1882. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



245 



old, sixteen feet high. Tulip Poplars I bought 

 from you twelve yeare ago— one foot then— are 

 now, 8oine of them, over thirty feet high. Live 

 Oiks, twelve years from the seed are now twenty 

 feel high, and over ten inches in diameter at 

 biise. Pittosporum, set out six years ago, not 

 b\x inches high, are now eight feet high, and 

 cover a space over nine feet across. Chinese 

 Arborvitses, nine years from seed, are now, many 

 of them, over twenty feet high and strong 

 enough for fence posts. All are grown on light 

 sandy soil, without any manure. I never saw 

 such rapid growth— altogether too fast for my 

 wishes. I give you these points thinking you 

 miirht like to know how trees grow here. 



[We are very much obliged to Mr. W. for 

 these notes. There is nothing more needed 

 just now than the knowledge of what trees will 

 thrive best in different parts of the country. 

 We hope to hear from him again on other 

 kinds, and to have similar notes from others. — 

 Ed. G. M.l 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Cctlture and Management of our Native 

 Forests — One of the papers read at the National 

 Forestry Congress has been published in pam- 

 phlet form, of which a copy is now before us. 

 It is "on the Culture and Management of our 

 Native Forests," by H. \V. S., Cleveland, well 

 known for his intimate knowledge of this sub- 

 ject. It is practical knowledge like this that 

 people want. At the meeting at Rochester it 

 was among the suggestions made that societies 

 should freely issue information of a practical 

 chara.'ter. Why not begin with a cheap tract 

 like this ? 



Profitable Tree Planting. — Mr. Wm. Saun- 

 ders, of the Agricultural Department at Wash- 

 ington, gets down to the marrow of the question 

 in the following paragraph ; 



"Whether it is more profitable to plant trees' 

 for the sake of their timber than it is to plant 1 

 cereals and other crops for their food value, may i 

 be left for fiirmers t<) decide ; but to ))lant.one 

 hundred acres in trees with the view of increas 

 ing the rain fall on the adjoining one hundred 

 acres of arable lands, seems to us a very weak 

 proposition." 



Timber in Virginia.— We learn from that 

 excellent mining and industrial journal The 



Virginits. that the owners of the Craig Creek. 

 slate quarries in that State estiniAte that on 

 the 5 000 acres of land bought by them there 

 stands, where easy of access, oak timber enough 

 for a quarter of a million railway ties. This 

 land is well covered with white, chestnut and 

 other oaks, white and yellow pine, and other va- 

 rieties of timber trees. 



Section of Sequoia.— Can any one tell us what 

 became of the section of the great mammoth 

 tree of California w'hich was exhibited at the 

 Centennial? 



Forest Fires.— Dr. Warder believes keeping 

 out underbrush from forests may do as a rem- 

 edy against forest fires; but is not a desirable 

 practice, as it prevents new forests from suc- 

 ceeding the old, when the mature ones are cut 

 away. 



Forestry at Cincinn.vti. — Over one hundred 

 papers were presented to the Forestry Congress 

 which shows the wide-spread interest taken in 

 the subject. There were too many to read and 

 discuss, and, from a list of the titles before us, 

 we should judge many of the best papers are 

 among those not read. These will appear in 

 the proceedings which we understand are now in 

 course of publication. 



At Rochester, a proposition was made by Dr. 

 Warder to unite the old American Forestry As- 

 sociation with the new Forestry Congress, and, 

 in the probability of the union, to meet at Mon- 

 treal the day before the next meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, the time appointed for the meeting of 

 the congress. This involves the retirement of 

 Dr. Warder from the presidency of the Associa- 

 tion. It is not too much to say that it is to the 

 long years of labor of Dr. Warder, chiefly, that 

 such a meeting as that at Cincinnati was ren- 

 dered possible, and to his personal efforts at that 

 time is due much of its success. 



Durability of Timber — It should not be for- 

 gotten that there are often circumstances inde- 

 pendent of the quality of wood which decide 

 the question of durability. A few days ago the 

 writer examined three oak posts, all made at the 

 same time from the same tree, two at the bottom 

 of a hill, one on high ground on the hill side. 

 Though all the same bize, the two lower ones 

 were rotted off near the ground ; the one on the 

 hill side is as good as ever. 



