1885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



369 



other variety have I ever found under the same 

 circumstances, and some of the usually consid- 

 ered best keeping varieties liave always been 

 stored with them. I send the specimen without 

 washing off, so if you choose to keep it longer, 

 you will have a fair chance to test its keeping 

 qualities. 



You may remember a specimen I sent you sev- 

 eral years ago (but not so long out of season) of 

 the same variety — Bentley Sweet. For long keep- 

 ing, it certainly leads, and is a very prolific and 

 early bearer. 



[This is a very pretty as well as good apple, 

 and, although some may not want to keep apples 

 over till long after apples come again, the fact is 

 valuable as showing the strength of the claim of 

 this good apple to keeping well. — Ed. G. M.] 



Yellow Forest Apple. — Mr. Sanders, Col- 

 linsburg, La., says: "I can't tell you the exact 

 difference between the Yellow Forest and the 

 Newtown Pippin, as I have not seen the above, but 

 find that the description in Thomas' " Fruit Cul- 



turist " differs somewhat. The Yellow Forest is 

 never irregular, and is never large ; it is sometimes 

 remotely conical, has no dull brownish blush, 

 and sometimes has a few bright red specks on it ; 

 has a good many black specks, especially when 

 left on the trees late ; also greenish, dark blotches 

 toward the crown ; stem shows about }( inch 

 above the apple when viewed from one side, while 

 the Newtown Pippin is very short as shown by 

 Thomas. Some specimens show a little yellowish 

 russet about the stem. 



"The Yellow Forest, as I wrote you before, was 

 found growing in the forest when a small bush 

 and transplanted to Capt. Winston's orchard about 

 six miles from my place. The tree has been 

 bearing about twelve years annually ; growth 

 rather slender, but makes a beautiful tree, not 

 drooping but diverging. Old cider drinkers say 

 that it makes the best cider they ever drank. 

 Ripens in September and keeps well. I also have 

 the finest October Cling peach that I have ever 

 seen, it is yellow, large and juicy. Both being 

 tested in N. J." 



Forestry. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



FACTS IN AMERICAN FOREST PLANTING. 



BY R. DOUGLAS. 



I would respectfully report that the contract of 

 R. Douglas & Sons for planting and cultivating 

 the tree section at Farlington, Kansas, is now 

 completed. 



Below is the height of the trees and circumfer- 

 ence of the stem near the ground. 



The above is the general height, but there are 

 spots of " gumbs " or alkali soil, where, apparently, 

 the surface soil had been removed at some 

 previous time, on which the trees make a stunted 

 growth. Fortunately, there is very little of this in 

 the land we have planted, so that there is not an 

 acre planted by us that will fall short of the num- 

 ber of trees required to fill the contract, and pro- 

 bably not five acres on which there are not from 

 twenty-five to twenty-six hundred. Our contract 



calls for two thousand to the acre. The forest is 

 in a very healthy and thrifty condition, and in 

 every way very promising for the future. 



As forestry in this country is yet in its infancy, 

 and nearly everyone who has given it but a 

 passing thought has a theory of his own, and 

 looks more to present appearances than to ulti- 

 mate results, and as one or more of these theo- 

 rists have recommended the pruning of these 

 trees, I would here urgently caution the company 

 so that they will not be led into this great mistake 

 and very expensive experiment. 



They were planted closely to avoid the neces- 

 sity of pruning. The trees will prune each other, 

 even the six-year-old trees are now twenty feet 

 high and have their side branches already smoth- 

 ered and dead up to over one-half their height, 

 so that it would be a great waste of time, if 

 nothing worse, to prune them the first ten feet froni 

 the ground ; and it must be apparent to any one 

 that it would be very costly to prune them up the 

 next ten feet, but in three more years the next ten 

 feet will be pruned by the same process as the 

 first. The living side branches are a great advan- 

 tage to the trees, support the trunk, fill up and 

 shade the spaces between the trees, shading out 

 the weeds, and retaining the moisture. The 

 branches already dead, and they are the only ones 

 that could be removed without actual damage to 



