COMMENT. 



Catalpa-Brown has succumbed as far as the publication of 

 Arboriculture is concerned, which with the October number comes 

 to an end, in a beautifully illustrated issue in honor of the Catalpa- 

 Tree. Mr. Brown reminded us of the German professor who en 

 his death bed bemoaned his mistake in having devoted his life to 

 the study of the definite article instead of confining- himself to the 

 casus accusdtivus. It is questionable whether any one species of 

 tree can show such an amount of literary devotion as Mr. Brown 

 has bestowed on the Catalpa. It is useful to have men with one 

 idea if that idea is not run into the ground. Catalpa is good in 

 its place, but it is not any more a cure-all than Eucalyptus. 



We must call special attention to a sentence in the article on 

 nursery practice, briefed on p. 463, which has reference to the 

 occurrence of the White Pine rust in the Halstenbek nurseries. 

 It will perhaps allay the fears of those who saw the end of trade 

 relations with Germany in the line of seedlings to learn that the 

 rust once was, but now is not any more found in Halstenbek. 

 We can trust the thoroughness with which such things are 

 handled in Germany. Yet it will do no harm to scrutinize care- 

 fully all importations. 



Dr. Schenck, after an experience of fifteen years with Mr. 

 Vanderbilt, writes : "It is obvious that private individuals, in the 

 long run, will never practice timber forestry, whilst corporations 

 might be induced by proper tariff legislation, proper tax legisla- 

 tion, and proper fire legislation, to indulge in long-time invest- 

 ments of the character required in business forestry." 



We are tempted to bowl over even these pillars of private for- 

 estry, especially those built of tax releases and tariff reductions 

 or increases, and leave only the one incentive, the pocketbook 

 (which is but little affected by taxes and tariffs) as the only per- 

 suasive argument for private forest management. While there 

 are still cheap ready-made forests to be had, while there are still 

 endless opportunities to reap speculative values, in other words, 

 while the new world is still unsettled, only very special conditions 



