1817.] 



AND HOB TIG UL T UBIS T. 



Ill 



Forests of Massachusetts.— New forests are 

 said to be growing up in the western part of 

 Massachusetts faster than the old ones are cut 

 oflf. Especially in the hill towns is this the case. 

 Many a locality that was impoverished as farm 

 land some twenty and thirty years ago, is now 

 covered with a vigorous growth of young forests, 

 the rapid increase in the population of the out- 

 lying agricultural districts having rendered such 

 a thing inevitable. — Cultivator. 



Trees for Colorado. — The Greeley Tribune, 

 after recounting a long list of trees that have 

 been tried, and so far failed in the Colony, says 

 the Cottonwood, Box Elder, and Silver Maple do 

 admirably there. Evergreens have so far proved 

 failures. 



Large Chestnut Trees.— These often grow to 

 an immense size, and we should like to know 

 just how large the largest are. Mr. D. Wyatt 

 Aiken tells us of some fine ones in North Caro- 

 lina, but we think there may be larger ones than 

 even these. He says of his : — " There have re- 

 cently been discovered some trees in North Caro- 

 lina that are ' no sardines.' In surveying the 

 routeof the Spartanburg and Asheville Railroad, 

 the engineers encountered some chestnuts that 

 seemed to nestle their burs in the upper firma- 

 ment. A contractor had to eradicate one of 

 these, as it stood directly in the way of the track 

 of the Road, and it measured ten feet three inches 

 across the stump, and was solid to the centre." 



The Ash as A Tlmber Tree. — Prof. Sargent, 

 who more than any other man deserves well of 

 his country for the interest he is exciting in 

 timber culture, contributes a paper on the Ash, 

 to the April Arfriculturist, showing how the tree 

 may be made profitable within ten years from 

 planting. The rows need not be more than four 

 feet apart, with a view to thinning out the young 

 plants, until only the right number are left to 

 develope into large trees. The thinnings from 

 an acre of White Ash, planted in this way, would, 

 at present prices, sell for at least four hundred 

 dollars for hoop-poles, while subsequent thin- 

 nings would be of still greater value ; and these 

 thinnings, it must be remembered, are made, 

 not at the expense of the future plantation, but 

 to benefit and improve it. The White Ash 

 should be more generally employed as a road- 

 side or avenue tree. Indeed, in view of its many 

 qualifications, the Sugar Maple alone, among 

 our native trees, surpasses it for this purpose. 

 It is many years since the White Ash was first 



introduced into Europe, and the fine specimens 

 which are occasionally met with, both in Great 

 Britain and on the Continent, sufficiently prove 

 that its general cultivation in Northern and 

 Central Europe would make a valuable addition 

 to the forest products of those countries. 



The Eucalyptus ix South Carolina. — Mr. 

 Chisholm, of Beaufort, tells the American Far- 

 yner : — " I had one Eucalyptus globulus about 15 

 feet high, and quite a number of small ones 

 in a box, all of which were killed by the late 

 cold spell, while small orange trees in another 

 box alongside were not at all hurt, which proves 

 that the Eucalyptus globulus is more tender than 

 the sweet orange. I have one tree of another 

 variety of Eucalyptus, name unknown, which 

 does not appear to be injured any more than to 

 have all its leaves killed." 



The Yellow or Short-leaved Pine. — Prof. 

 Sargent says, in a recent paper, that this is the 

 Pinus mitis, and this we believe is the accepted 

 belief of the authorities. We have an idea, 

 however, that all the Yellow Pine that comes to 

 the Philadelphia market is from Pinus palustris . 

 We are not sure of this, and should be glad of 

 correct information from any botanist who may 

 have personal experience in the " Yellow " Pine 

 region. Pinus mitis was at one time very abund- 

 ant in places where it is now nearly extermi- 

 nated. We know of but one old tree, and the 

 top of it is so flat and thick one can almost walk, 

 over it. 



Wood Preservatives.— A^ccording to observa- 

 tions made on a railroad in Germany, the pro- 

 portion of renewals was, with oak sleepers (not, 

 treated) after 12 years of service, 74-48 per cent. ; 

 with oak sleepers, treated with chloride of zinc, 

 after 7 years, 3-29 per cent.; with oak sleepers, 

 impregnated with creosote oil, after 6 years, 0-09 

 per cent. ; with pine sleepers, impregnated with 

 chloride of zinc, after 7 years of service, 4-46 per 

 cent. The practice of this railroad, since the 

 year 1870, has been to employ only oak for 

 sleepers, which are impregnated either with 

 chloride of zinc or with creosote oW. —ScientifiG 

 American. 



The Lumber Resources op Tulare, Califor- 

 nia. — There are in Tulare County some fifty or 

 sixty townships of our unsurveyed public lands 

 that lay within the pine belt. Not less than 400 

 square miles of these lands are covered by a 

 heavy pine forest. It is a mountainous region 

 and abounds in unappropriated water power. 



