414 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A paper of particular interest to agriculturists was read by the 

 secretary of the association, Mr. Fernow. He stated that attempts 

 were being made in Germany not only to put sawdust in proper shape 

 for shipment, but to grind up the brushwood for bedding and manuring: 

 purposes. He showed that while the wood litter was for its physical 

 properties preferable to straw in the stable, experiments had shown 

 that in the field as manure it was by no means inferior, in its action, 

 to regular baruyard manure, and the feeding value of straw far sur- 

 passed its value for bedding and manuring. If such materials could 

 be cheaply prepared and baled, many of the lumberman's difficulties- 

 might be avoided, and a great benefit provided for agriculture. 



The magnitude of the subject of forestry and the many interesting 

 sides to the question, were made evident by a large number of valuable, 

 practical papers on a great variety of topics, presented at this meeting ; 

 and when we hear that the products of the forest in one year are 

 worth $800,000,000 — more than ten times the value of all the gold and 

 silver dug from our mines, and a good deal more than that of all our 

 coal and metals of every sort — that not even the vast corn crop equals 

 this amount, and that no other is in such danger of permanent ex- 

 haustion, we must admit that, from a mere economic standpoint — to 

 say nothing of any indirect beneficial influences of forest preservation 

 — the matter of proper management of these resources is of national 

 importance. 



After the sessions, which lasted the better part of three days, a 

 practical illustration of the teachings of the Congress was furnished by 

 an exf ursion to the plantation of Mr. Jas. S. Fay, at Wood's HoU on 

 thft coast of Massachusetts. Worthless and barren, worn-out pastures 

 on this gravelly soil had been seeded in the most primitive manner by 

 sowing on the snow without any preparation of the soil whatever, and 

 a dense, excellent growth of Scotch pine, from twenty to thirty years 

 old on over 150 acres, was the results, which a European forester pres- 

 ent pronounced most remarkable under the unfavorable conditions. 

 That forest planting on land worth ^10 per acre could yield a profitable 

 crop was demonstrated here by an experiment of no mean dimensions. 



If every farmer who has such barren, unsightly places would spend 

 a little thought, a little work and a small outlay of money on them, he 

 would soon be repaid in money as well as in the enjoyment which a 

 clump of thrifty trees planted by himself and yielding shade to his 

 cattle and shelter to his crops would afford. 



It is to be hoped the report of the American Forestry Congress 

 will be printed, and made accessible to our thinking farmers, who but 



