288 



TEANSACTIONS OF THE NORTHERN 



And here the great i^rautical thought of the lecture was fully deYeloped— the planting of forests and 

 surrounding our farms and orchards and gardens with timber and shelter belts, hedges and rows of 

 evergreens, or high protecting walls and double and triple rows of paling fences. To illustrate tliis, the 

 history of a well known garden at Nahant was given, where tlie proprietor by liigh walls and board 

 t^nces has succeeded- in sifting the saltiness from the winds, and compelling tliem to feed his plants. 

 Outside is sterility and sand; inside is almost a Garden of Eden. Nature has many such spots; and 

 the philosophy of the matter is plain. Winds in motion are drying winds. They neither feed our 

 plants nor moisten their leaves; but, on the contrary, rob the trees of the moisture thej' are able to 

 draw through the rootlets from the ground. These same winds in the leafy aisles of the forest, 

 where tiieir motion is arrested, feed with invisible fingers the leaves of the trees and distil through 

 a gentle precipitation their moisture over the plants. Trees compel the atmosphere to give up its 

 moisture, and rob the winds of their blighting, blistering, blasting influences. And by growing 

 protecting belts of timber, or erecting barriers to stop the blowing of the air, we shall hold tliem 

 still long enough, so tliat tlie leaves of the plants maj' eat their invisible food. Plants will endure 

 very great degrees of cold if the wind do not blow upon them. Tlie lecturer liad frozen delicate rose 

 bushes into balls of solid ice and kept tliem at tlie temperature of ice all winter, and in the spring 

 those rose trees had emerged from tlieir icy bed, bright limbed and ready to bud; whereas, if they 

 had stood bare in the bitter winds, they would have been blackened and killed, as if scorched in a 

 Are. So it was also said that if a tree with its roots frozen in the soil, have its top in a hot-house, it 

 will grow and put forth its leaves. 



After thus dwelling upon the philosophy of chaining or tying tlie winds, by shelter belts and other 

 wind barriers, so as to compel tliem to give up their plant-food to the hungry and thirsty trees, the 

 lecturer gave a sketcli of tlie experience and legislation of several European nations in regard to 

 timber growth, and rebuked our own Government for its great remissness in failing to take care of 

 its vegetable children, simply because they cannot vote and aid politicians with their ballots. In 

 Europe tlies' do better. In some of the German states a man cannot cut down a tree until he has 

 planted wliat shall become another in its stead; and in one Prussian state it is said no man can marry 

 until he lias planted a grove of walnut trees. The normal condition of th* country, as there taught 

 by experience, requires at least twenty per cent.- of the country to be covered with trees; and a 

 deplorable result will take place in our own country when we choi> down all our pine and other 

 timber producing trees. 



The lecturer then reverted to the ground climate of trees and plants; and showed that liere 

 man could greatly modify nature, and that CIILtivation is the very substitute of climate. The 

 conditions of tree-growth, so far as this ground climate is concerned, are heat, humidity, and air, 

 or porosity. Air and heat must find their way to the roots of vegetation, especially air. Exclude 

 the air from a root and that root will die. Exclude it from a seed, and that seed will never ger- 

 minate. And here we may note a great practical thought in horticulture: that is, prepare the soil so 

 that the air can circulate round the roots of the trees, and so tliat heat and humidity may be retained . 

 Tlie closest sedimentary soil, where no tree will flourish, if spaded up or subsoil plowed to a great 

 depth, and mixed with gravel or coarse materials, will produce vigorous tree-growth. They under- 

 stand this in planting vine}'ards in the North. Bj' thus working at the soil so as to open its pores to 

 the circulation of air and tlie introduction of a bottom heat, we produce very marked results in hor- 

 ticulture. 



Tlie lecturer closed with tlie thought that our horticultural conventions spent too much time in 

 discussing mere vai'ieties of fruits, modes of grafting, and insect foes; but did not devote suflicient 

 altentiou to the elements which surround the roots and tops ot the tree itself; and hoped that his 

 remarks might stir up thought and turn attention in these directions. 



Mr. Shaw was listened to with atteution^ and the address was one of the most 

 valuable presented during the session. 



APPLES FROM NEBRASKA. 



Mr. Shearman had just returned from that State, and brought with him samples of 

 Fall Pippins, Ben Davis, Tulpehocken, and Pennock, all large and showy, similar to 

 those grown here 10 years ago before the advent of the codling moth and the scab. 

 The fruit was contributed by Colonel Furness, President of the Nebraska State Horti- 

 cultural Society. Think of this— a State society of that new State, thus sending 

 greeting to the fruit-growers of Illinois. 



Judge Knapp, of Wisconsin, in answer to an inquiry, said that he had lieeu one of 



