76 PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 



TRANSPORTATION INFLUENCED BY FORESTS. 



There was very much to instruct as well as to interest the visitor at the Trans- 

 portation Building of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. 



One here saw the rude carts and pack animals, which are still used in some 

 distant and mountainous countries, as well as the primitive methods of transpor- 

 tation of the earlier settlers of our own land, and by their side view the magnifi- 

 cent trains of palace cars and the elegantly equipped ocean steamers of most mod- 

 ern construction. 



The engines and train service of Germany, Great Britain, Japan and United 

 States were compared, and every equipment for the safety, comfort and speedy 

 conveyance of travelers and economical transportation of freights, shown by all 

 countries which are engaged in manufactures and commerce. 



Within glass cases were exhibited upwards of an hundred models of ocean 

 liners, the models being usually from ten to twelve feet in length. The beauty 

 of these miniature steamships, the elegance and finish of the models and their de- 

 sign and workmanship could only be equalled by the vessels themselves which 

 were represented by these models. 



Before the products of the world can be conveyed to distant markets by sail- 

 ing vessels, ocean steamers, or other forms of commerce, there is in every case a 

 greater or less distance over which the crude products must be transported by 

 some land or water conveyance, the methods adopted by various countries in car- 

 rying these raw materials to the sea or to the factory was shown in the Trans- 

 portation Building, and made an interesting study. 



The great balloon, which is partly inflated, in the center of the building, rep- 

 resents aerial transportation or navigation as is the usual expression. 



Of course there is a limit to tVie buoyancy of a vessel which must be sup- 

 ported by a gas which is slightly lighter than the air, or, as in some proposed air 

 ships, lifted by fans which are operated by machinery and this additional weight 

 must also be supported as well as the vessel by the same means, and therefore no 

 matter how great the interest of the public or how strong the curiosity to see some- 

 thing new, yet the practical benefits which can be derived from atmospheric navi- 

 gation will always be restricted. Pig iron, wheat, grains, food stuffs, coal, lum- 

 ber, textiles, etc., go to make up the world's great industries which require trans- 

 portation, and they will scarcely be carried by balloons to any great extent or 

 distance, notwithstanding the craze which impels inventors to enter these mis- 

 directed and chimerical channels. 



From Acoma. New Mexico, came an ox cart of the rudest construction, no 



