414 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



present, can point to noble trees which have grown within your own recollec- 

 tion ; some of them perhaps were planted by your own hands. Strange as it may 

 be, however, it seems nevertheless true, that old men, — those who cannot 

 expect to see, nor to reap the fruits of their labors in forestry, — are the most 

 energetic tree planters, rather than those just entering upon life, with a bright 

 future opening up to them decades of prospective enjoyment, and with a reason- 

 able expectation of life even comparable to the term necessary for the develop- 

 ment of a useful tree. Old men are proverbially the tree planters everywhere. 

 In regard to their periods of development, there is a great diversity among 

 trees. Some have a brief rotation. The coppice growths in European forestry 

 are often utilized in periods of ten or fifteen years; in our own country too, we 

 have many trees of short rotation, and some of the most useful and most profit- 

 able trees are of this character. 



The black locust may be harvested after it has grown 20 or 30 years. 



The catalpa speciosa, in the same period, will make good cross ties and fence 

 posts. 



The ailanthus very soon attains a useful size, and for certain purposes has 

 been very highly commended, both in this country and in Europe. Prof. 0. 

 S. Sargent is advising its extensive plantation, and some years ago it was 

 spoken of as the most promising tree for the arid plains of the southwest. 



The forests of Scotch pine in Germany are allowed 60 years to reach their 

 useful size for fuel and for timber. 



The birch there reaches its maturity in about half a century. 



The willow used for charcoal needed in the manufacture of gunpowder may 

 be cut after growing 20 years or even less. 



Chestnut in its second growth is most profitably cut every 20 or 25 years. 



The beautiful wood of the wild cherry soon reaches a profitable size for 

 many purposes, though for saw-logs and lumber the trees should be larger. 



Many individual trees, planted by the pioneers upon the broad plains of 

 Nebraska, within the few years that white men have occupied the so-called 

 "American Desert," have already attained to useful size and will yield each a 

 cord of firewood to cheer their owners. While the census reports represent the 

 extent of woodlands in Ohio as covering about one-third of its total area, which 

 is a full ratio for lands situated like ours, we are not informed as to its condi- 

 tion. The skillful forester, however, cannot fail to observe that these tracts 

 are very far from being in a condition to yield the best results, either econom- 

 ically or in their influence upon the climate and water-courses of the adjacent 

 regions, and he finds them much less satisfactory in regard to their own im- 

 provement and perpetuation by succession. — Dr. J. A. Warder. 



PECULIARITIES OF THE PINE. 



The pines, or rather the cone-bearing family of trees (the Conifer a), are 

 very distinct from other vegetation in a great many of their ways and habits, 

 as well as in structure. While they resist more than deciduous trees in some 

 particulars they succumb to other conditions which the broad foliaged sorts 

 endure. They will not sprout again when cut down, having no latent buds on 

 collar, stem, or roots which can serve as a reserve resource. Nor will they abide 

 any cutting or even mere external drying of the roots ; all that are so cut perish, 

 and only the smaller or shorter roots which remain entire to their ends can 



