836 The yournal of Forestry. 



admission into the Union. Already it has the appearance of an old 

 settled country. Well-cultivated farms, school-houses, and villages meet 

 the eye in every direction. The interest taken in tree-planting is cover- 

 ing the once treeless hill-sides and prairies with thrifty artificial groves, 

 and the time is not far distant when it Avill hecome widely noted for 

 the picturesque beauty of its scenery. The population in 1860 was 

 28,G5l ; in J 870, 122,993; showing an increase of 330 percent, during 

 a period of ten years. Eeliahle statistics clearly prove that the greater 

 portion of this increase accrued during the last three years of the de- 

 cade. The number of registered voters at the last general election 

 indicates a population of 300,000 people. 



Full statistics will be received about May 1st, which it is believed will 

 show a planting in the State during 1877 of not less than twenty-five 

 million of trees, exclusive of fruit. 



My introduction to the Journal of Forestry was through a valued 

 correspondent, Dr. J. Croumbie Brown, of whose valuable work on 

 Forests and Moisture I am the fortunate possessor. I trust ere long 

 his works will be widely read on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. 



A FOREST COURT. 



Ajrropos of the interesting paper on Forest Officers in the fourth 

 number of the Journal of Forestry, the following note on the " Speech 

 House " in the Forest of Dean may be worthy of remark. Tiiis " Speech 

 House " stands in the middle of the forest, and was erected in 1680. 

 Here was held the " Court of the Speech," or that of the miners and 

 verderers. It was thus an exceptional court, comparable to that of the 

 Stanuary and also to ordinary forest courts. The Woodmote and 

 Swainmote may have been held here, but the following seems to refer to 

 the presentments to the justice-seat or chief justice in eyre. The forester 

 on entering the court knelt and delivered his horn to the chief justice. 

 The miner similarly delivered up his insignia — the hatchet. The 

 "hands," or witnesses, were sworn standing, each holding a piece of 

 holly. In connection with this last custom it is remarkable that though 

 oak and beech are now the principal timber trees in the forest, there are 

 some very fine hollies, some six feet in girth, near the Speech House, 

 standing on what a highly probable tradition looks on as the oldest part 

 of the forest. — G. S. Boulger. 



