ARBORICULTURE 



13 



and the general extension of oil-burning 

 appliances by manufactories, for making 

 steam, will save to California much of her 

 forest area. 



The Standard Oil Company has thus be- 

 come one of the greatest benefactors of 

 mankind. It would be impossible for 

 smaller corporations to manage the produc- 

 tion, storage, transportation and disposal of 

 oil in a manner which would so revolution- 



ize this matter of fuel over so great a ter- 

 ritory as this company now is doing. What 

 is said of California is true of Texas and 

 many other portions of America where 

 wood is being replaced by oil for fuel. 



It is to be hoped that the great land- 

 owners will appreciate these facts and re- 

 tain a large portion of the inferior trees for 

 seed bearing, and protect the young growths 

 for future timber supply. 



The Quail. 



THE quail is not only a most cheer- 

 ful, beautiful and harmless tenant 

 of our fields and groves, but it is 

 the ideal poultry bird. 



Its business in the summer months is to 

 act as scavenger and destroyer of the 

 larvae of the codling moth, Hessian fly, 

 etc. But great as is the use of this bird 

 in this line of work, its value for food should 

 not be overlooked. 



One pair of quails will produce two 

 broods in one summer, each brood number- 

 ing from fifteen to eighteen birds. Thus at 

 the end of one year, if left free and 

 properly protected, there will be for the 

 second year sixteen pairs of quails. These 

 sixteen pairs will each produce an average 

 of thirty to the pair, or 480 for the second 

 year. I hail with gladness the arboricul- 

 ture magazine, because it means a restora- 

 tion of trees to every farm, village and 

 town. These trees in a few years, if 

 properly treated and protected, will bloom 

 in beauty, give shade and verdure, and fur- 

 nish fuel and lumber, so much needed for 

 the comfort and excellence of our homes. 



But, if as soon as one of these little 

 trees began to flourish and send its grace- 

 ful, slender branches heavenward, some 

 vandal would wound, or peel, or break it, 

 how long would be the time before the 

 planted trees would grace and gladden the 

 earth ? 



How can the happy, graceful little quail, 

 so full of life and beauty, multiply and 

 replenish the earth according to his capacity, 

 when every time he shows his head some 

 inhumane hunter wounds or kills him ? How 

 can he afford the great assistance in the 

 support of the home, that his nature meant 



him to render, when guns, dogs, boys and 

 men ( ? ) lie in wait for him in the corners 

 of the grove, in the thickets, and in the 

 meadows ? 



Let the young trees and the young birds 

 grow together as God meant they should, 

 and they will gladly contribute to man's 

 happiness, to his comfort, and to his sup- 

 port. Let this work of educating the 

 people up to a proper appreciation of their 

 relation to nature, go on with zeal and 

 persistence, because in it is high hope for 

 moral and mental advancement at a more 

 rapid rate than the world has ever known 

 before. 



God speed your paper, and God speed the 

 day wherein men shall worship truly in the 

 fields, in the groves, and in the valleys, and 

 on the mountain tops, as well as in the 

 homes and in the cathedrals. 



May the time soon come when the 

 murderous shotgun will be heard no more 

 in the land! When men who have a surplus 

 of quail on their farms will catch them in 

 nets and kill them humanely, utilizing them 

 as valuable poultry. Then truly will we 

 realize that the beautiful bird, too long used 

 as a target, has desired to wander con- 

 tentedly in orchard and field, manufacturing 

 our surplus harmful insect life into delicious 



human food. 



Isaac W. Brown. 



The Editor of Arboriculture resided in 

 Kansas from 1866 to 1878 and well re- 

 members how abundant were the wild fowls 

 of those beautiful prairies. Quails and 

 prairie chickens were especially numerous. 



In 1874 that terrible plague of grass- 

 hoppers occurred. These insects came in 

 such numbers that the scintillations of 



