ARBORICULTURE 



6i 



forests, but to encourage a fresh growth 

 of grass for their scrub cattle, \vhich, 

 roaming wild, were expected to earn 

 their own livehhood. The result is seen 

 in an open wood far from being a forest, 

 with almost no young trees to replace 

 those which must naturally fall in time 

 from old age. 



Sand — without the admixture of vege- 

 table mold — fails to become soil, and 

 vast quantities of artificial fertiHzers 

 must be used to produce vegetation. See 

 the difference in the rich, deep soil of 

 the hummock lands, where fire failed 

 to consume the vegetable mold and an- 

 imal deposit of leaves and grasses in all 

 tracts low enough to retain water. 



North and South Carolina, Tennessee 

 and other mountain regions of the South 

 may be cited to show the effect of an- 

 nual burning b>- the natives to make fresli 

 pasturage for mountain cattle. 



Such statements and arguments l)v a 

 great city daily are calculated to do ir- 

 reparable injury, since they encourage 

 the acts of vandalism which are far too 

 prevalent in the land. 



A system of forest patrols, with fre- 

 quent fire guards, roadways and open 

 lines kept free from debris, will forever 

 check the devastating fires. 



The forests are worth enough to this 

 nation to justify a liberal expenditure 

 of funds for the maintenance of a thor- 

 ough patrol throughout all the forest re- 



gion. 



One fire the present season has des- 

 troyed more property value than twenty 

 years' expense of fire protection. 



All the prairie and plains country, 

 two-thirds the entire area of the United 

 States, has been caused to be treeless 

 solely by fire — from the practice of the 

 aborigines in burning the forest, and 

 later the grass, to drive game. 



The loss of so great a forest area ha:- 

 changed climatic conditions, caused an 

 aridity throughout the western plain and 

 mountain regions, which has made mill- 

 ions of acres of the richest soil in the 

 world valueless for want of water. It 

 is causing the expenditure of vast sums 

 for irrigation, which can never benefit 

 this great area, until forest conditions are 

 restored and a great national system of re- 

 afforestation adopted by the government. 



THE CRAT^GUS. 



We present as an insert in this num- 

 ber, on page 4, a spray of Cratccgtis, or 

 hawthorn, from Dr. John M. Conlter's 

 collection. While the haw, as it is usu- 

 ally called, is not so much a forest 

 growth as of the open pastures, creek 

 banks and thin woods, where the birds 

 deposit the seeds after eating the berries, 

 or pulp, it nevertheless possesses an in- 

 terest to arboriculture. The Englisli 

 hawthorn is noted in literature! the 

 hedges of Great Britain being among her 

 principal attractions in rural life. 



In every old pasture over large por- 

 tions of the country are numerous red 

 haws, varying somewhat in size of fruit, 

 yet so similar in appearance as to be gen- 

 erally considered the same, but within re- 

 cent years a systematic studv of these 

 thorns, principally by Professor C. H. 

 Sargent and Mr. John Dunbar of Roch- 

 ester City Parks, determines a very great 

 number of American Cratccgiis, differing 

 in size and beauty of the 'flowers, and 

 also in the fruit. The probability is that 

 several choice forms of the Cratccgits 

 will be propagated, thus adding to our 

 list of available shrul)s. 



Cratccgiis Pyracanf/ni is used quite 

 largely abont the capitol grounds at 

 Washington city, and is one oi our hand- 

 somest hedge plants. 



These hardy thorns, growing so read- 

 ily upon all kinds of soils and in every 

 location, will be fonnd valuable as nurses, 

 protecting the more valuable coniferous 

 seedlings until they are enabled to care 

 for themselves, and as such nurses the\- 

 have a special place in arboriculture, since 

 they aid in establishing forests where 

 none existed before. 



^\'e call attention to the able argu- 

 ment of Barton Cruikshank, President of 

 Cogswell Polytechnic College, San Fran- 

 cisco, who is a life member of our so- 

 ciety. The o])inions of such authorities 

 should have weight. Laws must be 

 enacted to prevent the total destruction 

 of forests by private owners. 



The wood pulp mills of Canada have 

 a capacity of 387,000 tons annually. It 

 shduld be admitted free of duty to save 



om- own forests. 



