57(1 



HORTICULTURE 



October 31, 1908 



country through the longesl and dryest 3ummer, moder- 

 ating the droughts bj mists of heavy dews. All along 

 the coast of New England numerous streams, which 

 were Eormerlj fed by the forests, and often rolled a 

 volume of water sufficienl to turn a mill through the 

 summer, before the forests were cut away, are now dried 

 up hi thai season and form only a drain for the melting 

 Bnows of spring or heavy rains of autumn. In Piper's 

 "Trees of America" he says that within a half mile of 

 his residence (Woburn, Mass.) there is a pond upon 

 which mills have been standing for a long time, dating 

 back to the iirsl settlement of the town. These had 

 been in constant operation until some thirty years ago, 

 when the supply of water began to fail. This pond 

 owes its existence to a stream in the hills some miles to 

 the south of the town. Within the time mentioned, 

 these hills, which were covered with a dense forest, had 

 been cut off, and, to the wonder and loss of the mill 

 owners, the water in the pond failed, except in seasons 

 of freshets, and, what was never heard of before, the 

 stream itself became entirely dry. Within ten years a 

 new growth has sprung up on most of the land formerly 

 occupied by the old forests, and now water runs through 

 the year notwithstanding great droughts. 



PAYING THE PENALTY 



This wholesale destruction of the forests, no doubt, 

 lessens our water supply more and more every year. 

 When land is cleared of trees and burnt over, as it 

 usually is, the evaporation is very rapid, even with con- 

 tinuous rains. Anyone can verify this by going into 

 the woods (if they can find any) a week or more after 

 the cleared land has become comparatively dry. The 

 soil and atmosphere of the woods is humid and moist, 

 and the ground still wet and full of water, if you dig 

 down. I would not say that the destruction of the for- 

 ests lessens the rainfall, but the evaporation is so rapid 

 thai we do not receive the benefits of the moisture in an 

 open country that we wotdd in one well covered with 

 forests. Storms are generally less severe in a wooded 

 country than in an open one, the force of the heavy 

 gales is broken by the woods, while on the western 

 prairies, where there are few or no trees, the gales 

 sweep with great fury, carrying destruction with them 

 on every side. Almost everyone who cultivates early 

 vegetables or fruit knows the value of" having a heavy 

 belt of evergreen trees on the north and west of these 

 rami-: and many who buy open farms plant, as one of 

 the first operations, shelter belts of trees in proper po- 

 sitions. No one would think of placing their early hot 

 in an open field without some shelter, either nat- 

 ural or artificial. If they did it would necessitate 

 double the labor to obtain the same results they would 

 get in a sheltered position. 



As a sanitary measure forests are one of the best pre- 

 ventives of malaria. In the Everglades of Florida, the 

 pine forest of North Carolina, and other places which 



are heavilj « led, malaria is unknown, and one can 



even sleep oul in the forests without fear of that dis- 

 ease, but as soon as the settler chops down Large tracts 

 of lumber, the tropical sun, acting on masses of de- 

 caying vegetable matter, fills the air with the germs of 

 disease, the carbonic acid which was consumed b\ the 

 trees is inhaled by the people and the result is malaria. 



\\ UNAPPRECIATED BLESSING. 



The benefits, pleasures and comforts arising from 

 trees are so great, aside from their commercial value, 

 that one would naturally think that man would need no 

 urging to protect them, but I am sorry to say that the 

 majority would rather cut a tree down than plant one. 

 And notwithstanding all that has been said and written 

 on the subject, there seems to be but little response. 

 The Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agri- 



culture oilers valuable prizes for plantations of trees, 

 but meets with little success, although I believe that a 

 North Andover gentleman lately took one of the 

 premiums. 



This subject of tree planting and caring for our 

 forests is a serious one. and should command the careful 

 aattention of every thinking man who holds the welfare 

 of his State at heart. It has been delayed too long, and 

 it is time that the people's eyes were opened to the 

 necessity of planting, preserving and caring for the 

 forests, or the coming generations will find themselves 

 not only short of both wood and lumber, but inhabiting 

 a country where life is hardly worth the living. 



Early Flowering Chrysanthemums 



In a recent issue of the Florists' Keview there ap- 

 peared a few notes on early flowering chrysanthemums, 

 from the pen of the •'American Wells," i. e., Chas. H. 

 Totty. Personally I was much interested in Mr. Totty's 

 notes. Having visited Merstham myself soifle years 

 ago I can very well believe that the earlies made a most 

 inspiring show there this season. 



One paragraph in particular in Mr. Totty's article 

 took my eye, namely, "I do not see why they ('earlies') 

 should not be largely planted as border plants to flower 

 outside when the early frosts have caught many of the 

 tender bedding plants." Now that is a question which 

 was put to Mr. Totty in Horticultural Hall a year ago 

 last July by a member of the Gardeners' and Florists' 

 Club of Boston. During the discussion which followed 

 Mr. Totty, if my memory serves me right, condemned 

 the English early-flowering chrysanthemums as being 

 absolutely unfit for use in America. His exact words if 

 I remember correctly, were, "I have given all the best 

 varieties an extended trial and with the exception of a 

 few of the Pompon varieties, have not found any which 

 will stand the extreme heat of an American summer." 



I have pondered over Mr. Totty's statement for some 

 considerable time, and now I am going to ask him to 

 give us something more definite on this subject, because, 

 I am sure he will admit that his words in Boston a 

 year ago last July, and his notes in the Review a few 

 weeks back, were if anything a trifle contradictory. 



Personally, I think there are few chrysanthemums 

 more useful or more profitable to grow than the English 

 early-flowering section. Yet it is very rarely that one 

 ever sees them grown in this country either by commer- 

 cial growers, or by private gardeners. This in itself is 

 strange when we remember that they come into flower 

 ;it a lime when flowers for cutting and house decoration 

 are very scarce. Certainly a good batch of them grown 

 in eight-inch pots, witli their glorious tints and colors 

 would prove a welcome addition and preface to the 

 chrysanthemum season proper. They have a most 

 charming effect when grouped among other plants, and 

 where large quantities of cut flowers, and especially the 

 white sorts, are required the early bush chrysanthemum 

 will be found indispensable. Mr. Totty, I am sure, 

 will pardon me when I say that their usefulness for 

 gardeners and florists in this country is already as- 

 sured, and their beautiful free flowering and bushy 

 habit will justly ensure them a prominent position in 

 both private and commercial establishments. 



For pot work, we find the best time to put in the cut- 

 tings i- about the second week in February. When 



