322 



ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The question arises, what varieties of timber shall we plant ? I reply, 

 there are two considerations which should govern our action, (i) Plant 

 those varieties which most largely enter into human economies; (2) those 

 varieties which have the most rapid growth. 



There is another consideration which must not be lost sight of, with- 

 out jeopardizing your enterprise, which is soils adapted to the timber to 

 be planted ; this must be carefully adhered to. For this information I 

 refer you to a work entitled, "Report upon Forestry, by Franklin B. 

 Hough," page 507 to 510; an article entitled, "Experiments of D. C. 

 Scofield in Tree-planting at Elgin, Illinois ; also of Samuel Edwards, of 

 Mendota, Illinois;" also, on the pages 284 to 290 in the tenth annual 

 report of the Horticultural Society of Northern Illinois. 



First: The present commercial history of the transportation of wood- 

 products carried on over our railroads and navigable waters, where well 

 understood, as it should be by our citizens and land-owners, is, or would 

 be, a sufficient indicator of the "signs of the times" pertaining to the 

 future timber-want and their duty as philanthropists and Christians in 

 regard to it. 



Long has the work been in progress in the legitimate lines of com- 

 mercial operations of cutting and carrying away the most valuable of 

 our timber, embracing the black walnut (the mahogony of the United 

 States), the cherry and the white ash, as well as the pine lumber, to our 

 Eastern cities, and much of it over the ocean to nearly every city of 

 importance in Europe. What does this mean ? Simply this, that these 

 woods have been swept away within the last two hundred years from a 

 belt of land along the Atlantic, from the Canadas to the Gulf, a thousand 

 miles in width, until to-day parties are largely engaged on these last 

 confines of forest country, silently but surely, in hunting out the last of 

 these stately walnuts, cherries and ashes, yea, and oaks too, that abounded 

 in our woodlands. Why? To be wasted? No ! Human want demands 

 it; and shall we deny this heaven-born right? Nay, never. But now 

 comes in the question, can the wants of the coming millions be supplied 

 by any system of timber planting ? We reply most emphatically, Yes. 



When the people of a great country like ours proclaim to the world 

 that they, of a truth, are incompetent to produce, from their own hills 

 and valleys, mountains and plains, an abundant supply for all the neces- 

 sities of the hundred millions which are to tread our soil and share in the 

 blessings of our political and religious freedom, a dark pall will enshroud 

 our prospects, and Tekel will be written upon our escutcheon. 



We may enumerate by classes the woods or timber which may be 

 successfully cultivated and enter into our economies. 



The first is the conifers : White pine, European larch, Norway spruce, 

 Scotch pine and American arbor vitee (or white cedar). For ornamenta- 

 tion, the various arbor vitaes, hemlock and red cedars. 



Second class : (i) The American white ash is used for a great variety 

 of economies and easily propagated on any dry and rich soils. 



(2) The next in this class is the black walnut, one of the most val- 

 uable trees for furniture and commercial purposes. 



