c885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



209 



wild kinds found in Arizona, Mexico, and South 

 America. But it strikes us that the good old 

 potato is a long way yet from destruction. Some 

 of the newer varieties are as good as any one at 

 any time, and the crops raised are as heavy now 

 as they have ever been in all potato history. 



Product of a Single Potato. — The amazing 

 reproductive capacity of some insects is more 

 than equalled in the vegetable world. The seeds 

 in a single orchid capsule are capable of making 

 -millions of plants. The spores from a single 

 Puff-ball might give Puff-balls to every square mile 

 in the whole United States. Nature provides 

 checks to the enormous increase which such 

 plants are capable of. Man, however, can control 



the elements in some measure, and when he tries 

 his hand at the removal of the obstructions, we 

 see what plants can do. At a recent meeting of 

 the Summit Co. (Ohio) Horticultural Society, 

 during the discussion, Aaron Teeple told how 

 Chas. C. Miller, of Akron, raised ifiyy^ pounds 

 of the Dakota Red potato last year from a single 

 pound of seed. The tubers were put under glass 

 and several crops of sprouts taken. These were 

 carefully transplanted, and when well established 

 they were set out in the open air. 



j Tomatoes in Turkey. — The Tomato is being 

 introduced into Turkish gardens, where it goes as 

 the Red Egg plant. Everything American is 



' respected in that country. 



Forestry. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Forest Fires. — The New York Commercial 

 Bulletin, in presenting its usual monthly record 

 of losses by fire, makes the following pertinent 

 comment : " The fires keep up their ravages in a 

 way that should compel attention of an antago- 

 nistic sort. It may be all very well to endure 

 what cannot be cured. But this is not that kind of '■ 

 misery, since its cure is discoverable and appli- [ 

 ■cable. And as long as carelessness almost crimi- 

 nal, and design, which actually is criminal, are 

 allowed their own way in producing this enormous 

 and increasing waste of national wealth, the evil 

 will have to be endured, simply because there is 

 no adequate attempt to cure it. Fires were bad 

 enough throughout 18S4, but 1885 is pretty cer- 1 

 tain to show something worse. April's fire record, j 

 as we estimate its results, will add $7,750,000 to 

 the aggregate of the preceding three months, thus 1 

 making $35,250,000 the amount of destruction by 

 fire in the United States and Canada since Janu- 

 ary I, or at the rate of $105,750,000 for the year if 

 it is not checked. Our own files for April have 

 contained record of 196 fires where the reported 

 loss was from $10,000 upwards." 



It is all very well to blame carelessness and de- 

 sign for starting forest fires, but the contributory 

 neghgence that permits piles of dead brush to he 

 around loose waiting for carelessness or design to 



come along and fire the material, is surely as 

 culpable. 



Educated Foresters. — In America we some- 

 times ask, what shall we do with our girls ? Sir 

 John Lubbock says in England the question is, 

 What shall I do with my son ? He answers the 

 question, that they should learn a little about 

 forestry, and then become Government Forest 

 Commissioners at $4,000 a year. 



Drainage for Trees. — The necessity for good 

 drainage for trees as well as for flowers is well 

 illustrated by Cahfornian experience. In many 

 places the soft surface soil is only about a foot 

 deep. Then there is "hard pan" about 14 or 15 

 feet, then gravel. If a hole for a tree is made two 

 feet deep, the tree may as well stand in a bucket 

 of water. Such trees die or get sick. But when a 

 hole four inches wide is bored through the hard 

 pan under the trees to the gravel, the trees thrive 

 amazingly. They grow like magic. 



Forest Fires. — Slowly the public mind is 

 awakening to the fact which we have long en- 

 deavored to impress, that the true remedy against 

 forest fires is to proceed against those who leave 

 dead underbrush lying loose around. The Amer- 

 ican Architect now says : 



" Against animated incendiaries a forest patrol 

 might be tolerably effective, but it would be still 

 more useful to provide in some way for the 

 removal of underbrush from woodland. Trees by 



