1879.1 



AXD HORTICULTURIST. 



241 



There are thousands of ae-res of laud in the 

 United States to-day which are under cultivation 

 but are practically unfit for the purpose, and 

 hardly pay for working them, but that would 

 make good timber land if properly managed, 

 and could be made profitable in due time. 

 Amoni; such lands we might mention steep river 

 banks, river hills and rocky ground, etc. That 

 lumber is increasing in value is very evident iVom 

 the following;' figures : 



In the neighborhood of Pittsburgh, unsawed 

 logs of various kinds sold at about four cents per 



to start on the production of a fresh crop of tim- 

 ber, is comparatively small ; while the frequent 

 forest fires which are so destructive to the young 

 growth are continually retarding the production. 

 We do not now greatly feel the want of timber,but 

 the time is coming when, unless something is done 

 to i)rotect forest lands, lumber will be ol)tained 

 with great difficulty. It is to be hoped that the 

 people of North America will make the grow- 

 ing of timber an industry, which will undoubt- 

 edly prove profitable, and that, the government 

 will also take measures in that direction, and 



cubic foot in 1.S45, which was before the war, and take the same interest in them that the European 

 prices of saleable commodities were about the ■ governments have for years. The assessment 

 same as they were in 1878, when logs of the j of taxes should be so regulated that the propor- 

 same kind sold at eight and nine cents per cubic tion of the assessment on wooded lands should 

 foot, delivered at the wharf in that city. The be smaller than on cultivated ground. In con- 

 average price of sawed lumber at Pittsburgh in elusion it must be remembered that it takes 

 1845 was 85.75 per thousand feet; in 1879 the time to produce a forest fit for cutting, and cOn- 

 average prit;e was S14.80. These figures show , sequently we must prepare now for the future, 



an average increase of over a hundred per cent., 

 but do not take into account the important fact 

 that the qualit}- of the best lumber of to-day falls 

 far short of that in common use before the war. 

 Hemlock lumber is not included in the calcula- 



and not wait until we really feel the want of 

 such wood. 



[We make room with pleasure for this inte- 

 resting paper ; though it follows in the popular 

 wake of treating the question somewhat from 



tion, as it was scarcely used before the war, and patriotism, it also deals with facts and figures, 

 yet it now commands about the same price that , which is what we all like. The comparative 

 good material did in 1845. j value of lumber in the Pittsburgh market as the 



Several experiments have been made within I years roll along is worth studying, and similar 

 the last few years to grow timber for profit hi | comparisons from other points would be accept- 

 (iifTerent localities which have already proved ' able. It would also be valuable to have further 

 remunerative. According to the census of 1869 | particulars about the plantations which have 

 in the three States of Michigan, Minnesota and ; already proved remunerative and profitable. 



Wisconsin 3,311,372,255 cubic feet of lumber 

 were cut during that year, and in order to obtain 

 this enormous quantity, 1,380 square miles of land 

 were cleared. It has been computed that at this 

 rate, twenty years would finish the lumljer trade 

 of those States. It is to be expected that the 

 coming census will develop some equally start- 

 ling statistics on this subject. Now it is an 

 error to suppose that the acreage which has 

 been entirelj' stripped, and is under cultiva- 

 tion, is diminutive. Such may be the case in 

 some few localities, but we speak of the countr}' 

 at large, and when we consider the whole 

 country we find that it is immense, and that 

 the amount of such cleared land is daily increas- 

 ing, while the demand for lumber is increasing 

 in the same proportion. All this goes to prove 

 that the consumption is far greater than the pro- 

 duction, for very little has been done as yet to 

 help the latter, and the proportion of land which 

 has been allowed to take the natural course, and 



The great trouble from forest fires seems in- 

 surmountable. People hesitate to plant largely 

 when the hopes of years may be destroyed in a 

 few hours. Possibly something may be done to 

 check this evil, but in the meantime cannot 

 some scheme of forest insurance be devised as 

 well as insurance for any other property? 



For our part, amidst the immense amount of 

 trash that comes before the public about forest 

 destruction and forest culture, we may discern 

 advancing rapidly towards us an era of forestry 

 culture; a branch of business whicli, when 

 managed as any good business should be, will 

 be one of the most profitable departments of 

 soil culture that can perhaps be pursued.— Ed. 

 G. M.] 



EDITORIAL NOTES 



Annual PvAte of Growth in Trees.— 

 At a recent meeting of the Torrey Botanical 



