396 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



which furnishes a striking proof of the general ignonvnce of forest culture. 

 The timber is ruthlessly cut iVom many places that are nearly useless for culti- 

 vation after, and would be worth far more for growing timber than for any 

 other purpose, more beautiful to the eye, and more profitable. In many 

 instances the native woods have been so much neglected or so injured as to be 

 past redemption, yet there are still large areas of ibrest and smaller groves and 

 wood-lots now yielding no revenue which might be developed into timber for- 

 ests of very great value and at the same time yield an annual crop of tire-wood 

 in the process. 



Cut out the dead and least valued timber for firewood, preserve the small 

 growing trees that are of the best varieties for timber. It will be necessary 

 for the best care of the foresc to keep stock from running in it as they will 

 totally destroy all small growth. In almost every tract of woodland may be 

 found more or less of trees of the best varieties for timber mingled with a great 

 variety that are worthless or only ht for fuel. In many cases they have been 

 neglected and cannot be improved, but in most cases intelligent work in thin- 

 ning and pruning will be followed by profitable results. 



FORESTRY IN IOWA. 



Prof. C. E. Bessey, of the Iowa Agricultural College, in a private letter says 

 of forestry ii\ that institution : 



I write this note upon the campus of the college, which fifteen years ago was 

 a rolling prairie, entirely destitute of trees or shrubs ; now there is all over our 

 grounds a fine growth of forest trees, many exceeding twenty or thirty-five feet 

 in height. In several parts of our grounds there arc heavy masses of young 

 forests, in which already forest conditions are beginning to appear. Forest 

 grasses and mosses are beginning to show themselves, and forest birds have, for 

 several years, taken full possession of the trees. The elements of forestry are 

 taught m our college course of study, and the young men are given practical 

 training in the planting and cire of trees. 



A KANSAS FORESTRY IDEA. 



The following is from an address by President T. C. Henry of the Kansas 

 Horticultural Society, which we clip from the Industrialist. Mr. Henry may 

 not be right but a great deal of sentimental nonsense has been uttered on the 

 other side of the question and it is refreshing to have some one knock out the 

 underpinning of the sensational addresses that come so cheap and are so gauzy 

 in argument. Mr. Henry says: 



Mahomet was mistaken in saying "The tree is father to the rain," and so are 

 all after him. Tree planting will no more renovate a desert than agriculture 

 will overcome the aridity of the plains. It is a fact, modified to some extent 

 by local circumstances and conditions, that rains produce forests, and where 

 naturally there are no forests man can never successfully plant and maintain 

 them. Hence the importance of "Kansas" forestry as one of the greatest 

 demands of our climate ought not to be urged. 



While in New Mexico recently, Irom (he Hon. Trinidad Romero, ex-delegato 

 to Congress, and a gentleman of unusual intelligence, I learned that the rec- 



