ARBORICULTURE 



19 



to collect. Some species of trees hy- 

 bridize so readily that they do not re- 

 produce themselves well from seed, but 

 as they grow readily from cuttings they 

 can be produced exactly as the parent in 

 endless numbers without the necessity of 

 budding or grafting. 



The scarcity of catalpa speciosa seed 

 and great expense of collecting it makes 

 it desirable to grow these trees by means 

 of cuttings. 



Of course for a fence post to take 

 root, bud and grow into a tree it is es- 

 sential — 



( 1 ) That the bark remain on the post. 



(2) That the timber be cut during its 

 dormant season — late autumn or winter 

 or very early in spring. 



(3) That the sap still remains in the 

 ft^ood ; that is, the timber shall not havt 

 become dry and seasoned. 



For the purpose of securing greatest 

 durability, all timber should be seasoned 

 before being used for posts, ties, etc., and, 

 still better, that the bark should be re- 

 moved. 



Still, the point made b\ our corre- 

 spondent, that of growing more posts 

 from the one planted in the fence row, 

 is well taken, and doubtless would be a 

 good investment. There is no good rea- 

 son why every post so set, under condi- 

 tions enumerated above, should not live 

 and grow into a living tree. Such a line 

 of trees would be of great value to the 

 farmer as well as the railway company 

 which should adops this method. 



ILLUSTRATES POINT ABOUT 

 RATES. 



AN IMPOSSIBLE IDEAL. 



Whenever I buy a suit of clothes 

 The mirror makes me very sad. 



[ can not, howsoe'er I pose, 

 Look like the picture in the ad. 



— Washington Star. 



The Trenton (N. J.) Americmi gives 

 the following as an illustration : "An 

 ignorant contractor in Albany not long 

 ago failed to shore up one pillar that 

 was a part of the support of the build- 

 ing. This pillar gave way, and the whole 

 building came down. If the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission should change 

 the first-class rate between New York 

 and Chicago, it would affect fully io,ooo- 

 other rates, because the New York-Chi- 

 cago rate is a base rate for practically all 

 the territory east of Chicago, and for 

 more than half of the territory west 

 thereof.* Intermediate places take a per- 

 centage of the Chicago rate, so that a 

 single change, say from 75 cents per hun- 

 dred to 70 cents per hundred, would 

 necessitate innumerable other changes. 



"When the arguments on rate legisla- 

 tion are divorced from politics, and the 

 situation looked at calmly and honestly 

 from a strictly business standpoint, it is 

 quite difficult to reconcile the statements 

 of some of the members of Congress who 

 are in favor of rate regulation with their 

 acts. A representative is quoted as 

 stating that it is not the desire or inten- 

 tion of the administration to have a rate 

 bill which will enable the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission to make all rates, but 

 that they will only change a rate that is 

 challenged. 



"Perhaps this is their intention, but 

 what they did in the Esch-Townsend bill 

 was to give to the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission not only full and absolute 

 control of every rate, but of every method 

 now in force on the railroads that had 

 reference to the transportation of freight 

 and passengers. It is difficult to see 

 how a law could be drawn that would 

 give authority only over, certain rates."" 



