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REPORT ON FOREST RESEARCH 1971 FORESTRY COMMISSION Forestry Commission HMSO £1.60 net ARCHIVE The plate on the cover is of an area photographed on 4 May 1970, in infra-red colour (false colour') to indicate areas of Scots pine damaged by the Pine looper moth, Bupalus piniarius,in Wykeham Forest, Yorkshire. (See Entomology, page 85). The above diagram explains the variously coloured areas in the photograph. The top right-hand sector bounded by the solid line is of Scots pine with a few scattered Japanese larch, all planted in 1930. The pine defoliated by Pine looper appear blue in the photograph (stippled in the diagram), those relatively unalfected are a deep purplish red; the Japanese larch are pink. The area covered by the photograph also includes other tree species planted both in the normal afforestation programme and in silvicultural experiments. Gaps in some of the silvicultural plots have been caused by mechanical uprooting of trees to compare the rooting patterns of tree species in connection with their susceptibility to windthrow. Key to tree species: CP Corsican pine, JL Japanese larch, LP Lodgepole pine, MC Mixed conifers, NS Norway spruce, SP Scots pine, SS Sitka spruce. FORESTRY COMMISSION REPORT ON FOREST RESEARCH for the year ended March 1971 LONDON HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE 1971 ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON FOREST RESEARCH Membership as at 315/ March 1971 Chairman S ir F r e d e r ic k B a w d e n , f .r .s . Director, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts. Members D r . W . P. K. F in d l a y , St. George’s Hill, New House Lane, Salfords, Redhill, Surrey (formerly Assistant Director of the Brewing Industry Research Foundation). M r . J . F . L e v y , Department of Botany, Imperial College of Science and Technology, Kensington, University of London. P r o f e s s o r J. D. M a t t h e w s , Professor of Forestry, University of Aberdeen. D r . R. L . M it c h e l l , Director, Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen. D r . N . W . S im m o n d s , Director, Scottish Plant Breeding Station, Pentlandfield, Roslin, Midlothian. P r o f e s s o r W. J. T h o m a s , Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of Manchester. P r o f e s s o r P. F. W a r e in g , f .r .s . Professor of Botany, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. Secretary M r . G. H. B o w e r s , Forestry Commission, Forest Research Station, Alice Holt Lodge, Wrecclesham, Farnham, Surrey. Tel. Bentley (Hants.) 2255 (STD Code 042 04 2255). iii 885282 The abbreviated title of this Report is: Rep. Forest Res., Lond. 1971 Corrigenda to Rep. Forest Res., Lond. 1970 Page 23, line 17. For ammonium nitrate, read ammonium sulphate. Page 32, last line. For 20°C—30°C, read +20°C to —30°C. Page 124, line 13. Delete Evetria purdeyi Durr. CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION by G. D. Holmes, Director o f Research . 1 REVIEW OF THE YEAR’S WORK by D. H. Phillips, Chief Research Officer (South), and B. W. Holtam, Chief Research Officer (North) . 7 PART I WORK CARRIED OUT BY FORESTRY COMMISSION RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT STAFF RESEARCH DIVISION FOREST TREE SEED . 22 PRODUCTION OF PLANTING STOCK 29 PLANTING 35 CHOICE OF SPECIES . 37 PROVENANCE . 39 ARBORICULTURE 46 NUTRITION OF FOREST CROPS 47 FOREST WEED CONTROL 54 SOIL STUDIES . 58 DRAINAGE 61 CULTIVATION . 63 CROP STABILITY 64 REGENERATION 65 SITE CLASSIFICATION 66 REMOTE SENSING 67 ECOLOGY 68 FOREST GENETICS 72 FOREST PATHOLOGY . 77 FOREST ENTOMOLOGY 85 MAMMALS AND BIRDS 91 STATISTICS AND COMPUTING 93 RESEARCH WORKSHOP 95 PUBLICATIONS 97 RESEARCH INFORMATION 98 885282 A 3 Page MANAGEMENT SERVICES DIVISION PLANNING AND ECONOMICS 100 FIELD SURVEYS 105 WORK STUDY . 108 HARVESTING AND MARKETING DIVISION TIMBER UTILISATION 114 THE JOINT PROGRAMME ON HOME GROWN TIMBER: FOREST PRODUCTS RESEARCH LABORATORY AND FORESTRY COMMISSION .... 118 PART II RESEARCH UNDERTAKEN FOR THE FORESTRY COMMISSION AT UNIVERSITIES AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS NUTRITION AND FOREST SOILS SEED AND FOREST NURSERY EXPERIMENTS IN TREE NUTRITION by Blanche Benzian, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Hertfordshire 124 r e s e a r c h o n f o r e s t s o il s a n d t r e e n u t r i t i o n by H. G. Miller and B. L. Williams, Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen. 127 FOREST PATHOLOGY c o n i f e r s e e d l i n g p a t h o l o g y by G. A. Salt, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Hertfordshire ....... 131 ROLE OF LOPHODERMELLA SULCIGENA IN PREMATURE DEATH OF PINE NEEDLES i n Sc o t l a n d by C. S. Millar, Department o f Forestry, University of Aberdeen ........... 133 v ir u s d is e a s e s OF f o r e s t t r e e s by P. G. Biddle, Commonwealth Forestry Institute, University of Oxford . 134 FOREST ENTOMOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY s t u d i e s o n in s e c t v ir u s e s by T. W. Tinsley, J. S. Robertson, J. F. Longworth and K. A. Harrap, Commonwealth Forestry Institute, University o f Oxford .. 135 r e s e a r c h o n t h e g r e e n s p r u c e a p h i d , e l a t o b iu m a b i e t i n u m by W. H. Parry, Department o f Forestry, University o f Aberdeen 136 STUDIES ON TIT AND PINE LOOPER MOTH POPULATIONS AT CULBIN FOREST by Myles Crooke and Andrew Deadman, Department o f Forestry, University o f Aberdeen . 138 THE ECOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIP OF BROWN TROUT AND SEA TROUT IN f o r e s t s t r e a m s by J. S. Campbell, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, University o f Edinburgh . 140 vi Page ENVIRONMENT ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ON SHOOT GROWTH IN CONIFERS by D. C. Malcolm and E. A. Caldwell, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, University o f Edinburgh ...... 141 hydrological r e l a t i o n s o f f o r e s t s by L. Leyton, E. R. C. Reynolds and F. B. Thompson, Department o f Forestry, University o f Oxford . 142 APPENDICES I Publications by Forestry Commission Staff ..... 145 II Staff Engaged in Research and Development as at 31st March, 1971 160 INDEX . .... 167 PLATES ......... Central Inset ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The cover picture (described on inside front cover) is by Dr. J. K. S. St. Joseph, Director in Aerial Photography, University of Cambridge. Plate 12 is by the Department of Trade and Industry’s National Engineering Laboratory, East Kilbride. All other photographs are from the Forestry Commission’s Official Photographic Collection. The diagrams were supplied by the authors and prepared for publication by the Commission’s Photographic Section. vii 885282 A 4 INTRODUCTION By G. D. HOLMES Director of Research Advisory Committee on Forest Research The Committee met at the Northern Research Station in Edinburgh in October 1970, when a major item for consideration was the report of the Visiting Group appointed by the Committee to examine the work and organisation of our Silviculture, Soils and Ecology Sections. The Group members were Professor J. D. Matthews, Department of Forestry, University of Aberdeen (Chairman); Dr. R. W. Gloyne, Meteorological Office, Edin­ burgh ; Professor J. P. Hudson, Director, Long Ashton Research Station, Bristol; Dr. R. L. Mitchell, Director, Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen; Mr. R. G. Sangster, Secretary, Scottish Woodland Owners Association Ltd., Edinburgh ; Professor W. J. Thomas, Department of Agri­ cultural Economics, University of Manchester, and Professor E. K. Woodford, Director, Grassland Research Institute, Hurley. In terms of staff and resources the work of these three Sections represents some 60 per cent of the entire Division and the examination of their work and methods by the Group was a major and demanding task extending over five days from September 13th to 18th, 1970. Many valuable recommendations were made and we are most grateful to the Group, and to our Advisory Committee, for the effort and skills they put into this job. This is the third Visiting Group we have had, the first having been in 1966 concerned with Seed and Tree Improvement work, and the second in 1968 on Forest Protection. Like the earlier ones, the present examination was stimulating and useful, not least in the “ stocktaking ” involved in the preparations, and in the discussions with Group members. It was agreed that the next Visiting Group would be in 1972 on the work of our Physiology, Genetics, and Seeds Sections. The Research Programme and Report The Report, which has been deliberately shortened compared with recent years, describes progress with the main projects being tackled within the Research, Management Services and Harvesting and Marketing Divisions, and by research workers doing work for the Commission in other Institutions. The list of Contents, the Index, and the Review by Dr. Phillips and Mr. Holtam (pp. 7-21) will help the reader locate the topics that interest him. Our research continues to be predominantly applied or “ mission-oriented ” in the sense that work is aimed at particular practical objectives, with the broad aim of improving the benefits of forests and devising more efficient means of achieving them. However, an element of more speculative research, particularly on biological phenomena, forms an important and vital part of the total programme.

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