ARBORICULTURE 



143 



ditions are afforded at proper altitudes. 

 Thus the aspen is not so dependent as the 

 conifers upon the caprice, as it were, of 

 birds and animal life for the distribution 

 of its seed, and it thus becomes the pio 

 neer, and when once established, becomes 

 the nurse and protector of the more val- 

 uable as well as more delicate pines, firs 

 and spruces. As with all the populus 

 family, the aspen grows readily from cut- 

 tings. Thus it may be produced easily, 

 quickly and cheaply in the higher alti- 

 tudes by cuttings, and so protect the tiny 

 evergreen seedlings as they appear above 

 the ground. The aspen fertilizes the soil 

 by annual deposit of leaves, and seeds of 

 conifers are hidden or covered by the 

 aspen leaves, and thus escape the eyes 

 of small animals, which otherwise might 

 devour them. 



The Rocky Mountains are filled with 

 scenes of grandeur, but none more beau- 

 tiful, more enchanting, or of greater in- 

 terest, than exist in a distance of thirty 

 miles from Hagerman Tunnel westward 

 down the Frying Pan River, along which 

 the Colorado Midland Railway winds its 

 rapid descent of 3.644 feet, extending 

 from the rugged, precipitous walls at 

 Hell Gate, over the beautiful falls of the 

 Horse-shoe Valley, between ranges of 

 high, rock-founded mountains, past beau- 

 tiful groves of fir and spruce, in the 

 deep river valley, to and through the pic- 

 turesque walls of Red Rock Canon. 



While the views from the train are a 

 continuous, beautiful and ever-changing 

 panorama, yet for a closer study of na- 

 ture we left the train and strolled leis- 

 urely down the mountain, stopping at 

 frequent intervals to photograph some of 

 the peaks, rocks, or water-falls for our 

 readers. 



There is no such water in all the world 

 as the crystal liquid fresh from the snow- 

 banks, which flows amid mossy banks and 



pours over granite boulders deep in a 

 canon which the sun never reaches. 



Champagne may sparkle from the car- 

 bonic acid gas with which it has been 

 charged, but these mountain rivulets have 

 absorbed health-giving ozone in great 

 quantities as they leaped from rock to 

 rock, dashed into spray at one moment 

 and gathered again into a channel the 

 next. 



ARBORICULTURE EDITOR CON- 

 FERS WITH PALMER. 



John P. Brown, of Connersville, Ind., 

 editor of ArboricuIvTure, a magazine 

 published irt th.e interests of the Interna- 

 tional Society of Arboriculture, arrived in 

 Colorado Springs late last night, coming 

 here to interview General William Palmer 

 in regard to the affairs of the Society of 

 Arboriculture, of which General Palmer 

 is President. The purpose of the Society 

 is to encourage the growth of trees and to 

 protect the forests of the country. 



According to Mr. Brown, over twenty 

 million trees have been planted during the 

 last five years as the direct result of the 

 efforts of the Society. At the present rate 

 at which the forests are being cut off, they 

 will entirely disappear in less than twenty 

 years. It will take a hundred years for 

 the underbrush to grow into trees of a 

 size suitable for commercial use. — Col- 

 orado Springs (Col.) Gazette. 



It is unfortunate that there should be 

 any controversy in regard to the nomen- 

 clature and utility of the catalpa tree, and 

 it is peculiarly unfortunate that a great 

 Bureau of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture should be involved in such 

 a dispute. If the hardy catalpa, so-called, 

 is what it is claimed to be, no amount 

 of intentional confusion can prevent the 

 public from finding it out in the end. 



