1882.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



41 



ent time. Similar were the fears in England, 

 about the same time, that the timber for ship- 

 building would fail, but Sir Robert Seiipings 

 contrived the means nf substituliu': straight 

 timber for that of different forms and dimen- 

 siiins, before considered.indispensuble in ship- 

 building. Although this want of timber for 

 shii)-building is not felt in the United Stales, 

 the busint-ss'is not flourishing very '.much. It 

 may be said with truth thatthr eullivation of 

 forests has been", greatly neglected in most 

 countries, and in many a very sensible want 

 of "wood is felt.^^"] Trees'' should be planted 

 around country residences. Houses without 

 being sheltered liy trees against the wind and 

 sun liave a monotonous and lonely appearance. 

 In regard to the longevity of trees, Lin- 

 najus gives an account of an oak tree 2G0 

 years old, but we have traditions of some 

 that have arrived to more tlian double that 

 age. An English writer makes the Fort- 

 worth chestnut 1,100 years old, and the 

 cedars of Lebanon are as old as the Bible. 

 The great tree, Washington Elm, at Cam- 

 bridge, has a surface of 200,000 square feet. 

 Dr. Trimble, of New York, stated, some 

 years ago, that he once saw a tree in the 

 Dismal Swamp of Virginia that was 1,100 

 years old by the annual rings. 



It is very difticult and almost impossible to 

 get at the amount of the timber consumed, 

 and the supply of growing timber remaining 

 in so large a country as tlie United States and 

 Territories. But at any rate it is a favorable 

 sign, that year by year more stone, iron, steel, 

 tin, slate, &c., is used in the construction of 

 dwellings, bridges, ships, mills, and less wood, 

 so that if building timber should much en- 

 hance in price, more substantial material 

 would be used to construct buildings, and 

 there would be fewer disastrous eondagra- 

 tions. 



Who shall plant trees. In the old world 

 governments are paternal, and can decree 

 and set apart land for the growth and protec- 

 tion of forests. In our country it is entirely 

 different, the government has no such right; 

 the duty of planting of trees depends upon 

 the will of the citizen. 



Mr. Faber, the manufacturer of the red 

 cedar lead pencils, bought a large tract of land 

 and planted it with cedars In Virginia the 

 Landrelhs, of Philadelphia, have been plant- 

 ing a large area of its worn out and aban- 

 doned fields, with catalpa, ailanthus, white 

 oak, hickory, tulip, &c. A Scotch Emigration 

 Company has purchased 140,000 acres of laud 

 in Barry co., Mo. To these lauds the Com- 

 pany propose to draw families and communi- 

 ties of llicir countrymen. Some have already 

 arrived near Purdy, a station five miles be- 

 yond the Waldeusian settlement. Tliese fam- 

 ilies have in a few months made a great 

 change in the lands about Purdy. They have 

 cleaned out the underbrush, and left standing 

 the larger trees. This clearing off of the un- 

 derbrush and the leaves annually would mate- 

 rially lessen the risk of forest fires. 



The most valuable suggestions that I have 

 met with are those of Mr. Williams, of 

 Monongahela City, Pa., who proprses to 

 plant 10,000 walnuts, sow them in rows, after 

 two years' growth thin them out, leaving the 

 thrifty trees ; in five years cut or thin them 

 for table legs ; in eight years cut again, al- 



ternate trees for newel posts; in ten years 

 begin to harvest nuts by the thousand 

 bushels. This system of raising a forest is' 

 somewhat similar to that ]nacticed in the 

 cultivation of the pine forests in the Ilartz 

 MoMutains of Germany. There the seed is 

 sown ; after growing two years the young 

 shoots arc transplanted into portions of the 

 mountains. Five years later they are called 

 a thicket, because the branches are then so 

 closely interlaced that it is diflicult to get 

 through tiieni. Ten years later the forester 

 thins them out, leaving the best stems only 

 for future growth. The growth of the tree is 

 slow, the average age of the full-grown tree 

 being 120 years. 



"OUR WINGED FRIENDS."' 



Since the time when man began to till the 

 soil, he has called around him many assist- 

 ants to lighten his labors and help him earn 

 the bread he was to " eat in the sweat of liis 

 brow." 



All our domestic animals have at some time 

 been reclaimed from their wild state by man 

 and trained to a higher condition of intelli- 

 gence and usefulness. 



Of the manner in which this is done we 

 have no particular account. We can read 

 that in those days there were "mighty hun- 

 ters," and it is to be presumed that when 

 they hunted and slew, they likewise captured 

 and tamed some of the animals, and that the 

 work of domestication was gradually brought 

 about in that way. 



The latest accession to the list, we believe 

 to have been the wild turkey of the American 

 forest. Why the work should have stopped 

 with him, when other birds of equal merit, if 

 not equal weight, are left to roam at large, is 

 a question that remains unanswered. 



Besides our domestic group, there is an- 

 other and more numerous class that, on ac- 

 count of the kind of food on which they live, 

 and their consequent migratory habits, can- 

 not be domesticated, but are in their wild 

 state equally the friends of man, doing him 

 in many ways incalculable benefits, which by 

 a little more protection and encouragement 

 might be greatly increased. 



It is in behalf of some of these neglected 

 and oftentimes persecuted friends of the 

 farmer and fruit-grower, that we desire to en- 

 list your kind attention and sympathy for the 

 brief space of time allotted to us. 



AVhen our remote ancestors, emerging from 

 barbarism, began to build permanent homes, 

 and settle down from a roving to a more civ- 

 ilized life, they ob.served that many of the 

 tenants of the primitive forests began to ap- 

 proach their habitations and take part in the 

 protection of the newl^-planted fields and 

 orchards, or busied themselves in clearing the 

 surrounding atmosphere. 



For instance, one kind of swallow left the 

 hollow forest trees, to build in the newly- 

 erected chimneys. The martin and rock- 

 pewce forsook the savage cliffs, to rear their 

 young under the friendly thatch. Kobin and 

 oriole came to assist, where the hand of the 

 husbandman proved unequal to the work of 

 keeping the growing buds and blossoms free 

 from destructive insects. 



*An essay read before tlie Pennsylvania Fruit 

 Growers' Society, at Harrisburg, January 18, lbW2, by Si- 

 mon P. Eby. 



Likewise came others, to prey upon the 

 weaker ones, or to feed on the fruits of man's 

 labor. Tnesc latter had to be driven off, and 

 thus, between the two classes and man there 

 sprung into existence a mutual feeling of 

 friend and foe. lie gave protection to the 

 one, and waged war against the other. 



The one coming in ethereal shapes with 

 plcasatit voices, to assume their labors at the 

 time their services were needed, and again 

 leaving for unknown lands when the season 

 of usefidness was over. The other, issuing 

 from their hiding places, to commit depreda- 

 tion at uncertain and unexpected hours, and 

 again retreating to the depths of the adjacent 

 forest, themselves unseen; they left behind 

 them uiunlstakable evidence of their work — 

 either friendly or hostile. 



We can readily perceive how under such 

 circumstauces tlie untutored but imaginative 

 minds of our remote forefathers, actuated by 

 their love or hatred, invested some of these 

 creatures witli shapes and attributes half-hu- 

 man, and in that way (M'oph'd the streams 

 and groves with strange beings " visible only 

 by the uncertain glimpse of the moon." 



"It is to be regretted," saith a writer, 

 "that the light of modern science has fright- 

 ened away all our elves and fairies." 



This we believe to be a mistake. They are 

 still with us ; perhaps less numerous than 

 formerly ; but they are still here ; as in the 

 " olden time " the whims of the good require 

 to bo humored, and the tricks of the bad 

 ones to be guarded against. 



In the days of JEso\) the beasts were made 

 to speak and the birds to ren-son. The ancients 

 accepted the fables not according to the letter 

 any more than we moderns do ; but for the 

 lessons they conveyed. Even so with the 

 creatures with which they were brought in 

 contact. They represented the good or evil 

 genii that haunted the ancient streams and 

 groves, or hid within the dim recesses of the 

 German forests. 



Clothing them in shapes half human only 

 served to bring them closer to man himself, 

 and intensified the feelings already existing. 



The transformation must have contributed 

 to the welfare of such a.s were considered 

 friendly and to the destruction of tho.se looked 

 upon as hostile. 



Learning from the ancients let us interest 

 ourselves a little more in the creatures by 

 which we are surrounded. In the birds, for 

 instance — as our good fairies, if we choose, 

 or in the light of modern science. They will 

 stand tlie test either way. Let us get our 

 children and neighbors interested also. Teach 

 them bird history, teach them to observe 

 their habits, the manner of procuring their 

 food and escaping their encn)ies ; the skill 

 with which tlicy build their nests, the tender 

 affection they show towards their mates, and 

 the untiring industry with which they labor 

 to rear their young. Direct their attention 

 to the fine vocal powers some of them possess 

 and the sweet and varied songs with which 

 they help to swell the grand hymn of Nature. 

 In short, let us learn that bird life has its 

 labors, duties, difficulties, joys and sorrows, 

 calling for sympathy, very much like human 

 life ; and the chances are we will love and 

 protect our " winged friends " more, and in 

 return reap the benefits of their multiplied 

 labors in orchard and field. 



