THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



311 



THE DESTEUCnON OF OUR FOREST TREES. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer : — I have often thought 

 of the reckless destruction of our forests, and our 

 otter carelessness about cultivating timber. True, 

 some look into the future, and leave a part of their 

 forests for future use; but the majority go with 

 headlong haste to destroy their timber, as if in a 

 hundred years none would be needed. But few 

 reflect that posterity may need timber for building, 

 fencing, fuel, &c. ; and not a small number think 

 there is a sufficiency for their time, and that their 

 posterity may look out for themselves. This is 

 truly ungrateful to the Creator. God made the 

 earth, with its fulness, for all his children; and 

 those who fail to make provision for the coming 

 generations, or who destroy that already made for 

 the accommodation of all, through all time, do not 

 fulfill their duty. 



Even in the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indi- 

 ana, which once abounded in timber, there are 

 many places where timber is already scarce ; and 

 yet to endeavor to impress the propriety and neces- 

 sity of cultivating timber, would be thought ridicu- 

 lous. One man, to whom I made the necessity of 

 timber-culture quite apparent, replied, or rather 

 defended himself against my arguments, by saying, 

 " My neighbors would laugh at me ! " 



It must be apparent to any reflecting mind, that, 

 should the present rate of consuming timber be 

 continued, and no efl:orts be made for its re-produc- 

 tion, many districts will, at no distant day, be sadly 

 in Avant of the article. The vast consumption by 

 steam alone, should rouse us to a different course. 



I am pleased with friend Bemext's thoughts on 

 the Oaks of New York, in last year's volume of the 

 Farmer, and hope that he, and others of similar 

 views on so important a subject, will speak more 

 on the culture of timber, in the Genesee Farraer and 

 other public journals. 



For the encouragement of those who think of 

 the subject, and to whom the practicability of rais- 

 ing timber may be a prol)lem, let me say that in 

 my boyhood I roamed over districts in Stark Co., 

 Ohio, where I could see from oue to fifteen miles 

 over plains (so-called) without any timber but 

 scions of a year's growth, and on many spots not a 

 sign of anything but grass, and on the hills (Stark 

 is hilly in some parts) in-any acres quite bare of 

 timber. But now, not over forty years later, there 

 are dense, beautiful — delightfully beautiful — groves 

 of timber from fifteen to forty feet high. Could 

 those who think the culture of timber a chimera 

 have seen these jjlaius and bare hills, and now be- 

 hold the enchanting groves of oaks, liickories, &c., 

 they would be astonished, and be induced to plant 

 acorns and nuts, or at least not laugh at those who 

 would engage in timber- culture. 



In the same county (Stark), I saw sprouts on 

 chestnfit stumps, not over fifteen years old, that 

 afl:brded eight good rails to the lower cut. The 

 scions or sprouts of chestnut grow, the first few 

 years, faster than those from the seed; but it is a 

 luxuriant-growing tree, and should be planted 

 wherever the soil is congenial. Not only its useful 

 timber, but its excellent nut, should give two-fold 

 inducement. The black or native locust should be 

 extensively grown, its timber is so durable and 

 therefore valuable. It is of rapid growth, and the 



sprouts are easily transplanted. The whit^i pine 

 and red cedar should command our attention, not 

 only for their valuable timber, but for beauty and 

 shelter. At Forlorn Hope, Stark county, Ohio, 

 are white pines, transplanted about twenty-five 

 years since, fifty feet high, and twenty inches in 

 diameter at two feet above the ground. Also, 

 spruce, red cedar, and tamarack, from twelve to 

 fifteen inches in diameter. a. bake, jb. 



Fipestoum-, Berrien Co., Mich,, 1859. 



HUNGARIAN GRASS. 



Editors Genesee Farmer: — In the August num- 

 ber of your paper I find an inquiry from G. E. B., 

 of Belfast, Me., asking if Hungarian grass is a species 

 of millet, or a "humbug." One portion of this 

 query I can answer. Most assuredly it is not a 

 " humbug.'''' In the month of June I sowed fifteen 

 acres of Hungarian grass, in no less than seven dif- 

 ferent portions of our farm, and of course on differ- 

 ent varieties of soil, &c. "We have Hungarian grass, 

 sown on the l7th day of June, that now stands 

 over four feet high and just as thick as it can pos- 

 sibly stand ; and I have no doubt that from three 

 of our parcels we shall get at least four tons per 

 acre of dry fodder. Certainly, in the present 

 scarcity of hay, it will prove a most profitable crop ; 

 and I have not a particle of doubt that if sown in 

 this latitude as late as the 20th day of July, it 

 would mature suflaciently to make most excellent 

 fodder, as that sown by us on the 20th of June is 

 now heading out, and would yield, if cut now, 

 much more hay than the best meadow I have seen 

 this summer. So much for the "humbug" part of 

 G. E. B.'s question. 



Now as to it being millet, we have A. B. Dick- 

 inson's ipse dixit for that ; but I beg leave to say 

 that Hungarian grass and millet are two very dis- 

 tinct varieties of the same great family of forage 

 plants.* I have growing, at this present time, by 

 the side of one of our parcels of Hungarian grass, 

 three acres of millet ; and a blind man could dis- 

 tinguish the great difference which exists in the 

 two. First, we get but one stem and one head 

 from each millet seed, while from the seed of Hun- 

 garian grass we get from one to ten. The leaf of 

 the millet has a rough edge and surface, while that 

 of the grass is quite smooth. The millet grows 

 ranch stronger and shorter between the joints than 

 the Hungarian grass. The heads do not resemble 

 each other any more than the heads of oats rasera 

 ble wheat — the millet having a long, flat, branching 

 head ; while the Hungarian grass has a short, com- 

 pact, round head. Again, there is great difference in 

 the color of the two plants while growing; and the 

 only point of resemblance that I can see, is in the 

 shape of the seed. I think that Mr. Dickinson was 

 entirely ignorant of the subject on which he wrote, 

 when he pronounced Hungarian grass the millet 

 and barn-yard grass of forty and seventy-five years 

 ago. Millet itsehf bears but little resemblance to 

 barn-yard grass, and Hungarian grass much less. 



Detroit, Mich., Aug., 1S59. C. WOOD DAVIS. 



* G. E. B. asks if Hungarian grass is a variety of millet. Onr 

 correspondent admits that it is. We understand A. B. Dickis- 

 goN to claim nothing more than this — that Hungarian grass is a 

 variety of millet. um. 



