AND GA R DENE R'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO 52 NORTH MARK KT sthppp ,» 77, 



^ _' ■ ^'- ""n-'n MAKKti SI REEF, (Agbicultural Wabehocse.) 



OL. XVI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 11, 1838. 



NO. 40. 



We present to our readers the subjoined nie- 

 irial und the letter annexed, persuaded that 

 :y will be read with great interest. The ohjoct 

 of puhlic importance ; and llie gentleman who 

 iposes it is fully qualified for the task. We 

 cerely hope that Congress may fiml time and 

 linution to view it in its various public bearings ; 

 I give it that liberal patronage to which it has 

 t claims. Jts length will not deter the intelli- 

 it part of the agricultural community from read- 

 it with attention. 



MEMORIAL OF DANIEL J. IJROWNE, 



tying Congress to adopt measures for procuring 

 nd preserving a supply of timber for naval pur- 

 oses. 



the honorable the Senate and House of Repre- 



entalives of the United States in Congress as- 



embled : 



: memorial of DanielJ. Browne, citizen of the 



'nited Slates, respectfully represents ; 



'hat, in a maritime and commercial country 



ours, .so susceptible of invasion in times of 

 , it is obvious the most certain and effectual 

 ns of preserving its peace and perpetuity is 

 ho strength and permanency of iis naval force, 

 foundation and bulwark of its pre-eminence 

 I all nations of the globe ; and that, as a ne- 

 ■wy consequence of thus preserving and main- 

 ng that force, we must in future de|)end upon 

 bounty of our forests. Tlicugh large tracts 

 ir soil, both public and private, situated along 

 seaboard and navigable waters inland, are still 

 red with valuable wood and timber, yet the 



materials for civil and naval purposes have 



imprudently consumed, and are now nearly 

 usted. 



tiat, from the sensible diminution and general 

 'C which have been made in our forests for 

 1 years ))ast, it is the opinion of your memo- 

 it the most urgent motives call imperiously 

 1 our government to provide an immediate 

 sdy for so alarming an evil, by carefully pre- 

 ng such portions of the naval timber growing 

 I our public lands as do yet remain entire, 

 oy sedulously repairing the loss of such as 

 >een destroyed. 



jat, from the importance of the foregoing 

 derations, and the public nature of the un- 

 king, your memorialist now most respectfully 

 of Congress to cause a liberal appropriation 



made for the employment of a competent 

 , with proper assistants, for the accomplish- 

 of the following objects : 

 To make a special examination of the forest 

 |ofthe United States, with the viewofascer- 

 g how far they are capable of supplying our 

 |»sing naval wants, and to determine, as far 

 isible, whereby timber trees suitable for civil 

 aval architecture may be preserved or im- 

 either by reserving certain portions of our 



public lands now containing a growth of wood or 

 by establishin;; plantations in various parts of the 

 country for the cultivation of oaks and other use- 

 ful trees, in order that a constant supply of timber 

 may be kept up for the further security and pres- 

 ervation o(^ the navy. , 



2. To investigate the causes of the decay of the 

 several kinds of wood an<l timber, and to test, by 

 a series of experiments, their strength, durability, 

 and elastic force, and to acquire a general knowN 

 edge of their utility and application in the arts. 



That, to explain more fully the views and ob- 

 jects of your memorialist, he respectfully refers to 

 the subjoined communication, trusting that Con- 

 gress will offer such aid to the enterprise as the 

 wisdom and justice of that body may ddem expe- 

 dient. 



And your memorialist, as in duly bound, will 

 ever pray, u. j BROWNE. 



Boston, February 15, 1838. 



White Have.-*, Grand Island, ) 

 Sept. 16, 1837. j 





Sir: Knowing your zeal for the public good, 

 and the interest which you have ever manifested 

 in encouraging pursuits pertaining to useful 

 knowledge, 1 have taken the liberty to address 

 you 6m a subject whi.h cannot but obtain a fivor- 

 able reception from you, as the principal end and 

 design of the enterprise have a strong tendency 

 to the peace, prosperity, and perjietuity of our 

 nation. 



You are already aware that I have devoted a 

 considerable portion of my life to the investiga- 

 tion of the forest trees of our country, and that, in 

 1832, I published a work on the subject, entitled 

 the " Sylva Americana." That work, as well hs 

 the one published by the Michauxs, is now nearly 

 or quite out of print, and the public seem to re- 

 quire a more comprehcnsivo treatise than either; 

 consequently, I have been induced to commence' 

 the preparation of a work with the view of ren- 

 dering it more complete and extensive than ever 

 has been written on the subject. From the public 

 nature of the enterprise, it is earnestly hoped that 

 our National Legislatuie will, on application, give 

 aid and countenance to the undertaking, and will 

 put me, in possession of ail information on the 

 subject that I may desire. 



The course I have preferred to ado|)t in accom- 

 plishing the object in question, is to reside a year 

 or more in at least three sections of the Union, 

 namely, the northern, southern, and western, in' 

 order to learn as minutely as possible all that 're- 

 hues to the nature and use of every forest tree in 

 the country. For a considerable portion of the 

 year past, I have been engaged in making obser- 

 vations on the shores and islands of Niagara river 

 which contain nearly all the species of trees in- 

 digenous to the northern section of the United 

 States. 



Among the objects of inquiry which I have 

 deemed imjiortanl, I would enumerate the follow- 

 ing : 



1. To preserve a complete set of .specimens of 

 the leaves, flowers, fruit, wood, bark, and roots, of 

 each tree, and to cause drawings to be made after 

 nature of all the species that were not figured by 

 the Michauxs; more than thirty of which I liave 

 discovered in the United States, Florida, and the 

 Canadas, since the publication of the " Sylva," 

 exceeding forty feet in height, most of them never 

 having been fully described. 



2. To make microscopic examinations of the 

 various kinds of wood, in order to determine, with 

 the most unerring certainty, each individual spe. 

 cies, and put an end to the confusion which has 

 long prevailed among botanists, and has given rise 

 to so many errors. 



3. To cause chemical analyses to be made of 

 some of the more useful kinds of timber employ- 

 ed in naval constructions, and to test, by a series 

 of experiments, their strength, durability, and 

 elastic force, as well as to investigate tiie causes 

 and prevention of their decay. 



From the intimate connexion the la.st named 

 objects have with the navy, which, in a country 

 like ours, is of so great importance, it is a matter 

 of surprise that no complete experiments of the 

 above character ever have been made under the 

 direction of our Navy Board. Similar experiments 

 have hf.eu made in Great Britain, France, and 

 other countries, which have l)een attended with 

 beneficial results, and why should not the same 

 thing be done in our own country .' It is true 

 our Navy Commissioners have commenced a se' 

 ries of experiments on the durability of several 

 kinds of timber, and I believe some 'trials on the 

 prevention of the dry rot, all of which is highly 

 laudable ; but why not place the whole under the 

 direction of some conjpettnt individuals, and have 

 the thing thoroughly tested ? 



It is a common o|>inion among naval construe, 

 tors in this country, that the white oak, when 

 suffered to remain in contact with the southern 

 live oak, will cause the latter to decay, which ap- 

 pears to be verified, in a degree, by the following 

 circumstance : In the course of the very thorough 

 repair of our favorite frigate at Charlestown, a 

 short time since, which was built about forty years 

 ago, many of the white oak timbers of her frame 

 were found in excellent condition, while others by 

 their side, of the live oak, had passed into a state 

 of decay. Admitting this to be true, the question, 

 might arise, whether the change thus produced 

 was not caused by the chemical constituents of 

 one kind of timber acting upon those of the other.' 

 The truth of this can only be determined by sub- 

 jecting the wood of the two trees to chemical an- 

 alyses, which would be an obje(;t worthy of trial. 

 In reference to the strength and elastic force of 

 the various kinds of timber, perhaps it may not 

 be unnecessary to observe, that trees, in growing, 

 form every year a new circle of wood, between' 

 that of the preceding year's growth and the bark. 

 Consequently, each circle is a year older than the 

 one immediately within it ; and in a tree of one 

 hundred years' growth, the timber in the centre ia 



