Abstract
THIS is a little book written by a forest officer for the benefit of those Englishmen who, having been trained in the schools of forestry in France and Germany, require a convenient handbook written in their mother tongue to guide them in their future operations in forest work. Bulky books in the languages of the two countries just alluded to already exist, but these, as the author says, deal so largely in details that the student has frequently to wade through a great mass of matter before he can get a clear view of the individual facts he is specially in search of, or of the broad general principles which govern forest administration. Considering the number of educated and intelligent men now employed in the Forest Department of India, we might suppose that some would be tempted to record their experience for the benefit of those who may be working in the same cause. Dr. Brandis's “Forest Flora” is the first trustworthy work devoted to the scientific and economic aspects of the Indian forests, but besides a knowledge of the trees themselves the practical forester requires to know more than a little about the planting and thinning of trees, the transport and measurement of timber, &c., and it is upon these matters that Mr. Amery's “Notes” deal. He points out that Nature's method to foster the growth of the young seedlings is to allow the admission of sufficient light and air. The practice prevailing in Germany is to thin out the young plants at first only lightly to assist germination, then to admit more light to encourage healthy development. “The period between the first thinning and final clearing varies from ten to thirty years. On the plains of India, such is the rapid growth of some of the trees in their earlier stages as compared with the rate of growth in Europe, that it will probably not be desirable to extend the period beyond two or three years; but this difference of conditions does not affect the principle, which is the admission of as much light and no more than is necessary to the well-being of the young crop at every stage.” The seedlings of some of the finest timber trees are of so delicate a nature that they have not power to struggle through any kind of undergrowth, even through rank grass: to overcome these difficulties it is recommended that in ordinary grass land the sods should be removed and inverted grass to grass, and the seeds sown on the inverted sod, which should be from five to six inches thick. The advantages of this system are, that the seedling plants are elevated a few inches above the surrounding soil, so that they have no foes to contend with in the early stages of their growth. From these remarks it will be seen that the book is entirely practical, and will, we have no doubt, be consulted by young foresters.
Notes on Forestry.
C. F.
Amery
By, Deputy Conservator, N.W. Provinces, India. Pp. 119. (London: Trübner and Co.)
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
J., J. Notes on Forestry . Nature 13, 6 (1875). https://doi.org/10.1038/013006b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/013006b0