436 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



is still an indisputable fact that every country, to be the comfort- 

 able abode of civilized man, must have no inconsiderable portion 

 of its surface Covered with living trees. Wherever wealth is 

 amassed and luxuries are sought, the planting of trees for orna- 

 ment and shade, as well as for fruit, will be largely practised. 

 The millions recently expended upon the Central Park of New York 

 and Prospect Park in Brooklyn, are indications of this tendency 

 in the United States. But in Europe, and especially in England, 

 where the law of entail exists, and untold revenues are hereditary 

 from generation to generation, the royal palaces and the mansions 

 of the nobility are environed by the most magnificent gardens, 

 parks and forests which the art of man can create. Henry Ward 

 Beecher is reported to have said that he never had any suitable 

 appreciation of the power of the Almighty, as exhibited in crea- 

 tion, until he undertook to level a small hill. Those who have 

 attempted grading for ornamental purposes will agree that land- 

 scape gardening is one of the most expensive luxuries, and where 

 immediate effect is to be produced by planting large trees, the 

 cost is enormous. This is clearly demonstrated in Paris, where 

 one hundred thousand shade-trees are maintained by the govern- 

 ment at an annual expenditure of three hundred thousand dollars. 

 These trees have to be reset on an average every twelve years, 

 and the expense of the larger ones is from twenty dollars to twen- 

 ty-five dollars each. 



In Europe, all the principal agricultural schools teach the whole 

 art of forestry with great thoroughness, and the utmost care is 

 everywhere bestowed upon the planting, keeping and cutting of 

 timber. As a large proportion of the forests belong either to the 

 government or to wealthy nobles, it is comparatively easy to 

 apply there the most perfect system which science and experience 

 have hitherto been able to devise. In Massachusetts, we can 

 only hope, by the thorough education of our college graduates, 

 by frequent discussions, with the powerful aid of the agricultural 

 press, and by the example of a few intelligent leaders, to introduce 

 rational improvements into this department of our agriculture. 



Here again botanical knowledge will prove of very great ser- 

 vice. That no one is qualified to engage intelligently in tree 

 culture without an acquaintance with Structural and Pysiological 

 Botany is self-evident; but familiarity with Descriptive and 

 Geographical Botany is hardly less essential. This is admirably 

 illustrated by the introduction of the Australian Eucahjptus globu- 



