STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. I29 



plants for use. It has been said that, "He who caused two blades 

 of grass to grow where one grew before, is a pubhc benefactor." 

 What then should be said of the one wdio can add to the number 

 of useful plants? IMany of those we now know and prize, shovild 

 we meet them in their wild state, would probably be passed by 

 as of no account. 



We are constantly developing new' wants, or the source of 

 supply is too limited, and new demands are being made upon 

 the plant realm for supply. It was but comparatively a short 

 time ago when India rubber was discovered and brought into the 

 general service of man. But to-day the plants which have been 

 depended upon, are wholly inadequate to supply the demands 

 made upon them, and new sources of supply, or an enlarging of 

 the original, has been demanded, and already another has been 

 discovered. And it is to fill this demand for those who are able 

 to see, not in a general but in a particular sense, that the study 

 of botany is particularly adapted. \\'e have but to glance about 

 us to see the necessity for further discoveries in order to meet 

 the growing wants. Our magnificent forests of hemlock are 

 nearly a thing of the past. Already we have to go long dis- 

 tances to see a good specimen of this noble tree, and the few 

 that remain, will soon disappear. But we shall need leather and 

 it must be tanned. Where are the plants to yield the tannic 

 acid? Our magnificent lumber forests are being rapidly swept 

 away, and the children are now born who will have to settle the 

 question of an adequate supply of lumber. Demands upon the 

 plant realm, in the future will be more exacting than in the past, 

 and men must be trained who shall understand the conditions 

 most favorable for particular plant development, and for their 

 preservation. This is not a sentiment but a necessity. I live 

 in the fair Aroostook, the great lumber district of our State; and 

 within my recollection the demands upon its resources have 

 reduced its capacity to produce one-third. The new demand 

 which is stripping if of its small timber, is reducing it in some 

 places I have visited, to the appearance of a barren waste. Before 

 the paper pulp industry was inaugurated, there was some sys- 

 tem which gave the lumber opportunity to grow. Large trees 

 with seams, being unfit for use, were left to scatter their seeds; 

 and the smaller trees were not disturbed. But this new industry 



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