods, as the commons (allmanua) once for all are protected against destruction. Referring to the former, the Government has not resolved, and cannot even enact without the approbation of the Diet (Riksdag) any special law for protecting the woods, as this is done by the owner of the wood himself. No proposition of this kind has been in question. The only thing the Government can do is to protect the wood against damage from any other person. In this case the new penalty law contains severe resolutions-viz., fine of $1000, or six months' imprisonment. In case of very aggravating circumstances the punishment can be one year's penal servitude. On the contrary, the Government has taken another way for securing at least the inevitable household want of wood for the plain districts, which have no woods. The Government buys, with the money of the State, exhausted private fields in order to cultivate woods, and thus form new crown woods (Kronskog). This has certainly not been done on any considerable scale, but it is at all events a prudent way, and ought therefore to be extended by-and-bye. Certainly it is in the present circumstances the only thing which can be done to prevent the destruction of the woods." It would thus appear that there is no practical check on the diswooding of the country. It is left to each proprietor to act as he pleases, according to his own sense of what is right and beneficial to himself and posterity. Now, we have the universal experience of the terity, or even his own future advantage, comes in competition with his present interest, he will always prefer the latter. Even when his regard for his future advantage is strengthened by the infliction of penal consequences if he neglects it, the present is still too strong for the future. The instances are abundant of the utter impotence of all attempts to restrain by legislation the action of private individuals in felling wood upon their own property. In France there is a long series of Royal ordinances and decrees of Parliament, having for their purpose to prevent the wasteful economy of private forests, but wherever the proprietor found his advantage in disregarding them they were of noneffect. He could always contrive to clear his woods whatever might be done to prevent him. It was a mere question of time. Some of our readers may remember the case of a nobleman in our own country, who, hopelessly embarassed, with a receiver drawing his rents, and interdicted by the next heir from cutting down the timber, yet managed to subsist upon the windfalls which took place among the splendid trees which adorned his domain. Do what his heir might to prevent it, whenever he was driven to extremity some accident was sure to happen to one or more of the mighty monarchs of the forest. So in old times in France, imprudent cuttings and abuses of the right of pasturage always sufficed to destroy a forest in spite of all regulations to the contrary. There the only remedy was found to be the transfer of the forests to the State. In Algeria, indeed, another remedy has been found. Mr Cosson,* in speaking of the cedars in Algeria, tells us that the numerous debris of the cedars which are to be found on the mountains indicate that their range has already been notably lowered by the depredations of the Arabs and abuse of the privilege of pasturage. He recommends the absolute interdiction of that right, and the repression of all disorders, by severe regulations enforced by military * "Cosson Rapport sur un Voyage Botanique en Algerie," &c., in Annal. Scienc. Nat., 4, iv., p. 67. authority, and states that where already tried in Algeria the plan has been found most effectual. Neither of these remedies has been, nor probably could be, had recourse to in Sweden or Norway; and in their absence, or in the absence of some substitute, the diswooding of the country will, we fear, not be long postponed. Indeed, it would seem to have begun already. English capitalists and English sportsmen have begun to purchase estates and farms there, and their interest in the future prosperity of Sweden and its timber, if more enlightened, is at least less direct than that of the old proprietors, who lived from year's end to year's end on their own homestead. English timber merchants, too, have begun to take leases of great tracts, for the very purpose of cutting down the timber, and their interest, of course, extends no further than the duration of their lease. Various symptoms of the progress of the calamity we dread may be pointed to. It was stated in the Swedish catalogue of the 1862 Exhibition that originally shingles for roofing houses there, were made of fir (Abies excelsa), but the scarcity. of fir had now caused the wood of Pinus sylvestris to be used instead. Our Consul at Christiania, in 1860, reported that great complaints had lately been raised against the injudicious system followed of late years, of cutting down indiscriminately young trees for conversion into pit props for the northern ports. To such an extent had the felling of small timber been carried, that the State had deemed it expedient to nominate a commission for the purpose of reporting upon the present condition of the forests of the country, and their capability to sustain their present annual amount of export. Considerable State forest lands have been brought under the control of public inspectors, with a view to their better management. Our Consul at Götha, writing in 1863, stated that the supplies of wood continue to exhibit a decrease of heavy sizes, and prove the steady progress towards a gradual exhaustion of the forests which supply the saw-mills in that part of the country. The timber used in building in Norway is also smaller than it was wont to be in old times. Mr Laing, in his "Residence in Norway," says:-"In building houses in Norway, timber is used of a size far exceeding the dimensions we generally suppose its trees to attain. There is a log in this old house which is three feet on each square side, and retains that size for at least twenty-five feet of length. In all the houses, especially those of very old date, the logs are as large as the Memel or American timbers usually brought to England. I understand that the impediments in the rivers prevent the floating down of such lengths of great timber to the coast."* But nothing speaks so strongly as the statistics of the exportations to which we have above referred. The following is a summary of these, for the greatest part of the present century, as complete as my data will allow. I have to thank my friend, Mr P. L. Simmond's (who is more familiar with that kind of work) for his assistance in picking out these statistics, viz. : |