io8 Notes and Gleanings. 



Evergreens. — Evergreens are trees that hold their foliage throughout the 

 year : such are the great families of pines, spruces, and cedars. Some are ever- 

 green in warm climates, and become deciduous in cold latitudes. The subject 

 of evergreens was to have engaged your attention in this j^aper ; but it may be 

 well for a few moments to take a more general view of trees. 



There seem to be very few subjects more closely connected with man's general 

 prosperity, and indeed with that of all ani-mal life, viewed in reference to fuel, food, 

 health, raiment and shelter, civilization and refinement, morals and religion. We 

 shall be deeply impressed that " the tree of the field is man"s life," and of the 

 dignity and importance of arboriculture. I will call your attention to a few facts, 

 probably familiar to most of you. These will not be confined to evergreens, but 

 will have an important bearing by enhancing their price and value ; for the de- 

 struction of any valuable species of tree must enhance the vr.lue of others. I 

 Avill call your attention to the past destruction of forests. The evils are so 

 numerous and far-reaching, that it will be impossible in this short article to give 

 even an outline, or allude to them all. It may be seen in the greatly-increased 

 price of fuel, lumber, and timber, and, as a consequence, in the increased price 

 and value of all articles manufactured in part or whole from those materials; 

 and the immense demand for such purposes may be measurably indicated by 

 the fact (see census of i860), that there are sixty-six occupations which de- 

 pend, in whole or in part, upon wood as a raw material. The total number thus 

 engaged in i860 was 476,623 souls. A few of them are as follow : 242,959 car- 

 penters, 7,000 coffin-makers, 15,000 sawyers, 9,063 mill-wrights, 13,379 ship-car- 

 penters, 43,624 coopers, 32693 wheelwrights, 2,378 piano-makers, and 19,180 

 coachmakers. Undoubtedly most, if not all, of these numbers have been greatly 

 augmented since ; and the consumption of wood and the destruction of our 

 forests are going on in an ever-increasing ratio. 



The cost of lumber consumed in and exported from the United States in 1S60, 

 more than in 1850, is estimated at $37,390,310 ; while the ratio of this increase 

 in population was 35.59 per cent, and that of lumber was 63.09 per cent ; thus 

 showing a greatly disproportioned increase in price of lumber over population. 

 Should this proportionate advance continue for the next twenty years, more than 

 $200,000,000 worth of Amercian sa" ed lumber will be needed each 3-ear. It is 

 easy to see that this must not only continue, but must do so in an ever-increas- 

 ing ratio, unless this wholesale destruction is checked ; and, at this rate, how 

 long will it be before our noble forests will be entirely gone .'' 



It is said that the State of New York furnishes m.ore lumber than any other 

 State ; and yet her highest capacity was reached as long ago as 1850 ; and, notwith- 

 standing the enhanced value, she supplied $i,coo,coo worth less in i860 than in 

 1850. Thus \\&r popii!atio7i increased more than three-fourths of a million, while 

 her supply of lumber fell short more than a full million. Five other States have 

 also diminished their maximum supply. How long, at this rate, until half the 

 wealth of these United States will be gone 1 for it is stated upon good authority, 

 borne out by statistics, that wood pays more than one-half of the internal reve- 

 nue of the United States. So greatly short of supply, according to the demand, 

 for blactc-walnut and some other woods, are the Eastern States, that they have 



