FOKEST CONSERVATOEIES. 429 



science. Yet there are many who are neither scholars nor 

 naturalists who would delight in an occasional stroll in 

 these woods ; the female sex, especially, among whom a 

 certain refined intellectual culture is more general than 

 among men, would find in them a charming resort, dur- 

 ing a greater part of the year, under such guidance as 

 would be provided. 



The importance of forest conservatories, set apart from 

 all purposes of commerce, agriculture, and manufactures, 

 and designed to assist in regulating the beneficent ac- 

 tion of nature over the whole wide country, cannot be 

 easily appreciated. The masses do not understand the 

 general principles upon which the meteorological effects 

 of a regular distribution of forest are based. It is a sub- 

 ject almost as difficult as that of public finance. Our 

 people know the value of timber in the mechanic arts, 

 and of trees for shade, shelter, and especially for orna- 

 ment; for a love of the ornate enters a people's mind 

 before they have emerged from barbarism. But to under- 

 stand the mysterious relations of trees and forests to the 

 climate and soil, to drought and inundations, demands 

 more study than men in general can devote to it. 



I ought to remark in this place, that, when selecting 

 a tract for a conservatory, the mountains must be excepted, 

 because they are the resort of our people during the sum- 

 mer months. They are also the natural sporting-grounds 

 of the nation, and the regulations needful to a forest con- 

 servatory would not be tolerated in those places, which 

 have been adopted by the people for other and favorite 

 purposes. The places that ought to be selected are not 

 the mountainous districts, but unproductive spots of 

 uneven and diversified surface, which would be com- 

 pletely desolated, like the bald hills of many parts of 

 Essex County in Massachusetts, if all were left to the 

 practical instinct of the community. These hills were 



