140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



too exposed to produce naturally anything but a scanty 

 crop of beach grass, on which the ailanthus would thrive, 

 and which, thus covered, would add enormously to the 

 natural products of the country. Such plantations would 

 amply and speedily repay the original cost, both in direct 

 income and by the protection it would afford to more valu- 

 able land. Valuable timber for purposes of construction 

 might not grow on soil so poor and exposed ; but immense 

 quantities of fuel, easily accessible to market, would be pro- 

 duced from land now worse than useless to its owners. On 

 almost every inland farm there is some neglected gravel-pit, 

 or bank or knoll, too stony and poor for cultivation, which 

 might be profitably planted with the ailanthus ; and these 

 plantations would provide in a dozen years, more or less, a 

 large amount of valuable fuel, and might be cut, and cut over 

 again, indefinitely, as there seems to be no limit to the powers 

 of this tree to throw up suckers from the roots. Or if per- 

 mitted to grow from twenty to forty years, such planta- 

 tions, costing but little to make, and occupying land good for 

 no purpose but to pay taxes on, would produce a valuable 

 material for industrial purposes, for which a ready sale at 

 good prices could always be obtained." 



Mr. George P. Marsh, in an allusion to the efibrts of the 

 Russian government to cover with forest growth the north- 

 ern coast of the Black Sea, where the loose, sandy soil, to the 

 depth of a foot, is moved with every changing wind, says ; 

 " The tree best suited to this locality, and there is good rea- 

 son to suppose to sandy plains in general, is the ailanthus 

 grandulosa." 



Witli such testimony it is certainly safe to give the tree a fair 

 trial. There is no soil so poor and no situation so exposed 

 where it will not grow. It is as easily propagated as the black- 

 berry ; a piece of the root the size of your finger, when set, 

 will produce a plant, and the seed, whether scattered on the 

 surface or covered with soil, will quickly germinate. One 

 objection to the ailanthus as an ornamental tree was its tend- 

 ency to throw up suckers from its roots, and thus reproduce 

 itself without limit, a positive virtue when wanted as a forest 

 tree ; and, unlike the oaks and pines, it increases in size most 

 rapidly during its earliest years. The perfect adaptation of 



