900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



2 3 



ruck with the fact that the timber rights 

 > enormous tracts of land are being ac- 

 uired weekly, if not daily, in the coun- 

 es where the finest trees still stand. The 

 rices which the purchasers of such rights 

 :e compelled to pay vary, but the indubi- 

 .ble fact that the rights are being acquired 

 :mains. In the regions where the pur- 

 lases are made notice of the transaction 



gladly hailed, for the reason that the 

 pening of -the tracts to the woodman's ax 

 leans the employment of resident labor, 

 or that those regions are not to be cen- 

 ired. Every community wants to have 

 s labor employed. 



But now as to the question. So long as 

 le contractor can offset the work of five 

 ten annual Arbor Days, can "the in- 

 ease of public interest in forestry in this 

 tate " be said to be accomplishing any 

 ibstantial results? The remedy lies in 

 le acquisition of additional forests by the 

 tate itself, the method by which New 

 ork is preserving the far-famed Adiron- 

 icks. Philadelphia Inquirer. 



The Christmas Tree. 



Christmas trees are a product of the 

 >rest, though lumbermen pay but little 

 tention to, and know but little about, the 

 larket for these little evergreens. A lum- 

 srman from the "North Woods" who 

 as for some years taken a hand in sup- 

 lying the coast markets with the little 

 ee around which centers so much of joy 

 id mirth on Christmas Day, savs that 

 oston is by all odds the most unsatisfac- 

 >ry market for the shipper to be found 

 vywhere on the coast. This is due to 

 le fact that a large portion of the supply of 

 ees is hauled into the city by the farmers 

 icated within forty miles of Boston, 

 hese trees are sold at from fifteen to 

 fty cents and are supplied by the markets 

 > their regular customers. New York is 

 le great center of consumption for trees 

 lipped by rail, though Philadelphia is a 

 beral buyer. In an average season New 

 r ork calls for about 200 car-loads and the 

 lipper realizes from seventy-five cents to 

 2 per tree, less commission. Linnber- 

 lan's Review. 



Volumes have been written and pub- 

 lished in the lumber trade papers of the 

 merits, demerits, and good and bad quali- 

 ties of every tree known to the lumber and 

 timber trade ; but if a vote were taken now 

 among all Christian people as to which is 

 the most popular tree and the right of fran- 

 chise granted to all, from the little tots to 

 the grandsires and dames, to both sexes 

 and to all conditions of wealth, from the 

 cabin dwellers to the owners of palatial 

 mansions, the majority for the Christmas 

 tree, says the Southern Lumberman, would 

 astonish the most sanguine office seeker. 

 No other tree bears such wonderful and un- 

 expected fruits; no other tree, in its sea- 

 son, brings so much of joy and happiness. 



If anything could excuse the cutting 

 down of young trees, it is the purpose of 

 converting them into Christmas trees ; but 

 even this, from a business point of view, 

 is of doubtful justification, for the joys the 

 Christmas tree may bring to the present 

 generation may be the harbinger of sad- 

 ness to future generations. It might be 

 better for Santa Claus to find a substitute 

 and let the young trees grow where they 

 stand, to be a joy every day in the year 

 and at maturity serve useful purposes. 

 The following utterance from the Conser- 

 vative is unsympathetic, but it is sug- 

 gestive : 



"Mutilation and destruction of the 

 young pine forests growing up in various 

 sections of the republic for the purpose of 

 getting Christmas trees will soon open a 

 new campaign in favor of droughts, bliz- 

 zards, and infertility. Millions upon mil- 

 lions of the straightest, most symmetrical, 

 and vigorous hemlocks, spruces, pines, 

 and balsams will soon be aboard freight 

 cars and going towards cities to be put 

 into homes for Christmas trees, which shall 

 bear tin bells, dolls, bonbons, glass bulbs, 

 and all sorts of gimcracks for the amuse- 

 ment of children. The generation follow- 

 ing: will want for lumber which these 



o 



Christmas trees would have made. The 

 birth of Christ could be celebrated with 

 more common sense than by depriving the 

 human families which will follow us of 

 the material out of which to construct and 

 embellish their homes." 



