112 



refer to the disease known as an unjust and unscientific manner 

 of taxing timber lands, and (<> llie disease known as foi-cst lires. 

 Here are two diseases wliicii threaten to destroy not only chest- 

 nut trees, but all of our forest trees. These diseases threaten 

 not only to destroy our standing trees but to prevent, or make 

 useless, the planting and growth of any forest trees. These 

 diseases are not well-known diseases which are be3ond our con- 

 trol. They are entirely within the control of human agents, and 

 J would be grateful if 1 could impress u])on the mind of every 

 menibei- in attendance u]n>n tills Convention tliat if we could 

 only control the forest tires and l)i-ing abont, a just, scientific, 

 and uniform system of taxing forest land, and then go ahead and 

 plant tre(?s, trees immune from this dreaded disease, pine trees, 

 oak trees, hickory trees, ]ioplar trees, valuable timber trees, we 

 would have so many timber trees flourishing in the State of 

 Pennsylvania that it really would not matter a very great deal if 

 we had no more chestnut trees. We could ])ossibly get along 

 without them, (A])idause). 



MR. F. r,. JEWETT, of !r^us(iuehanna county, I'a. : Mr. Chair- 

 nmn and Gentlemen : 1 came to the City of Harrisburg to-day 

 not particularly to attend this Convention; bnt, when I arrived 

 here and the programme was thrust before me, every other item of 

 my business stopped, and I have attended your meetings and 

 liave been very much interested. 



The first dollar that I ever remember of having in my life Avas 

 derived from the chestnut tree, half a centnry ago, when, as a 

 little boy, I picked up the chestnuts. I have been very much in- 

 terested in every phase of the discussion, because, like the gentle- 

 man over here, I have several acres that liave chestnut trees on 

 them. In this evening's lecture there was thrown on the canvas 

 a view of the harvest of that chestnut orchai-d in Irish A'alley, 

 near Shamokin, and in the ])ictnve 1 noticed the green bnrrs 

 were harvested. The (juestio]! that 1 \\ ish to ask, if IM'ofessor 

 Davis is ]>res<'nt, is, how they conld get those green bnrrs off 

 I'roiii the trees withont injni'iiig them? All those that have 

 knowledg<' from ex])erience know that it is almost impossible to 

 get a green burr from its native branch until the frost comes 

 and kills the connection between the burr and the branch. I 



