(1) Our Forests and Woodlands (2) Trees: A Handbook of Forest-Botany for the Woodlands and the Laboratory

Abstract

(1) THE first edition of Dr. Nisbet's well-known book, “Our Forests and Woodlands,” appeared in 1902. The second edition has now been issued, and will doubtless be welcomed by a large circle of readers, not only on account of the interesting and important information it contains, but the price is such as to bring it within the reach of many who cannot afford the more expensive, though excellent, works on forestry at present available to the English reader. A very important, and probably the most outstanding feature of the new edition is the preface, in which the author has given a résumé of the progress which has been made in forestry since the appearance of the first edition. The doings of the various Governmental committees and commissions which have sat of late years are clearly set forth. There is also given a very striking table in the form of an abstract from the “Annual Statement of the Timber Trade of the United Kingdom” for 1906 and 1907. Here it is shown that the gross total imports of wood and timber, wood-pulp, and manufactured wood-pulp come to about 37,500,000l. To supply these present demands, leaving out of consideration the increasing consumption, which will no doubt continue, the author points out that it would require 3,000,000 acres of conifer and other woodlands, or an annual cut of 50,000 acres of timber worked on a sixty years' rotation. Contrary to opinions held in other quarters, Dr. Nisbet anticipates the decrease in the supply, to this country at least, of pitwood. At present large supplies come from Bordeaux, but signs are not lacking that the quantity of suitable timber is decreasing, while the French collieries themselves show increasing demands. It would be a serious blow to all our industries dependent on coal should the supply of pitwood fail, and in any case the price is likely to increase, which will, other things remaining the same, raise the price of coal.

(1) Our Forests and Woodlands.

By Dr. J. Nisbet. New and revised edition. Pp. xxiii + 348. (London: J. M. Dent and Co., 1909.) Price 3s. 6d. net.

(2) Trees: A Handbook of Forest-Botany for the Woodlands and the Laboratory.

By the late H. Marshall Ward. Vol. v., Form and Habit. Pp. xi + 308. (Cambridge: University Press, 1909.) Price 4s. 6d. net.