INTRODUCTION. 1) 
forest trees requires not only agitation but action. Our 
numerous agricultural societies should lend their aid by 
giving premiums for the best endeavors of individuals. 
Let there be lectures upon the subject, not by the city or 
village minister, lawyer, or editor, unless they know some- 
thing about it practically, but by some of the plain men 
of the country who have no other title than Professor of 
Farming. These lectures should be delivered in a practi- 
cal manner; not from some velvet-cushioned rostrum, but 
from an old log or stump of a tree in some forest or grove. 
In such a place the speaker can address his audience in an 
atmosphere filled with his subject, with examples above 
and around him. Here he can cut, hew, and prune to 
illustrate his theme without throwing the janitor of the 
building into hysterics through fear that a whittling might 
fall on the carpet. 
In Europe they have arboricultural societies which have 
not only done much toward disseminating a correct knowl- 
edge of forest trees, but through whose influence thousands 
of acres of trees have been reared. There is no reason 
why such societies should not exist in this country; their 
usefulness, if rightly conducted, must be apparent to every 
casual observer. 
There is no country on the globe that possesses such a 
numerous variety of valuable forest trees as America. 
Every article of usefulness of which wood is a part shows 
it; and if there is one branch of mechanics in which we 
excel more than in another, it is in our agricultural imple- 
ments; and who does not know that one of their great 
points of excellence is the wood used in their construction ? 
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