42 



pine and other trees. I visited the celebrated forest of Fon- 

 tainbleau in France, which covers an area of sixty-four square 

 miles. The soil of this wide tract is composed entirely of 

 sand and apparently as dry as the sand plains of Wallingford, 

 Conn. Jules Clare, a student of forest science of world-wide 

 fame, says, " the sand here forms ninety-eight per cent, of the 

 earth, and it is almost without water; it would be a drifting 

 desert but for the trees growing and artificially propagated 

 upon it.' 1 



What has been done with signal success at Fontainbleau 

 in Gascony and many other provinces of France, as well as in 

 other European countries and on Cape Cod, shows the practi- 

 cability of reclaiming the worst deserts that can be found in 

 our Atlantic States. Many other facts might be cited were it 

 necessary, both from home and foreign fields, to prove the 

 feasibility of this plan of reclaiming sterile lands. If one is to 

 be commended who makes two blades of grass grow where but 

 one grew before, how much more the farmer who makes forests 

 thrive where nothing now grows. 



The question is still often asked, will it pay the average 

 farmer to plant trees ? Certainly not, if early profit is essen- 

 tial. The answer depends on various circumstances, such as 

 the size of one's farm, its soil and situation. But on an ordi- 

 nary farm of from sixty to one hundred acres arid upwards, I 

 answer yes. If you are looking ahead and seeking an invest- 

 ment for future profit, "trees will make dollars, for they will 

 grow in waste places where nothing else can be profitably 

 cultivated. A soil too thin and rough for cereals may be 

 favorable for trees. Hillsides and plains exhausted and worn 

 out by the plow have often been reclaimed by planting forests. 

 Eavines too steep for cultivation are the favorite seats of tim- 

 ber, and wherever a crevice is found in a rocky ledge, the root 

 of a tree will burrow and spread, taking a hold so firm as 

 to defy the storm, and acting mechanically disintegrate the 

 rock and change its constituent elements into useful products. 

 By the road-side, the river-bank, along the brook, and on the 

 overhanging cliff, a tree may be always earning wealth for its 

 owners. In no way can we ultimately enrich a State more 

 than by planting the choicest trees on our exhausted and un- 



