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THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[Aprit, 



been untiring in the endeavor to secure a full 

 attendance, and has been so successful that the 

 meeting promises to be one of the most valuable 

 in its results. Every one feels the need of more 

 attention to our forestry interests ; but just what 

 should, or what can be done, has not been well 

 defined. Some important, practical suggestions 

 will no doubt be the result of this promising 

 meeting. 



Timber Duration in Iowa. — Professor Bqssey 

 believes timber is less durable in Iowa than else- 

 where, and that the abundant presence of the 

 dry rot fungus is the cause thereof. 



Timber Cdlture in Australia. — It is proposed 

 in South Australia that a block of 200,000 acres 

 be reserved for systematic tree planting, and 

 that in the first year $70,000 be expended upon it, 

 and in each of the eleven following years $52,500, 

 a total expense of $650,000. After the first five 

 years it is estimated there would be a revenue 

 from periodical thinnings of $175,000, and in 

 twenty-one years they would possess 310 square 

 miles of forest. 



United States Timber Laws.— We recently 

 referred to the evasion of the timber laws in 

 Oregon. The law is : " Any person who is the 

 head of a family, or who has arrived at age of 

 twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United 

 States, or who has filed his declaration of inten- 

 tion to become such, who shall plant, protect 

 and keep in healthy growing condition for eight 



years forty acres of timber, on any quarter 8ec>- 

 tion (one hundred and sixty acres) of any of the 

 public lands of the United States, or twenty 

 acres on any eighty acres, or ten acres on forty 

 acres, or five acres on any twenty acres, shall be 

 entitled to a patent for the whole quarter-section 

 or for such legal sub divison thereof as he may 

 have taken up, at the expiration of eight years, 

 on making proof that the terms have been ful- 

 filled, by not less than two credible witnesses. 

 Moreover, any person having a homestead on 

 the public domain who, after three years' resi- 

 dence thereon, shall, in addition to the improve- 

 ments now required by law, have under cultiva- 

 tion for two years, one acre of timber in good 

 thrifty condition for every sixteen acres of the 

 homestead, shall, upon proof thereof by two 

 credible witnesses, receive a patent for the home- 

 stead." It will be well for those who intend to 

 act under this law to get from the Commissioner 

 of the General Land Office at Washington, a list 

 of trees acceptable to the government. By a 

 recent decision Catalpa, Ailanthus and Osage 

 orange are ruled out, or^ the ground that only 

 such kinds of timber already well known in 

 lumber markets were intended. 



Since this was written we learn that N. C. Mc- 

 Farland, Commissioner in the General Land 

 Office, has announced the intention of the office 

 to regard Osage orange, Catalpa, and Ailanthus 

 as timber trees entitling the planter to land under 

 the United States laws. 



Natural History and Science. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



WILD GARDEN. 



BY ED. L. JELLETT, GERMANTOWN, PHILA. 



The season of the year is now at hand in 

 which we can go with pleasure to the woodland, 

 the hillside, and the meadow, and find objects 

 worthy our closest attention and consideration. 

 The love of flowers is natural, and this love 



coupled with a spirit of investigation creates a 

 pleasure which corresponds to the amount of 

 effort put forth. In the selection of objects for 

 pleasure or study, we should discard those thor- 

 oughly " epicurean " in character, and select 

 those combining as much as possible — pleasure 

 present, and pleasure in its permanence ; their 

 object seems to be found in scientific pursuits, 

 and especially among the objects of the vegeta- 

 ble kingdom. We should therefore take advan- 



