1878.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



361 



and at least in ten years bring in a very hand- 

 some profit on the whole capital expended. 



"We are very glad to see that this making of 

 forestry a sound business occupation is progress- 

 ing. Mr. Richard S. Fay, lias been doing a little 

 towards it, of which we find the following ac- 

 count, by Prof. Sargent, in the Massachusetts 

 Ploughman : 



" The readers of the Ploughman are familiar 

 with the experiment, which was made some thirty 

 years ago by Mr. Richard S. Fay, in planting a 

 portion of his estate near Lynn, in Essex county, 

 with European Larch and other forest trees. Up 

 to a year ago the thinnings from this plantation 

 had yielded some seven hundred cords of fire 

 wood, besides a very large amount of fencing ma- 

 terial. The thinning has been continued during 

 the past winter, and has produced : 

 175 cords of fire wood, sold at an 



average of s5.50, . . . S962.50 



oOO Larch posts, 25 cts., . . . 125.00 



51 Larch Telegraph poles, ??1.00, . 51.00 



100 Larch Railroad sleepers, 50 cts., . 50.00 



$1188.50 

 These figures represent the thinning of a single 

 season, which will be continued for manj- years 

 to an equal or greater extent ; they seem to make 

 very clear Mr. Fay's wisdom in employing agri- 

 cultui-ally worthless land in the only way in 

 which it could possibly have been made to yield 

 any return whatever. It ought to be a part of 

 the regular Spring work of every farmer, having 

 suitable land, to plant annually a few hundred 

 or a few thousand forest trees, according to the 

 size of his farm and the extent of his means. The 

 ■cost of the trees and of planting them is compar- 

 atively small, Avhile profits, although slowly 

 realized, are in the end, all things considered, 

 enormous. 



For planting on much of tlie waste land of this 

 State, no tree can be more safely employed than 

 the European Larch, as Mr. Fay's plantations of 

 this tree shows us. Tlie Larch, however, must 

 be transplanted very early in the Spring or it will 

 not survive the operation." 



This is only a beginning, and when the busi- 

 ness is better understood a much better showing, 

 and before thirty years, could be made. The 

 Larch was evidently chosen at a time when it 

 was thought very important that Scotch forestry 

 should be the model for Aniericun forestry, and 

 not that America required distinctively Ameri- 

 can treatment. The Larch is profitable, but it 



is far less profitable than many other kinds 

 of trees would be. It may also be noted 

 that those who are going into timber culture 

 must remember that some of Mr. Fay's figures 

 are high. It is chiefly because railroad sleepers 

 are fifty cents each that the railroads are anxious 

 to have more timber planted. They will not, 

 nor ought they to bring fifty cents each, when the 

 most judicious kinds planted in a judicious place 

 shall come into market. 



But we do not care to be critical in this place. 

 Mr. Fay and Prof. Sargent too, deserve much 

 praise, for wliat they have done and are doing in 

 encouraging forestr}^ to make criticism pleasant. 

 And yet it is very important that in an interest 

 like forestry, where, if the planter blunders, he 

 is eternally lost, he should start in a faith that 

 will pi'oduce the best of works. 



American Sumac. — In some of the earlier 

 numbers of the Gardener's Monthly we 

 pointed out the absurdity of sending so much 

 money to Eui-ope for Sumac when we have quite 

 as good an article in abundance wild at home. 

 It is among the most pleasant of the reflections 

 on our past labors to see how the collection of 

 American Sumac approaches the rank of an im- 

 portant national industry. When American 

 forestry reaches the dignity of a first-class busi- 

 ness, as we hope yet to see it reach, we expect 

 Sumac to be one of the little items which is to 

 make the forest yield a revenue long before the 

 timber is fit for railroad ties. 



However until this time comes we must do the 

 best we can by Sumac in itself. The following 

 paragraph from the Prairie Farmer gives some 

 additional information to that already recorded 

 in our pages : 



" In relation to the matter of Sumac, and its pre- 

 paration for market, which a correspondent in 

 Pennsylvania asks us to investigate, and the pro- 

 per manner of preparing it for market, previously 

 published in the Prairie Farmer^ Mr. Joseph H. 

 Bryant, No. 2,619 Main street, Richmond, Va., 

 writes us that he is paying seventy-five cents per 

 hunch'ed pounds at tlie mill there, and adds : 

 ' The leaves only are wanted, but to facilitate 

 the gathering of it, the small stems on which 

 leaves grow can be stripped from the stalk, as in 

 pulling corn blades. It must be free from sticks, 

 sand and berries. Dry it in the shade. If ex- 

 posed to the sun, dew and rain, it will tui'n yel- 

 low and become worthless. Spread it on a floor, 

 and turn it morning and evening until it is per- 

 fectly dry. Do not pack it in bags or pile in bulk, 



