easier to drive them to the point chosen for the rise. But pheasants are not the only denizens of game-preserves. So long as landowners permit the presence of rabbits, except in an enclosed warren, so long is profitable forestry out of the question. Natural regeneration from the seed shed by the old crop, which is part of the recognised course in Continental forests, is impossible, of course, even with a very moderate stock of ground game, and recourse must be had exclusively to planting. Every piece of ground so planted must be enclosed in wire-netting, which cannot be done at less than 6d. a-yard. If the woodland is being worked in rotation, say ten acres felled every year and ten acres replanted, the cost is at a minimum, for a square of ten acres may be fenced against rabbits for between £20 and £30-say an additional cost of 50s. an acre; but this has to be multiplied indefinitely in dealing with blocks of less than ten acres, as is sometimes desirable in filling up blanks caused by storm or otherwise. Nor is this nearly all that must be set against the account of the execrable rabbit. You must charge him also with £6 an acre for planting, which would be unnecessary if his presence were compatible with natural regeneration; all which means an initial tax upon the woodland of £8, 10s. an acre before the young trees are set going upon it. Well may Dr Nisbet utter the warning "Unless where rabbits are kept down, as they used to

be, no landowner will, I think, be well advised to plant extensively with a view to profit."

It is idle to say that rabbits cannot be kept down. In 1869 my father retained in his own hands the shooting over part of his estate-about 8000 acres. The ground swarmed with rabbits, which it was determined to destroy. A new keeper was engaged on the understanding that if the rabbits did not disappear from the estate he should do so. At the same time leave was given to the tenants to kill what they could on their own farms, joint right to the ground game not yet having been created by Parliament. Result, the keepers accounted for 27,800 in eight months, besides what the farmers destroyed. Last August, returning from an evening walk through the woods, I told my wife that I had seen what vexed me - to wit, three rabbits!

Rabbit shooting is pretty enough sport; let it be confined to the warren: for, if British forestry is ever to regain the place to which our soil, our climate, and our requirements entitle it, it must be relieved from the intolerable scourge of rabbits.

Here I am at the end of my tether without having touched Dr Nisbet's Dr Nisbet's second volume, which contains three Parts, devoted respectively to the protection of woodlands, their management and valuation, and the utilisation of their produce. These are technical matters, for the right understanding of which a trustworthy text-book is indispens

able, and such Dr Nisbet has provided. I shall only mention one point upon which his advice appears to be founded upon imperfect observation or information. Among birds "decidedly injurious" to growing woods he classes grouse and ptarmigan. Now, admitting that the black grouse and capercaillie do much mischief by feeding on buds and young shoots, no man ever saw red grouse or ptarmigan doing the like. The chapter on the protection of young trees against weeds, including grass, deserves careful study by everybody concerned in planting, whether in forest treatment or ornamental arboriculture. To take a common experience: incalculable waste has been incurred by the practice of setting out small specimen trees, often very expensive,

without any protection against grass. It is a simple measure to keep a small circle of soil open round such plants until they become well established, for a close mat of grass round the stem frequently proves as fatal to growth as a direct poison.

I have endeavoured to draw attention to a few of the features in Dr Nisbet's valuable work. There are many more upon which it is a temptation to dwell. It is very desirable that it should take its place as the standard text book on British forestry. He who follows its teaching faithfully will not go far astray. Every acre wisely planted and scientifically managed will prove a "stockin' fut for those who come after him-no mean consideration in these days of grinding death-duties.

It is strange to think, in contemplating the recent débâcle of Russia in the Far East, that only five years ago Russians and Japanese were fighting shoulder to shoulder against a common foe, and that armies of those nations played the most important part in the relief of the besieged Legations at Peking. There were, it is true, at that time in China representatives of three other Powers-Great Britain, France, and the United States, but the British had still the Boer war unfinished, and could only spare a comparatively small force; France could at first only send a few of her colonial troops, very poor specimens of her great army; and America had still plenty of occupation for her "boys" in the Philippines, so her contingent, too, was not a large one. Other nations, such as Germany and Italy, who subsequently sent forces to China, were too late to take part in the relief and in the re-establishment of civilised authority. To Japan and Russia belong the chief credit of success, and the senior general of the allies on that occasion was one of whom we have heard much recently-General Linievitch.

At Tientsin, surrounded in those hot days of July by a circle of Chinese batteries pouring shell into the defenceless streets and gardens of the

Foreign Concessions, it was the timely arrival of Russian reinforcements that enabled the counter - attack to be made, and it was mainly owing to the magnificent assault of the Japanese on the walled city, and especially its eastern gate, that the Chinese troops were forced to evacuate the place, and the siege of Tientsin was raised.

In the beleaguered Legations of Peking, while Americans and British were the mainstay of the defence, there was no more gallant work done than that carried out by Colonel Shiba and his handful of Japanese soldiers and volunteers, while Russians were doing their part also right well close to them.

After the capture of Tientsin by the allies, and while reinforcements were being poured in from beyond the seas in July, the Chinese were endeavouring to bar the way to Peking by constructing fortifications near the village of Peitsang, some five miles beyond Tientsin. At the battle of Peitsang, on the 5th August, it was the Japanese force that turned the enemy's flank and bore the brunt of the fighting; and the next day, though the Americans and British had, at the action of Yangtsun, the chief part of the conflict, Russian troops were well to the fore, and,

with the Japanese, pursued the beaten enemy.

It was, however, on the 14th August, the day of the Relief of the Legations, that the combined operations of Russians and Japanese contributed mainly to the allied victory. The fact that the British were the first to get into the Legations, and achieved this result with a mere trifling loss, has no doubt tended to forgetfulness of the part played by their allies. Had it not been for the furious assault of those allies on another part of the city, the success of the British force would certainly not have been gained so quickly and with such little loss.

To understand the operations of that day, which recalled in some respects the stories of the Indian Mutiny and its famous reliefs, it is necessary to have some idea of the place.

Peking is, broadly speaking, divided into two parts, the Tartar city and the Chinese city. The former, built by some man of colossal ideas 500 years ago, is an almost complete square, of which each side is about four miles long. The Chinese city, rectangular in shape, lies immediately to the south of the Tartar city. Though its breadth and area is less, its length is greater than the other, so that the walls at the point of junction form a re-entrant angle. plan the whole city appears like a square block resting on a broad thick pedestal.

In

Inside the Tartar city lies the Imperial city, a walled enclosure containing the Imperial

palaces, gardens, and many miscellaneous buildings; and inside that again lies the Forbidden city, a mediæval fortress, walled and moated, into which until 1900 no foreigner had ever entered. It was the sanctum sanctorum of the Manchu emperors, containing the throne rooms, pavilions, and the private apartments of the Emperor and Empress.

The outer walls of the Tartar city are built on a most colossal scale. Not only is the length all round the square about seventeen miles, but the thickness of the wall is enormous, from 60 to 70 feet, while the height is about 35 feet. Each wall is pierced by great gates, two in each face, except in the south where there are three. Each gate has an outwork in front of it, a horseshoe shaped wall of similar size to the main wall. These outworks have also a gate at one side-if one can use the word "gate" to describe a gigantic double door with ponderous locks and bars. The great central gate of the south wall, called the Chien men, has its outwork pierced with three gates, one at each side and one in the centre, opening on the great broad central street of the Chinese city, a street where all the principal merchants' shops are situated. The great gate opening on this street has immediately in front of it a handsome marble bridge, and the gate itself is only opened on the state occasion when the Emperor passes through on his annual visit to the Temple of Heaven. It may here be par