•Jl-J 



nil-: cARPKXERs MoxrnLv 



[.A'.v. 



hixjipcn lo know of a tree (IcnU-rwlio is iuixiously 

 lookini,' n|) itlunl-s in all directions t'ora ciistonn'r 

 in tiial Sliito. 



KKn)KT UroN I'-oitKsriJV — By I'^ranklin li. 

 lloujih. From Hon. W. (J. J.c I)nr, ("i)niinis- 

 sioncr of Auricullnri'. In 1H77 Conj;n-ss ordi-rcd 

 the Coniinissioner of Agriculture to " appoint 

 sonic man of ajiprovcd attainments, and practi- 

 cally well accjuainted with the methods of statisti- 

 cal inquiry with a view of ascertaining the annual 

 amount of consumption, importation and expor- 

 tation of timhcr and other forest products, the 

 prol)ahle su])ply for futm-e wants, the means 

 l)est adapted to the preservation an(f the renewal 

 of forests ; the iuHuenee of forests upon climate, 

 and the measures that have been successfully 

 employed in various countries for the preserva- 

 tion and restoration or planting of forests, and 

 report." Dr. Hough was appointed, and this is 

 the report of his first year's work. 



In many quarters regret ha.s been expressed 

 that some one was not appointed for this work 

 who had an acquaintance with forest trees, and 

 with the practical details of forest culture •, but 

 the act of Congress called for simply one ac- 

 quainted with the methods of statistical inquiry, 

 and Dr. Hough is fully as competent for this 

 work as any one who could be selected. In this 

 report he has industriously collected together an 

 amount of material comprised in overGOO pages of 

 what immbers have said of the Forestry question. 

 With much of iLcvery one interested in the subject 

 i^already ac(|uainted. Emerson's report on the 

 trees and shrubs of Mass. ; Curtis woody plants 

 of North Carolina; the writings of Beccpieral, 

 Marsh, and other well-known authors are 

 liberally drawn on. Newspaper paragraphs, 

 extracts from public meetings and discussions, 

 and an immense amovmt of items, good, bad and 

 indilTerent, have been gathered together from 

 home and foreign sources ; and. which is especi- 

 ally of great value to us, have been indexed and 

 given to us here in a shape that Ls readily acces- 

 sible. Granting that a Commissioner charged 

 with a more original line of investigation would 

 have been more valuable, still the work as it is 

 is well worth all the money it has cost, and we 

 hope the subject will still be continued by the 

 Department. As the field to be covered is 

 simply the collecting of all sorts of paragraphs 

 and copying from all sorts of works, it would be 

 well to suggest that the statistician confine him- 

 self to this and not hazard guesses as to the Ijotany 

 of his timber trees. For instance, he tells us that 



till- " Ked Pine" of which the Mormon taberna- 

 cle is built, is •• understood to be the I'inus con- 

 iuria,'' and worse yet, that the " While Pine" of 

 Utah, is " Abies En^dmanii[!y' If we cannot 

 ha\ e a Forest Commissioner who is aciiuainted 

 with American Forest and timber tribes, it will 

 at least be well that he avoid such blunders a.s 

 these by letting the text he collects alone. It 

 is best to let the timber go as Utah lied Pine 

 and Utah AVhite Pine, than to propagate such 

 fearful errors as these. 



Aside from the value of the collection of 

 opinions and facts here presented, the " meo/- 

 sures" recommended are fairly estimated, we 

 think, by General Le Due in his presentation of 

 the report to the House of llepresentalives : 

 " While the information Dr. Hough has accjun-ed 

 has been extensive and in some cases exhaustive, 

 — and while from the European worlds much 

 may be leai'ned — the differences that exist be- 

 tween our own country and foreign countries in 

 the ownership of lands, make it impracticable 

 to apply for tlu^ present, if ever, the systems of 

 administration that i)revails elsewhere." 



This has alwa,ys been our view ; and yet we 

 see Dr. Hough " is to make a personal inspection 

 of European Forests," for which !i?G,000 is re- 

 quested. AYe really believe that SG,000 spent 

 by one acquainted with our own Forest products, 

 among our own Forest trees, amongst our own 

 Forest tree cultivators, and by one jiractically 

 acquainted with Forestry work, and who has a 

 knowledge of the principles of our Government 

 and what it ought and could and what it should 

 not do, would be infinitely more profitable to us ; 

 still we are not the less thankful to the Govern- 

 ment and Dr. Hough for what they have given 

 us. The whole proceeding is a step in the right 

 direction. We have not got what we want — but 

 we have the worth of all it has cost. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



UxiLizrNG THE PiNE Tree.— T. C, 3221 



Chestnut St., Phila., says :— "Can you tell me 

 through the Gardener's Monthly, whetheryou 

 have notice of any work on the special culture 

 and mode of utilizing the Pine tree?" 



[We do not know of any special work on this 

 subject.— Ed. G. M.] 



The Agricultural Grounds. — The Arbore- 

 tum, at the Agricultural Grounds at Washington, 

 just now is very interesting, the many hun- 

 dreds of trees and shrul)s being in nearly full 

 foliage. Farmers who wish to identify or find a 



