2^6 



ARBORICULTURE. 



AN IXFAiMOUS LAW 



PRISON LABORERS MAY NOT LEARN 

 TRADES. 



"L'nder a recent decision of the Mich- 

 igan Supreme Court, Attorney-General 

 Bird ruled that contracts under which 

 State prisoners are employed at cigar- 

 making-, broom-making and stone-cutting 

 may be continued only as long as there 

 are convicts already skilled in those 

 trades, it being held illegal to teach me- 

 chanical trades in prison. This decision 

 and ruling will bring the question of pro- 

 viding work for prisoners before the State 

 Legislature this winter in acute form." — 

 American Industries. 



A shame upon a State which would 

 place such a law upon the statutes. Hold 

 men in prison for years, then tm-n them 

 out without a knowledge of any manner 

 of making a living except stealing. 



Repeal such laws quickly, and educate 

 the wards of a State to enable them to 

 make an honest living. 



AN AMERICAN TREE IN ITALY. 



While we have so many doubters, 

 fault-finders, and those who demand im- 

 possible proofs before trying anything 

 which to them is unknown, it is his:hlv 

 refreshing to know that in Europe, 

 Australia, Asia, in Africa, and through- 

 out the world, are those who' have confi- 

 dence, and having experimented upon a 

 large scale are willing to testify to the 

 success of the Catalpa speciosa many 

 thousands of miles distant from the little 

 territory' in Indiana where this tree orig- 

 inated. We recently published letters 

 from New Zealand and from Crreat 

 Britain attesting to the wonderful suc- 

 cess with the Catalpa speciosa in these 



lands, and now print a letter from a 

 lady in Italy to whom we sent seeds 

 some years ago. 



Palazzo Orsini, Monte Saveli-o. Rome, Italy, 



December ibth, 1906. 

 Dear Mr. Brown — "Bosco Brown," as my 

 husband has christened his plantation of Ca- 

 talpa speciosa at "I Veli,'' near Brindisi, is 

 doing the greatest credit both to the soil and 

 to the seeds. Aly husband says the trees have 

 grown splendidly, already yielding fruit. Every 

 plant has thriven, none having died, and the 

 experiment has been extended to some other 

 plantations, by the gift of a few striplings to 

 Count Giusso for his nurseries near Naples. 

 and to the Onorable Pavoncelli, near Foggia. 

 These two, being the foremost agriculturists 

 in Italy, have been so delighted with the Ca- 

 talpa speciosa that they have asked my husband 

 for seeds. Will you, therefore, kindly send a 

 small quantity of seeds addressed to my hus- 

 band, Monte Savello, Rome, Italy? We intend 

 also trying the seeds from our own catalpa 

 trees, as it will be interesting to see whether 

 the growth from this second generation is like 

 the original plant. 



THE RAPE OF MICHIGAN. 



"Michigan was seventy years old Sat- 

 urday, and in many respects promising 

 for her age, but there are about six mil- 

 lion acres, or a fifth of her territory, 

 worth much less than at her birth as a 

 State, owing to the voracity of the tree 

 b u tch e rs . " — Cincinnati Tin i es-Star. 



What a commentary upon the million- 

 aires and multi-millionaires whose money 

 has been made by the destruction of a 

 State's forests, aiid who now refuse to 

 aid in the reforesting of the lands which 

 they have ravished! 



Wake up, ye legislators of Michigan, 

 and begin a system of reforestation, tax- 

 ing these millions to restore some of the 

 wealth which only forests will bring to 

 \our Northern sandy wastes ! 



