The Fungal Diseases of the Common Larch. By W. E.
Riley. (Clarendon Press. 12s. 6d. net.)—This instructive book is a product of the Oxford School of Forestry, and is published with the assistance of the Development Commission. It may be taken, we hope, as a sign that scientific forestry is making headway at last in Great Britain. Mr. Riley is primarily con- cerned with the larch canker, a disease caused by a seemingly trivial fungus which has destroyed the commercial value of many a plantation and which has induced some landowners to leave the once popular larch severely alone. The author sug- gests that the lateral branches should be cut in dry weather when the larch is five or six years old ; he says that an experi- ment made on these lines in Bagley Wobd, near Oxford, has given favourable results in checking the infection of the trees by the fungus. He discredits the theory that the wounds made on the larch by the woodman's axe encourage the fungus. He says that the larch has often been planted in unsuitable soils. That is a common error of the unscientific forestry which has prevailed hitherto in these islands. A vigorous tree, growing In a deep and porous subsoil, is likely to resist the attacks of fungi.
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