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Italy the lands of the orange and grape are in the same latitude as Boston, and going 

 west on the same parallel to California, we again find ourselves surrounded with fruits 

 •and plants which in Boston can only be grown under glass. Continuing our western 

 flight across the Pacific, we find the flora of Eastern Asia to bear, in many respects, a 

 striking resemblance to that of Eastern America. 



These facts have certainly a very important bearing upon the question of forest culture. 

 The-y prove that the S. W. wind of spring and early summer is perhaps the worst enemy 

 we have to guard against, and also that its deleterious influences are neutralized when it 

 passes over a large body of water. It is comparatively rare, however, that a situation 

 can be secured affording that advantage, and the question naturally arises, are there no 

 other means of pi'otection 1 I am happy to have it in my power again to summon 

 nature as a witness that such means are within our reach. 



I have said that the beech would not grow near Chicago, a fact which I was very 

 reluctant to admit on first going there, and was only fully convinced of its truth by 

 witnessing repeated failures, and the evidence of reliable nurserymen who had tried in 

 vain to preserve it. Yet after I had long been satisfied that it was idle to attempt its 

 culture, I was one day amazed, while surveying in the woods a few miles from the city 

 at coming upon a little gi-oup of beech trees comprising some twenty or thirty in all, of 

 mature size and in full health and vigour. On examining the situation, to discover, if 

 possible, an explanation of the phenomenon, I observed first that they stood in the 

 bottom of a ravine so deep that their tops were scarcely even with its banks, while the 

 wood which surrounded them extended more than a mile to the S. W., so that they were 

 completely sheltered from the effects of the wind from that quarter. I have never been 

 able to find or to hear of another beech tree anywhere in that region, and can only 

 account for their presence by supposing the seed to have been brought from a distance 

 by birds, probably crows, jays or wild pigeons, and dropped accidentally on the spot, 

 which proved to be a "coigne of vantage," where they were safe from the enemy. The 

 evidence thus afforded of the value of a screen on the S. W. side, should not be lost on 

 those who are selecting sites for orchards, or vineyards, and shows the importance when 

 thinning a wood, of leaving whatever shrubbery or foliage there may be on that side to 

 arrest the progress of the wind. 



The work of pruning the trees which are to be preserved for timber involves a care- 

 ful consideration of the principles I have set forth, apart from the judgment required for 

 the skilful performance of the mere manual labour. The object in view being the develop- 

 ment of the bole, it is important to remove any limbs which threaten to become its rivals 

 in size, if any such have become established before the work of improvement began. 

 But after the trunk has attained the desired height, it is on all accounts desirable to 

 develop the largest possible mass of foliage, because the making of wood can only be 

 effected by the elaboration of the sap, which is the work of the leaves. 



If one is rearing a new forest, in which the trees have been under his control from 

 the time of planting, it must be the result of his own ignorance or negligence if he has 

 failed to secure such forms as he desired, since it is easy to direct the growth of young ' 

 trees, and prevent them from running into extravagances, which will unfit them for 

 service as timber. And not unfrequently we may find a young wood of indigenous growth 

 which may be taken in hand and wrought into such shape that its future progress can be 

 easily directed. But, for the most part, in woods that have been suffered to run wild till 

 they have approached maturity, a good deal of skilful pruning will be required to bring 

 the individual trees that are to be preserved into such forms as will give them most value. 

 Nothing but practice and careful observation can confer this power. The little treatise 

 of DesCars on the pruning of forest and ornamental trees, translated by Mr. C. S. Sar- 

 gent, of the Arnold Arboretum, and published by A. Williams k. Co. of Boston, (price 

 75 cents) contains full and explicit illustrated directions for all the manual woi'k of 

 pruning, and is invaluable as a guide to the novice, and a work of reference to ex- 

 perienced foresters. But mere manual skill in the performance of the work will be of 

 little avail without the application of a thorough knowledge of the principles of tree 

 -growth, and a strict compliance with the requirements of their nature. 



If our agriculturists will but apply to the management of their forests the same in- 



