Report of Committee on Transportation of Fruits, Etc. 169" 



justice, and to see that only such trees are sold as can be spared without detriment,, 

 or whose removal would be advantageous, or that no trees below a certain size 

 shall be cut on tracts designated. It should also be made his duty to exercise 

 oversight of tracts from which the merchantable timber has already been removed, 

 to see that the young growth is not injured, and especially that it be protected from 

 iire. To this end there should be a body of young, energetic and practical men 

 educated by the government, and standing in the same relation to it that the gradu- 

 ates of West Point and Annapolis do, competent, faithful, and fond of their work. 

 To raise up this class there should be established such a number of national schools 

 of forestry as may be found necessary, care being taken that the schools are dis- 

 tributed in the different sections of tlie Union according to climatic division and 

 the character of their natural forests, as, for instance, the white pine regions, the 

 southern pine and cypress country, the regions wdiere the walnut, maple, elm and 

 deciduous trees are the prevalent growth, and the high prairies and treeless plains 

 and mountain slopes. Attached to each of these schools there should be an ex- 

 perimental farm, where every tree known to the United States should be planted, 

 and in certain localities, as determined by their natural dryness and altitude, the 

 methods of irrigation as applied to forest culture should be thoroughly tested. 



The President appointed Mr. T. T. Lyon, of Michigan, a substi- 

 tute for Mr. P. J. Berckinans, of Georgia, as chairman of the Com- 

 mittee on Fruits on Exhibition, 



Mr. Smith, of Wisconsin, then read the following 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES: 



Refrigerator cars may be and are good where they can be governed by one per- 

 son in an intelligent manner — our President does this. ^ 



But for general use we do not deem it practical. Well ventilated cars, both for 

 express and freight, should be provided by transportation companies wherever 

 fruit is to be carried during warm weather. The free circulation of air through 

 the whole load is indispensable to its keeping in good condition. Instance — straw- 

 berries from Mississippi, Tennessee and Southern Illinois, by express, reach Chi- 

 cago often so thoroughly heated as to be entirely unfit for shipment, and of little 

 value to any one. 



The cause — cars packed solid with fruit and vegetables, generate sufficient heat 

 to seriously damage them at any time; but packed in tight cars, often loaded ta 

 the roof, shut up tight, no chance for any air to circulate through the car, makes 

 it suffocating to breathe and melts the fruit. To avoid this, express cars, particu- 

 larly, should be so constructed as to admit all the air possible ; if it were possible, 

 they should be piled with inch strips between each tier of cases. Railroad men 

 may say that ventilation admits cinders. This is true; but the openings can be 

 covered with wire screens fine enough to admit air plentifully and keep out cin- 

 ders; and all openings can easily be fitted with slides, to close when cold weather 

 re(iuires. 



The enormous increase in growth of fruits and vegetables has made a corre- 



