132 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The present demands upon the forests of the Long-leaved Pine 

 {Pinus palustris) in the South, point to a rapid destruction of 

 these most valuable trees there, when we remember that the 

 region on which we have alread}' practically destroyed the White 

 Pine is larger than the whole region over which this Long-leaved 

 pine originally grew. This is especially probable since the tree 

 destroying agencies have only recently been concentrated in the 

 South. 



So heavy are the calls made upon the Shell-bark hickory and 

 Pig-nut hickor}' that the wheel makers of the Atlantic seaboard 

 who once used the trees from their own hill-sides, now bring their 

 supplies from Kentucky and Tennessee. Another illustration of 

 the diminished suppl}' of valuable timber remaining in the East is 

 found in the fact, that the centre of production of White Oak 

 staves, has moved from Virginia west to St. Louis. Of course 

 we need barely allude to the removal of the Black Walnut. As 

 things now are, its fate is sealed. 



As we have said, all this is in the infancy of our civilization. 

 In the East, these demands upon our forests must increase with 

 increasing population. Still worse, we have alread}' nearly 

 exhausted some of the heaviest forests of the West, long before it 

 has received even a portion of its population, to sa}' nothing of 

 its maximum. In other words, not content with ruining our own 

 heritage, we have actually' despoiled the West in advance of the 

 time when the centre of population would be located there. It is 

 indeed hard to say whether this is worse for the East or for the 

 West. 



It is useless to urge that substitutes for timber will be found. 

 New uses for it are also found. I think that statistics show that 

 these promised substitutes do not come as fast as the new uses 

 for the wood. 



Each year of delay in suggesting and applying remedies for this 

 malady in the body politic, makes the problem a much more 

 serious one, because to produce an average forest requires at the 

 very least, half a century. So much then for the statement that 

 this forestry' agitation is the expression of a great cause ! But it 

 is not great simply in any local sense. Just as the production of 

 large crops in the West was an important factor in leading to the 

 interstate commerce law, so will the demand of one State upon 

 the forests of another, lead, eventually, to other interstate laws, 



