ARBORICULTURE 



431 



In a horseback trip of one hundred 

 miles beyond the railway, we failed to 

 find one really good tract of primeval 

 forest, and a remarkably small area of 

 good white and chestnut oak timber. 



Very small tributary streams have 

 been utilized to drive logs and ties to the 

 Kentucky, Big Sandy, Licking and oth- 

 er rivers where they could be conveyed 

 to mills and shipping stations on the 

 railways! 



Every good yellow poplar tree has 

 been removed except in more remote and 

 inaccessible locations. A score of North- 

 ern railways have had their l)uyers in 

 this district for several years, and im- 

 mense quantities of ties have been made, 

 but the end is not far distant. 



Licking river, now almost dry, in its 

 southernmost arm is in places well filled 

 with logs waiting for water to float them. 

 A majority of these logs are of such in- 

 ferior character, hollow, knotty and bad- 

 ly decayed they would have been un- 

 saleable three years ago. Everything 

 goes now that will make a few feet of 

 common lumber. 



Possibly a dozen Avalnut logs— not 

 more — were seen on the trip. The steep 

 mountain sides are being plowed, culti- 

 vated in -corn, washed into gullies, and 

 in a few years wull be wortiiless from 

 erosion. This mountain land is of low 

 value after removal of the timber, unless 

 minerals are found, and would be the 

 most remunerative portion of the State 

 if they could be reclothed with forests. 



Kentucky statesmen would do well to 

 consider this subject. 



SOMEBODY'S HURT: A ROAST 

 FOR ABORICULTURE. 



Tlic Magazine Is Read, If Not Paid For. 



The Inter-Ocean says it is generally 

 admitted that football is a game 

 that does not result in any par- 

 ticular harm to those who survive it 

 without suffering an.y internal or exter- 

 nal injuries. 



Jamaica Plains, Mass., Nov. 2, 1903. 

 Mr. John P. Brown : 



Dear Sir — Your note requesting pay- 

 ment of subscription to Arboriculture. 

 has been received. I have to say that 

 I never subscribed for it and have sup- 

 posed that it was sent out as a sort of 

 advertisement of railroads, etc., which 

 occupy an important part of the jour- 

 nal, as I frequently received so-called 

 magazines and papers which are freely 

 distributed for the advertising. 



There is so much in the nature of ad- 

 vertising, so much repetition, and so 

 much that has nothing to do with abori- 

 culture or forestry that the paper is not 

 worth to me the price of subscription. 



In the September number, for exam- 

 ple, I fail to see what " aboriculture " 

 has to do with "Mexicos Volcanoes," 

 ' ' The Water Supply of an Inland City, ' ' 

 "Our Duty to Panama," Indiana State 

 Fair," "The Philippines," "Minor In- 

 dustries of Mexico," "Beautiful Glad- 

 iola, " etc., etc. Worse than all this, 

 however, I regard your article in the 

 same number entitled "A Setback to 

 Scientific Forestry." That you should 

 quote and endorse such an unfair, ig- 

 norantly written or prejudiced article, 

 without giving Professor Fernow or 

 those interested in the Cornell Forestry 

 School an opportunity ^rst to explain, 

 shows a very poor judgment to say the 

 least, and I believe such an article has 

 done more harm than many issues of the 

 paper can remedy. I happen to know 

 something of the rotten politics in the 

 Cornell matter, and I have no use for 

 the paper that endorses this sort of 

 thing. Yours truly, J. G. J. 



