Littell's Living Age/Volume 125/Issue 1610/Miscellany
Boxwood, the wood of Buxus sempervirens, which is almost exclusively used for the best kinds of wood-engraving, has been for some years becoming more and more scarce. Wood of the largest diameter is the produce of the forests of the countries bordering on the Black Sea. Large quantities are produced in the neighbourhood of Poti, from which port the wood is shipped direct to England. The supply, however, from this port is, we learn, becoming fast exhausted; and it is said, unless the forests of Abkhassia are opened to the trade, it must soon cease altogether. The quantity exported from Poti during the year 1873 amounted to 2,897 tons, of the value of 20,621l. besides this, from 5,000 to 7,000 tons of the finest quality annually pass through Constantinople, being brought from Southern Russia and from some of the Turkish ports of the Black Sea for shipment, chiefly to Liverpool. An inferior and smaller kind of wood supplied from the neighbourhood of Samsoon is also shipped at Constantinople to the extent of about 1,500 tons annually. With regard to the boxwood forests of Turkey, the British consul at Constantinople reports that they are nearly exhausted and that very little really good wood can now be obtained from them; in Russia, however, where some little government care has been bestowed upon forestry, a considerable quantity of choice wood still exists; but even there it can only be obtained at an ever-increasing cost, as the forests near the sea have been denuded of their best trees. The trade is now entirely in English hands, although formerly Greek merchants exclusively exported the wood. In the province of Trebizonde the wood is generally of an inferior quality; nevertheless, from 25,000 to 30,000 cwts. are annually shipped, chietly to the United Kingdom.Nature.
A curious fact in natural history is mentioned in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Mauritius. Flamingoes used to be numerous in the island, but they gradually disappeared, and during the last hundred years, none has been seen. But a large flock had arrived and settled in marshy places along the shore. They are supposed to have migrated from Madagascar. Another noteworthy fact is that, with a view to check the increasing dryness of the climate, 800,000 trees and 150,000 seed-holes have been planted on barren mountain-slopes and other waste places. The planting still goes on; and young islanders of the present day may live to see tall forests on the now unproductive wilds, and rejoice in the restoration of the blessed rain to its former fruitful quantity.
The destruction of seals in the Arctic seas has been carried on to such an extent that fears are entertained of the annihilation of these animals. The Peterhead sealers and whalers have therefore determined to agree to a "close time," during which it shall be unlawful for any sealing-ship to kill seals, or even to leave port for the fishing-grounds; thus giving the newly-born seals time to develop into a useful size, and enabling even the parent-seals to escape. It is hoped to extend this regulation to other countries engaged in the industry; and the Board of Trade has been in correspondence with various authorities on the subject. The papers in connection with the case have been presented to Parliament, and will shortly be printed, when the decision of the government will probably be made known.Nature.