1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



211 



provision asjainst a rainy clay. Occasionally one 

 of these men die, and in settling up his estate 

 the black walnut is thrown on the mai'ket in lots 

 varying from 100,000 to 1,000,000 feet. Our in- 

 formant states that such sales are very frequent, 

 and prove pretty conclusively that Indiana wal- 

 nut is not a thing of the past. And besides, 

 there are extensive sources of supply that have 

 not yet been touched. Walnut timber is found 

 even in Alabama, and in Tennessee there are 

 vast acres of timber land within whose limits 

 the sound of an axe has never been heard. Black 

 walnut may become scarce, but we venture to 

 predict that tll^ supply will not be exhausted 

 while any one now living remains upon the 



earth." 



•♦♦» 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES, 



William Penn and Forestry.— "Frutex," 

 Philadelphia, writes : " In one of Dr. Rothrock's 

 Fairmount Park Lectures it is stated that there 

 was provision made by William Penn, July 

 11th, 1681, ' that in clearing the ground, care be 

 taken to leave one acre of trees for every five 

 acres cleared, especially to preserve the oak and 

 mulberry trees for silk and shipping.' It would 

 be interesting to know in the subsequent sale of 

 Pennsylvania lands, how this healthful provis- 

 ion came to be abrogated. There is much in 

 the agrarian and arboreal history of our State 

 that would perhaps be of interest if it could be 

 brought out." 



Sowing Timber Trees. — T. B., Leav.en- 

 worth, Kansas, writes : " A friend of mine in a 

 part of this State where there is no timber, 

 wishes the Gardener's Monthly to advise 

 him whether it is better to sow seed of timber 

 trees where they are to stand, or to set out 

 young trees?" 



[As an abstract question we would have no 

 hesitation in saying that a seedling tree never 

 moved, would come into use much earlier than 

 one transplanted ; but as a practical question it 

 will be found much best to set out the seedling 

 trees, except perhaps in a few rare instances. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



Destruction of Forests. — A California cor- 

 respondent says : " There is a very sensible article 

 in the Nation of the 1st inst., on the " Present 

 and future of the Sierra Forests," by Prof. C. S. 

 Sargent, Director of the Botanic Garden of 

 Harvard University, that will well repay peru- 

 sal. The fire fiend, and sheep nuisance are rap- 

 idly denuding our grand old forests of the Sierra ; 

 burning up the grown trees, and eating up the 

 young. Where once stood a luxurious forest 

 growth there is now a fire and sheep created 

 desert. From a single stand-point (the south 

 dome of Yosemite), I counted at one time, 

 nineteen large fires, with their tongues of flame 

 licking up the young trees the sheep had spared, 

 and sweeping off whole forests of grown trees 

 set on fire by sheepmen. Who does not exe- 

 crate this?" 



Natural History and Science. 



CO MM UNI CA TIONS. 



CARNIVOROUS PLANTS. 



BY GEO. FOUST, BARNEGAT, N. J. 



Our venerable friend and florist Mr. P. Hen- 

 deson, puts things very nicely in his argument 

 that plants do not feed through the pores of the 

 leaves. Still, Mr. Editor I have to take sides 

 with you and state that so far as my experience 

 goes, plants can be made to grow better, pro- 



duce larger and more abundant flower trusses 

 and also thriftier looking by stimulating them 

 through the pores of the leaves. I submit a 

 formula for all the readers of the Monthly to 

 experiment with, viz: Multiply the length by 

 the breadth of your house and find number of 

 square feet. To every 200 square feetj take one 

 teaspoonful of spirits of ammonia, and two tea- 

 spoonful of water. Heat a pan or sliovel very 

 hot and walk through the house pouring the 

 mixture on the hot surface so as to vaporise it. 



