146 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTTJEiaT. 



adapted to our climate. Of these his 

 Flagg, Galusha, and North-west seem 

 to give promise of being extremely 

 hardy, excellent in quality, and enor- 

 mously productive. 



The colored plate which is given in 

 this number is a representation of a 

 new variety lately introduced under 

 the name of " Cumberland." It origi- 

 nated in Pennsylvania, and is highly 

 commended by prominent horticultur- 

 ists in that State. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY. 



It is both interesting and gratifying 

 to see that there are representative 

 men, occupying positions of influence 

 and power, who are alive to the im- 

 portance of preserving, and in some 

 places of restoring, the wood-lands of 

 America. It is so natural and easy for 

 men to become absorbed in the study 

 of what seem to them, and are, great 

 questions of state policy, questions 

 affecting the great interests of com- 

 merce, manufactures and national pros- 

 perity which have engaged the attention 

 of statesmen in all civilized countries, 

 and will necessarily engage it to the 

 end of time, that when an effort is 

 made to interest them in a subject such 

 as this of forestry, they are slow to be 

 convinced that it is a matter that should 

 engage their attention, and are disposed 

 to look upon those who have studied 

 the subject as enthusiasts. But men 

 who can take broad views of national 

 interests soon find that this is a subject 

 which touches the national prosperity 

 at many points. That it has most vital 

 connections with commerce, with manu- 

 factures, with the supplies of food, with 

 the health and the life of a people. 

 Among such men stands prominently 

 the Hon. Mark H. Bunnell, of Minne- 

 sota, whose speech in the House of 



Representatives of the United States is 

 replete with earnest words, most valu- 

 able information, and an evident appre- 

 ciation of the importance of the subject. 

 From his speech we learn that in Feb- 

 ruary, 1874, a committee of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the advancement of 

 science brought a memorial from that 

 body to the President of the United 

 States, urging the duty of Government 

 concerning the cultivation and the pre- 

 servation of forests, and recommending 

 that a commission should be ordered to 

 mature plans calculated to meet the 

 requirements of the subj ect. The Presi- 

 dent laid this memorial before Congress, 

 which resulted, in 1876, in the appoint- 

 ment of Dr. Franklin B. Hough, of 

 Lowville, New York, to the duty of 

 ascertaining the annual amount of con- 

 sumption, importation and exportation 

 of forest products, the probable supply 

 for future wants, and the best means 

 for the preservation and renewal of 

 forests; the influence of forests upon 

 climate, and the measures applicable in 

 this country for the planting of forests. 



In pursuance of this appointment. 

 Dr. Hough made two reports to Con- 

 gress, one in 1877, the other in 1878-9. 

 Of the first of these an officer of the 

 Wurtemberg forest service says : "It 

 awakens our surprise that a man, not 

 a specialist, should have so mastered 

 the whole body of American and Euro- 

 pean forestry literature and legislation." 



From this speech we also learn that 

 the quantity of pine lumber produced 

 in the State of Maine has steadily 

 declined from an average of 100,000,000 

 of feet per annum in 1851 to 1855 to 

 an average of 11,800,000 per annum in 

 1876 to 1881 ; that the timber supply 

 of the upper peninsula of Michigan, at 

 the rate of production in 1879, will 

 last eighteen years; that of the lower 

 peninsula will last seven years ; that of 

 the State of Wisconsin scarce tweniy 



