130 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



can make use of any tree clown to five inches in diameter, and 

 what is not cut for logs is cut for skids and handspikes. Years 

 ago from three to seven logs constituted a load; but now fifty 

 or *ixty are taken at a load, and I read in the paper of one team 

 hauling 150 "logs" at one load. The cuttings now resemble a 

 clearing, while in the old time only the larger trees were taken. 

 You can see what the effect will be. The young trees deprived 

 of shade grow up scrubby, knotty, unfit for lumber, and even 

 unfit for pulp. This produces conditions for forest fires and 

 floods, such as were not found with the old system. 



The hemlock, one of the most abundant of the trees of my 

 boyhood, is now quite scarce, except in places remote from the 

 tannery or railroad. It is a tree of slow growth; and it would 

 take a century, if it were left entirely to itself, to restock the 

 forest with this magnificent and valuable tree. 



I could bring other instances to show the great need of intelli- 

 gence in regard to the protection of our valauble plants. It is 

 quite as easy to show that intelligence is needed in keeping out 

 the pernicious plants. Many plants have found their way to this 

 country which, in their native home, were not considered as 

 great pests. The daisy, it is said, w^as brought to this country 

 to beautify our meadows. The Russian thistle is another in- 

 stance of foreign weeds forcing their unwelconle presence upon 

 us. Indeed many of these plants are usurping the ground and 

 driving out the native inhabitants. Here is an opportunity for 

 teaching the rotation of crops. The native plants have ex- 

 hausted the particular elements for their growth, while the for- 

 eign plant finds just the things it most needs. 



Much valuable effort has been expended in misdirected and 

 useless work, which a little knowledge of botany would have 

 reduced to a minimum, and have rendered effective. As a boy 

 it was my duty to hoe the garden and to mow the road. In both 

 these places, the thistles had a firm foothold. How many days 

 in the hot sun, have I worked at the thistles, with aching back 

 and fingers full of prickles; but I did not reduce their numbers, 

 indeed, they seemed to thrive much better than the plants I was 

 cultivating. I mowed the road two or three times in a year with 

 the result of augmenting instead of diminishing their numbers. 

 By lucky chance, I helped a neighbor cut a field of thistles in 



