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Whenever this important and necessary work shall be organised, it is to be hoped that "common sense " will be employed in the selection of trees adapted for the various localities, and that no absurd experiments will be made upon a large scale by introducing varieties foreign to the island until they shall have been tested satisfactorily in botanical nurseries estab lished at various altitudes. There are various local difficulties that must be considered in addition to soil and climate ; the most important is the presence of vast numbers of goats throughout the mountains, that would utterly destroy certain varieties of young plants. There can be no I doubt that the climate and soil are specially adapted I for the introduction of the common larch, which would grow quickly into value for the much-needed poles for rafters and beams for the flat-topped roofs ; but this tree is eagerly devoured by sheep, goats, and cattle, and would be destroyed in its first stage unless protected by fencing. It will be a safe rule to adopt the native trees as a guide to future extension, as the I varieties of Such classes as are indigenous will assuredly succeed. The two existing pines are shunned [-by goats even when in their earliest growth, and they pare so ineradicable that were the forests spared and allowed to remain without artificial planting, in ten ' years there would be masses of young trees too thick • for the success of timber. The rain, when heavy, iwashes the fallen cones from the highest points, and as they are carried by the surface water down the :steep inclines they hitch among the rocks and take • root in every favourable locality. Here w e have two native trees that will plant themselves and flourish without expense, invulnerable to the attacks of goats, ζ 2

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