236 



ARBORICULTURE 



TREES ()\ r>()ST(lX COMMON'. 

 (Boston (Mass.) Advertiser.) 



"The improved appearance of the 

 trees on the Common under cuUivation 

 must appeal to nearly everyone that 

 passes throujjh it. We have been in the 

 liahit of contrasting" the trees with the 

 well clipped g^rass ])lots that environed 

 them, and thev did truly sutYer by com- 

 parison, hut now. under cultivation, we 

 only admire their greenness in contrast 

 with the dark brown soil. If any are 

 ill-shai)ed or have rough bark they arc 

 not noted. 



"Moreover, the hunger of the trees for 

 food and their thirst for moisture can be 

 more readily ai)peased when under culti- 

 vation, and they will no doubt be less sub- 

 ject to the ravages of insect pests which 

 dcstrov or injure the foliage. The long 

 competition of the trees and grass, to see 

 which would obtain most of the moisture 

 and nutriment contained in the soil, has 

 ended, the grass has disapjicarcd. The 

 trees are masters of the field, and so lt)ng 

 as they retain control the shading of the 

 Common is assured." 



The citizens of Boston are to be con- 

 gratulated on the final awakening of 

 those in control of the Common to the 

 fact that in the combat between a blue 

 grass sod and trees of priceless value 

 there can be but one outcome, eventually. 

 in every case, the grass will obtain the 

 lion's share of food and moisture : de- 

 crej)itude will invariably result. 



The axiom, old as history, "Xo two 

 things can occupy the same sj^ace at the 

 same time," is clearly applicable. If 

 shade is dense grass will not gro\^ — and 

 if grass is dense trees cannot thrive. 



THI-: 1T,AI.N r OK IIIK SroLIAIOK. 



A disgrace to the state of Colorado for 

 years has been the utter neglect of her 

 forests by the state officials, timber thiev- 

 ing being common on public lands and 

 with no effort upon the i)art of the state- 

 to prevent it. 



The owner of a wildcat sawmill, who 



-resides at I'ort Collins, writes the Rocky 

 .Mountain News at Denver a lengthy 

 plaint objecting to the forest reservations 

 and forest protection. I Ure is his opin- 

 ion of Colorado frontiersmen : 



"The first reserve was established, and 

 what happened? I'ire followed fire. 

 ( )ur frontiersmen said to themselves: 

 Dead timber makes better cabins than 

 green, and better firewood, too. S»^ 

 they immediately set fire to the timber 

 and laid up stores enough for a lifetime ; 

 for your unlettered backwoodsman rea- 

 sons in this manner: Dead timber 

 don't make rain, nor does it make rivers 

 or shelter game ; consequently I will be 

 allowed to take all I want of it. He 

 reasons that way. and whenever he is shut 

 out of the timber fires follow. The more 

 reserves we have, the more fires. Out 

 of seventeen big timber fires in Colorado 

 last summer the state official who fought 

 them says twelve were in forest reserves 

 and on the ])rohibited state lands. The 

 more strictly the laws are enforced the 

 bigger the fires. You cannot govern 

 western ]jioneers by British forest laws. 

 They have the old spirit of '76 yet, and 

 the dumping of the cargo of tea into Bos- 

 ton harbor is repeaterl in the Rockv 

 Mountains a dozen times a summer." 



Again he says : 



"r>ut the forest reserves will have to 

 go. The only reason thev have not 

 already gone — gone up in smoke — 

 is that the government is not en- 

 forcing the reserve laws. \\'hen- 

 ever it does there is war. Xo- 

 body res])ects them. W hile the above 

 happenings were going on three railroads 

 and half a dozen big sawmills were cut- 

 ting 200,000.000 feet of timber in a 

 neighboring reserve without so much as 

 consulting the authorities about it. 

 What gowrnnient !" 



The entire letter is an incendiary, anar- 

 chistic effort to arouse the Colorado 

 mountaineers to burn and destroy the 

 timber in order to get even witli the 

 authorities who are trying to prevent the 

 extermination of the Rocky Mountain 

 forests. 



