208 



THE GARDEKEIVS MOXTHLY 



[July, 



Forestry. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Timber Growing in the West. — Taking 

 up a copy of " Marshall on Gardening," pub- 

 lished nearly a hundred years ago, the author 

 predicts that at the rate of destruction of timber 

 trees in England the whole supply will be ex- 

 hausted " in five years." In our own country 

 thex'e have been numerous predictions of a 

 similar kind. Benjamin Franklin was sure that 

 in twenty years (we believe, for we have not his 

 exact words before us now,) American timber 

 would also be all exhausted. We have always 

 contended that these reckless statements and 

 propliecies by men intelligent in certain lines 

 of culture, but ignorant of what is practically 

 being done, injure instead of advance timber 

 culture, and for this reason we have done our 

 best to expose their fallacies. There is nothing 

 so sensitive as capital ; and when we ask capital 

 to go into timber culture, tell it there will be no 

 timber in so many years, and capitalists know that 

 this cry has existed for a century, or even cen- 

 turies, and that there is timber still, and likely 

 to be, capital shrinks and goes elsewhere. It 

 takes some time for money to return after it is 

 invested in forest planting, and one inclined 

 to plant for profit will and ought to have 

 the exact facts and figures to work on. There 

 are numerous places in our country where we 

 are sure timber culture will prove a certain and 

 profitable investment; but just where these are 

 and what timber is profitable to grow, require 

 careful and cool investigation. 



We are moved to these remarks by the 

 " Forestry Annual of the Iowa Horticultural 

 Society," printed for gratuitous distribution to 

 Ix)wa tree planters. The Society collects all the 

 facts possible about Iowa tree planting and 

 gives it to the public in this useful form. This 

 is the sort of work America wants, and is worth 

 a thousand trips to European forests, or tons of 

 reprints made up of newspaper clippings, or of 

 extracts from threadbare stoi-ies of the marvel- 

 lous kind. We believe this valuable record of 

 experience can be had of Prof. J. L. Budd, 

 Ames, Iowa. 



Catalpa Timber. — In many newspapers 

 articles continually appear, warning people 



against planting anything but the " hardy Ca- 

 talpa." A nurseryman recently showed us a 

 letter from a Georgia gentleman, ordering only 

 the " hardy Catalpa," and he " did not want the 

 tender one," just as if one was a hot-house plant. 

 There is no doubt about there being two varie- 

 ties of Catalpa. The differences may even 

 amount to what may be called specific ; one 

 may be even hardier in the upper Missouri 

 States than the other, but the idea sought to be 

 impressed on the people that the common Ca- 

 talpa is tender in the u:^ual acceptation of the 

 word, only originates in misconception. There 

 may be a hardy and a hardier Catalpa, but that 

 there is a "tender" and a " hardy " Catalpa, 

 using the word as gardeners use them, is wholly 

 unwarranted by the facts, and the persistency in 

 the use of these terms, as we see by the letter 

 above quoted, leads to confusion. 



The Tulip and Cucumber Trees in Kan- 

 sas. — A Cowly County correspondent inquires 

 how these two trees will thi'ive in that iState. 

 We cannot recall any instance from personal 

 observation, Init have seen them thriving admi- 

 rably across the line in Missouri. There have 

 been a great many of these and other trees sent 

 to Kansas dui'ing the past fifteen years, and any 

 information about any of these introduced trees 

 will be very acceptable. 



Arboricultural Lectures. — The lectures 

 on Arboriculture and Kindred Sciences, b}^ Prof. 

 J. T. Rothrock, have been unusually well at- 

 tended this season. They will be continued 

 every Saturday at 4 o'clock, in the Conservatory 

 in Eairmount Park, Philadelphia, till the first 

 week in August. 



Forest Fires.— Some of the leading daily 

 papers continue to call urgently for measures to 

 prevent the wanton destruction of Pennsylvania 

 forests by fires. Exactly so. It is easy to "call" 

 for measures — we are all calling — but what shall 

 those "measures " be? 



Sound Timber. — Borers are destructive to 

 logs. It is said that if the timber is cut in 

 spring after sap commences to flow and the bark 

 will readily peel, the borers will not trouble 

 them. Perhaps so, but how about the quality 

 of the timber? 



