22 



THE QARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[^January, 



been noted trees for 6("H") yeai-s nnd are sujiposed 

 to be 1,(XH) years oKl. Tlie climate of England 

 favors slow, firm growth, and trees are seldom 

 injured there by climatic influences. The King 

 Oak was valued at 2'.)8 pounds; (a Mr. Bullock 

 ofiered iJOO pounds for the first length ;) and the 

 Squitch Oak, the largest tree in the park, hut not 

 quite sound, was valued at 240 pounds 12 shil- 

 lings, (ahout $1,200). These trees are still increas- 

 ing in circumference. The Squitch has increased 

 17 inches in 50 vears. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



TRf:E rL.VNTiNG IN CANADA. — We are glad to 

 note the encouragement to individual eflbrt, 

 which we see given in every direction. The 

 Toronto Globe says: — "The importance of re- 

 placing by fresh efforts extinct forests, or those 

 which are in process of gradual removal, is re- 

 ceiving official consideration. The Act of the 

 Dominion parliament passed last session, grants 

 an additional quarter section, on payment of a 

 trifling fee, to every settler on ])oniinion lands 

 who plants thirty-two acres in successive annual 

 instalments." 



Address of Burnet Landreth. — The admi- 

 rable address of Mr. Burnet Landreth, before the 

 American Foresty Association, has been issued 

 in pamphlet form. 



PiNUS Lambertiana. — The Sugar Pine of Cali- 

 fornia is said to be equal to the Yellow Pine of 

 the East for flooring and similar purposes. 



The Pitch Pine. — Common names are so 

 mixed that we hardly know what the person is 

 talking about who uses them. In pines, for in- 

 stance, we never know what any writer means 

 when he sa5's "Yellow Pine." An English 

 writer says that in America " vessels have been 

 made for a considerable time past, wholly of 

 Pitch Pine." We understand by Pitch Pine, 

 Pinus rigida, and would l)e glad to know whether 

 vessels are made wholly of it, and if so where? 



TORREYA TAXIFOLIA AS DURABLE TiMBER. — The 



Semi-Tropical tells us that, "Judge P. W. White, 

 of Quincy, Florida, is having a fence built, the 

 posts of which are of (he celebrated Torreya tax- 

 ifolia trees, and the rest of cypress. Some of the 

 posts were gotten out of ti-ees blown down in the 

 terrible storm of 1833, and are perfectly sound 



after having lain on the ground 43 years. The 

 wood while green is very heavy, but when per- 

 fectly dry is very light. It has a very fine grain, 

 and is a little more of a dark yellow color than 

 the white pine." 



Commissioner of Forestry. — We have always 

 ojiposed the effort made in some societies, and 

 in some quarters, to engage the government in 

 the Forestry business, because we know, as our 

 government is constituted, the less it interferes 

 in what people can do themselves, the better it 

 is for the people. There is really nothing for a 

 national forester to do that we know of, but to sit 

 in Washington and address circular letters to A, 

 B, C, and D, asking them to give the government 

 their experience for nothing, and their time in 

 telling it at the same price ; or in asking news- 

 papers to advertise for the government free of 

 all cost, that the government has now a forester, 

 and the people can now send their contributions 

 to him instead of to the newspapers. This, we be- 

 lieve, is all it can do — for it is well-known 

 that it would not appoint any practical person, 

 or to undertake to teach practical forestry from 

 the seed to the saw log. We have always felt, in 

 short, that a " Bureau of Forestry " simply meant 

 comfortable quarters at Washington, with com- 

 fortable clerks at comfortable salaries ; and with 

 calls on the newspapers or individuals to do all 

 the practical work. 



It seems, however that other people differ from 

 us, and the efforts of these fellow-citizens have 

 already been so far successful as to have the 

 office started. We do not know what the official 

 title is, but the salary is two thousand dollars 

 a year, and Dr. Franklin Hough is appointed to 

 fill the place. We can only say that we oppose 

 the office on principle, believing it is money 

 thrown away, and increasing unnecessarily the 

 deplorable army of office-holders, but if it is to 

 be as it is, no better person than Dr. Hough 

 could have been found to fill the place. 



Large Oak Trees. — We should like to know 

 what is the largest American oak, Quorcus alba, 

 known. So far as the writer's experience goes, 

 he has seen the largest in the woods of Southern 

 Ohio, but has no exact figures. We can, perhaps, 

 hardly hope to equal the following which we find 

 in an English paper, but should like to know how 

 near we approach it. "The most magnificent 

 oak ever known to have grown in England was 

 that dug out of Hatfield bog; it was 120 feet in 

 length, 12 feet in diameter at the base, 10 in the 



