98 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1895. 



with a cultivated country round about. Ou the other hand, a bare 

 and rocky hill suggests images of bleak and barren desolation, cold 

 blasts, and parching sun. In fine, were it not for trees would there be 

 much beauty in mountain, hill, or valley? For who can conceive of a 

 beautiful landscape scene devoid of trees? 



Now, if forests are so essential from every standpoint, what can 

 and ought to be done for their growth and preservation? Happily 

 in this part of the country nothing need be done for their growth 

 except to give them a fair chance ; for they spring up spontaneously, 

 and grow with vigor in our valleys, and on our mountain and hill sides. 

 But on the prairies of the West, where they are needed most, they 

 have to be planted and tended for years in order to secure their growth 

 and continuance. Under the delegated powers to the general govern- 

 ment it is doubtful whether it has any authority to make forestry laws 

 for the States, although it is charged with the duty " to provide for the 

 general welfare of the United States." It has, however, without ques- 

 tion, the right to preserve all the timber land on the public domain. 

 There are now over three million acres in our great national parks, and 

 about eighteen million in our national forest reservations. And intel- 

 ligent measures should be taken to withdraw from the market all such 

 public forest lands as are necessary to supply the head waters of the 

 great lakes and rivers of the country. And efficient measures should 

 also be taken to safely guard and suitably manage the forests belong- 

 ing to the nation. The principles of forestry should be taught at 

 West Point, or in a separate school of forestry ; and the public forests 

 and parks should be placed under the guardianship of the United 

 States Army, or of trained foresters under the control of some depart- 

 ment of the general government. If properly managed they could be 

 made a source of large income to the government, and reservoirs of 

 fertility to agricultural land, of water supply to rivers and lakes, and 

 of health and protection to people and their domestic animals. 



I^ut while the national parks and forests are now, and will be more 

 so in the future, of vast importance in the economy of the nation, yet 

 und(u- our system of government the main work of preserving and 

 managing our forests will have to be performed by our State govern- 

 ments. Several of the States have already taken steps to foster the 

 growth and preservation of their forests. Maine has enacted a good 

 forest-fire law, and New Hampshire, New York, and Pennsylvania 

 have established forestry commissions to examine into the condition 

 of all forest covers, and to formulate plans and recommendation for 

 future legislative action. By the new constitution of New York, no 



