306 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[October, 



A proposition was made to unite the associa- 

 • tion with another body, called the Forest Coun- 

 cil. Mr. Meehan inquired whether the objects 

 of the two societies were the same. Mr. Geo. 

 May Powell, Secretary of the Forest Council, 

 gaid it would take too long to read the consti- 

 tution of that society, but would say briefly that 

 the objects were the same. Mr. Meehan said the 

 obj ect of his inquiry was an account of the notice 

 of a meeting he had seen of the Forest Council in 

 the newspapers. That report seemed to show 

 that little business was transacted, except to en- 

 deavor to induce government to take hold in an 

 especial manner of the forest interests of the 

 country. The American Forestry Association, 

 he thought, was working in a different field. It 

 wished to make forestry popular by showing the 

 profit there was in it — in short, by diffusing 

 forest knowledge through the land. Mr. Powell 

 then read two clauses of the Forest Council con- 

 stitution, to show that they considered these 

 matters also. A committee was appointed to 

 consider the question of union. 



Several members made remarks giving val- 

 able information in regard to various trees they 

 had experimented with in various parts of the 

 country. 



Mr. Meehan remarked on the pleasure it had 

 given him to listen to the remarks of the differ- 

 ent members, and especially to the papers of 

 Dr. Hough and Prof. MacAfee, which two 

 papers, taken together, he thought particularly 

 instructive. He confessed to a fear on the or- 

 ganization of the society, that it might be drifted 

 away from its legitimate purpose, and become 

 little more than a mass meeting to urge on the 

 government to do the work which itself was organ- 



ized to do. It was all very well to know what 

 the paternal governments of other countries 

 were doing with timber culture, but he thought 

 we needed no paternal government to supervise 

 us here. He thought it a blessing that our gov- 

 ernment did not stand in the light of a parent to 

 us, but was rather our servant, and he trusted he 

 should never live to see the day when he might 

 be ordered by a paternal government to plant a 

 tree, or having planted one, be forbidden to cut 

 it down. The two papers together, however, 

 showed that we were doing very well. Dr. 

 Hough had shown very clearly what the pater- 

 nal governments did for their child-like people. 

 Prof MacAfee had shown what the people were 

 doing without this fatherly interference, and 

 surely the picture was everyway satisfactory. 

 Those who clamored for government interfer- 

 ence evidently had no practical knowledge of 

 what was going on. 80,000 acres in one State 

 made up for a great deal cut away in others. 

 But this was nothing to what was going on else- 

 where. A gentleman then present in the meet- 

 ing had planted thousands of trees in Virginia, 

 and in five years would have five thousand acres 

 under timber culture. These people had faith 

 that timber would pay, and as old timber grew 

 scarcer, their faith would increase, and originate 

 new fiiith in others. This was the proper plan, 

 and he congratulated the society that it waa 

 taking this path. Individual effort, encouraged 

 by State laws and agricultural and horticultural 

 societies, would soon replace the decaying forests 

 of our land. 



Dr. Warder was re-elected President, Mr. Mac- 

 Afee, Secretary, and Dr. Hough, Treasurer. 



f ATURAL IllSTORY AND ^CIENCB. 



CO MM UNICA TIONS. 



ON GRAFT HYBRIDS. 



BY THOMAS MEEHAX, GERMANTOWN, PHILADA. 



{Read be/ore the American Association /or the Ad 

 vancement of Science, at Buffalo, August, 1876.) 

 Of late years an impression has prevailed that 



hybrids may be obtained by grafting as well a;- 



by seeds. Sachs makes no mention of this in 

 his text-book, but it has had a place in the lit- 

 erature of horticulture for over a hundred 

 years. Bradley says that a variegated jasmine 

 grafted on a common green stock infused the 

 variegation throughout the whole plant; and 

 there is an idea among some horticulturists that 

 an intermixture in apples can be obtained by 



