'54 



PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 



PETRIFIED FORESTS OF AMERICA AND THE LESSON THEY 



TEACH. 



By John P. Brown, Secretary of International Society of Arboriculture. 

 Address to the Farmer's National Congress, Sioux Falls, S. D. 



Within the arid and semi-arid belt west of the ggth meridian, west longi- 

 tude, are numerous monuments recording a climatic condition far different 

 from that which now exists forests in stone, evidences of a soil and moisture 

 capable of producing growths in vegetation equal to our most favored regions. 



I'l. I KIF1KD JiKIDGE, FIKST FOREST. 



These petrified trees are found in large numbers throughout all the portions 

 of the United States in which at present the rainfall is the least and the vege- 

 tation is the most scant. 



Duplicates of the sequoias, equalling them in size cedars of mammoth 

 proportion akin to those on the higher mountains of Washington have been 

 found in the Rocky Mountains where no living trees of like character are 

 now known. 



The petrified forests of Arizona are so well known because of the very 

 beautiful ornaments made from the cut sections. Many tons of these trees 

 have been sent to Europe, where better facilities for cutting and polishing 

 are had. The material reduced to a coarse powder is also used as emery and 

 corundum for grinding metals. 



