Woods and Woodlands. 



LECTUEE BY PROF. WILLIAM H. EREWER, Coxnecticct, U.S.A. 



Commmiicated Inj Burnet Landreth, Chief of ihe Bureau of Agriculture, 



Philadel])hia. 



{Continued from ])agc 620.) 



Now in this country we lack all this rich experience, and the great 

 problem must be solved by experiment. AVhat "field crops'' would be 

 successful here was once a similar matter of experiment, and it was a long 

 time after the settlement of the State before it was proved that spelt, and 

 rape, and lucerne, and sainfoin, and even cotton, were not adapted to New 

 England agriculture ; and now Ave must go through a similar series in 

 regard to frees. Long before the American Independence, under the 

 auspices and encouragement of a society formed in the mother country, it 

 was demonstrated that it was useless to plant cloves, and coffee, and cin- 

 namon, and camphor, and similar trees in these colonies; happy would it 

 have been for us if, at the same time, a few thousands of each of the 

 European timber trees had been planted here also, that we might now have 

 their history for our use. 



We plant forest trees for two entirely distinct purposes, which we may, 

 for illustration, call the ornamental and the useful. I do not wish to be too 

 particular, however, about these terms, for the ornamental are often 

 eminently useful, and the useful as often are conspicuously ornamental. 

 But where trees are grown primarily for their beauty and their shade, or 

 even as screens, we can afford to put more expense upon their planting and 

 rearing than where their chief value is for timber or wood. For example, 

 how precious are the shade trees held in our cities ! many a citizen of New 

 Haven would think a thousand dollars per tree for the magnificent elms 

 before his door a poor compensation for their loss. Nor is such a value 

 confided to city tastes. When I once mentioned this sum to an old farmer 

 in this State, as the value set by a city friend of mine on his trees, the old 

 man quietly answered, " It would take twice that to buy the elm in front of 

 my door." 



If we wish to plant trees for ornament or shade, whether in our towns 

 or in our fields, we have a goodly variety to choose from. With us the 

 white elm is perhaps the most popular species ; its beauty and the rapidity 

 of its growth are well known. The most of the magnificent elms which 

 have made Ne\v Haven famous were planted only about a hundred years 

 ago, and many of them less. Maples are also popular, but the foliage is 

 rather too dense for planting close to houses. The sycamore is a fine 

 tree, but less popular now than formerly. The beech, tulip, horse-chestnut, 

 and in places the willow, are also popular. I cannot but think that the 

 chestnut will some day become more popular than now', and I know of 

 some magnificent specimens of the Avhite ash as an ornamental tree. 



In planting for the wood, whether to be used as timber or fuel, other 

 ((uestions come in, and the problem is more complicated. We want to 

 expend less labour, and money, and get profitable results. The hard woods 



