1885.] EDITORIAL NOTES. 400 



The Adirondack Forests. — As showing the deep interest that is 

 being manifested in tlie United States on all matters bearing on the 

 condition of the natural forests of that country, we note that a report 

 has been presented to the Agricultural Department of the State of 

 New York on the present condition of the forests of the Adirondack 

 plateau. These forests, it appears, have been treated in the same 

 recklessly wasteful fashion that has been the common practice in all 

 other parts of the United States. The Adirondack region is not 

 adapted for the ordinary operations of agriculture, but is admirably 

 so for forestal development, and it is recommended by the Commis- 

 sioners that what remains of tlie forests should be carefully 

 preserved in the commercial interests of the State. Proof has been 

 obtained by the Commissioners " that the flow of the rivers has 

 decreased from 30 to 50 per cent, within the memory of living 

 men, while the damage from spring floods and summer droughts is 

 increasing," and these disastrous results are clearly traceable to the 

 wasteful destruction of the threat forests named. 



Arbor Day ix America. — The practice of tree-planting by 

 private individuals and associations has been taken up with much 

 energy in tlie United States, and is likely to result in widespread 

 public benefit. In Ohio, a State Forestry Association which lias 

 been taken as a model for similar associations in other parts of the 

 country, has been organized for the purpose of stimulating and 

 developing public interest in arboriculture. The State Legislature 

 has taken up the matter, and in 1883 a Government proclamation 

 was issued setting apart the fourth Friday in April of every year as 

 a public holiday to be called Arbor day, and to be devoted to the 

 systematic planting of trees and groves in all suitable places. These 

 measures have been rendered especially necessary in Ohio, where 

 neglect and destruction of the forests have been allowed to continue 

 for many years. It is intended that the State Forestry Association 

 shall form the centre of forestry associations in every city, town, 

 village, and school in the State, whose object shall be to plant trees 

 along the streets, by the roadsides, in parks and commons, around 

 public buildings and in waste places, to distribute information 

 respecting trees and forests among the people, and to encourage tree- 

 planting in every possible way. The celebration of Arbor day forms 

 the subject of an interesting pamphlet issued by the Department of 

 the Interior at Washington, in which is to be found much informa- 

 tion, both practical and historical, and a valuable letter by the late 

 Dr. Franklin B. Hough. Our Transatlantic cousins, from the 

 Government to the people, are happily more alive to the national 

 advantacres of arboriculture than we are. But we are waking up. 



