140 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



provement cuttings aimed primarih- at the betterment of 

 its silvicultural condition have been carried forward, and 

 cleared lands unfit for agriculture on account of steep- 

 ness and thin soil have been planted tc:i trees. Biltmore 

 Forest is today full stocked with a thrifty stand, and 

 producing- a steady and increasing yield of "firewood and 

 small timbers. The forest plantations set out on denuded 

 lands, which cover in the aggregate about four thousand 

 acres, are among the most successful in America ; and 

 Air. \'anderbilt had the well-earned gratification of see- 

 ing harvested as the product of careful thinnings, logs 

 suitable for box boards, grown from seedlings planted 

 as the result of his forethou.ght over twenty years ago. 



I do not want to close this brief account of the first 

 great object lesson in forest conservation in the United 

 States on private lands without a reference to tlie per- 

 sonality of tiie man who created and enriched it with 

 each year of his faithful stewardship. Air. ^'anderbilt 

 possessed singular gentleness and nobility of spirit, and 

 had an intense and abiding love for the world out-of- 

 doors. As his life lengthened, he was drawn more and 

 more to long sojourns at Buck Springs Lodge, a log 

 structure within a mile of the top of Alount Pisgah, and 

 probably no scene was so dear to his heart as the view 

 from the lodge of the green gorge of Big Creek, winding 

 down among a jumble of mountains to the wide valley 

 of the French Broad with the outlines of the Blue Ridge 

 beyond. During the last years of his life more and more 

 of his pleasure was gained from landscape architecture, 

 of which he was a faithful student and for which he 

 possessed rare power. He laid out in the vicinity of the 

 lodge trails carefully designed tn reveal exquisite 

 glimpses of the mountains, and the^e he developed still 

 further by skillful cuttings which he termed appropriate- 

 ly '"Painting with the a.xe." It was a wholesome sight 

 to see this man of great possessions supervising the de- 

 velopment of vista cuttings for the disclosure of some 

 view whose latent possibilities his skilled eye alone had 

 detected, and it was characteristic of him, to judge no 

 such achievement complete until it had contributed to the 

 enjoyment of his friends. 



The range of Mr. A'anderbilt's charities in the moun- 

 tain community which owes so much to him. he scrupu- 

 louslv withheld from common knowledge. But the larg- 

 est of his manv contributions to the general welfare he? 

 in the great and wholesome lesson taught by the activi- 

 ties of his vast estate. For not only did he demonstrate 

 the methods and the practical advantages of forestry for 

 private owners ; he was also a pioneer in scientific agri- 

 culture, in horticulture and in model dairying. The 

 stimulus afforded by his example towards improved 

 agricultural methods in the South is beyond all estimate. 

 George \A'. \'anderbilt earned, and no doubt he will 

 receive, a high place in permaneiit nublic recognition of 

 his distinguished public service. Were his admirable 

 conception of the moral responsibility which accompanies 

 the private ownership of natural resources the rule in- 

 stead of the exception, the conservation problem in 

 America would be alreadv solved. — American Forestry. 



NAMING AN AUTOMOBILE. 



A prominent motor car manufacturer in the midlan<ls 

 had the idea of naming his cars after flowers. Said he to 

 a friend : 



"I think of calling that new car over there." pointing to 

 a huge red limousine, "the Crimson Rambler." 



But his friend who had been out in the indicated car, 

 replied, kindly: 



■'AMiy not call it the Mrginia Creeper?" 



LICHENS AND THEIR VALUE. 



You have seen, on rocks and trees in wild places, cer- 

 tain flat, papery or leathery objects of various colors, 

 that resembled you hardly knew what, unless you are a 

 botanist. You have probably seen them too on soil, and 

 so loosely attached as to become separated at the lightest 

 touch, while some on the rocks, apparently hardly more 

 than spots of color, seem almost imbedded ; and on old 

 houses and fences and in exposed situations generally at 

 all seasons. These blotches are living, growing plants. 

 They are lichens. Most fascinating plants they are too, 

 because of their wide range and peculiar mode of life. 

 Sometimes rocks or large boulders are so covered with 

 various kinds that they present a curiously mottled, often 

 an encrusted appearance. 



I remember hearing the driver of' a stage coach say, as 

 he pointed to a well-known lichen hanging in festoons 

 from the branches of a tree, "Yes, sir, that stuff up in 

 those oaks will show you how high this river rises some- 

 times." 



How much more interesting many a drive would be, 

 if we knew a little more of the world about us. 



Lichens are world-wide in their distribution. In the 

 extreme north they form the most advanced outpost of 

 vegetable life. They are found on mountain tops far in 

 advance of other vegetation, and they abound in the hot- 

 test countries. They are the pioneers of the vegetable 

 world, subsisting largely on what the wind and the rain 

 can bring them. 



They are most frequently seen on the weather side of 

 rocks, trees, fences and old houses. This fact has been 

 utilized by explorers and trappers to guide them through 

 unfamiliar places. One kind grows' on the leaf of the 

 coffee plant, and one found in California grows on the 

 bo.xwood leaf. Both probably derive some nourishment 

 from the green part of the plant, and are therefore to 

 some extent probably parasitic. A few are marine, occur- 

 ring on rocks and rocky ledges that are submerged at 

 high tide. 



They seem to disappear before the advance of civiliza- 

 tion, and are coniparatively rare in parks, near dwellings 

 and along much traveled roadsides. Some authorities 

 say they are sensitive to noxious gases, smoke and dust. 

 They are little affected by drought or changes in tem- 

 perature. During dry weather or dry seasons they lie 

 dormant, Init with the first rainfall they change from 

 brittleness to elasticity, and the colors brighten. 



.\s distinguished from the mosses, to which they are 

 not related, they lack leaves and the characteristic green 

 coloring. The)' are lower in the scale of plant evolution 

 than the mosses. 



.\ lichen is not a single plant unit as is the oak or the 

 fern, but a composite organism made up of an alga and 

 a fungus. The kinds of algae vary in the different lichens. 

 Most of them, however, are the simplest forms, kniiwn 

 as the single-celled algae. Most of the fungi belong to 

 the group known as sac-fungi, because they form their 

 spores in little sac-like structures. The fungi are depend- 

 ent upon the algae for their organic food, and the algae 

 are protected by the fungi against loss of moisture, and 

 supply to them certain necessary chemicals — a life re- 

 tionship for mutual benefit: one supplies what the other 

 lacks, making it possible for two organisms to thrive 

 where neither could exist alone. .\s a result of this 

 partnership, the lichens are wonderfully successful in the 

 struggle for existence. 



We must not confuse this mutualistic relationship with 

 parasitism. In that there is also an intimate biological re- 

 lationship, but one organism (the host) is injuriously 



