104 ON FOREST TREES. 



tempts to cultivate Forest-trees, your Committee 

 think that at no very distant day, the increased price 

 of fuel and the diminished stock of timber, will awak- 

 en attention to supply the deficiency of both. Al- 

 ready the planting of trees by the road-sides, for or- 

 nament and shade is becoming more frequent, and 

 thousands might yet be planted, which would beau- 

 tify our County, and in a few years add greatly to 

 the stock of fuel. 



This article is one of the heavy items of expense 

 to every family, and every addition to the 

 sources of supply tends to keep down its price. 

 How many tracts of land there are through- 

 out the county, of little value for other purposes, 

 which might be profitably devoted to the cultivation 

 of trees ! How many beautiful hills, long since 

 divested of their primitive forest growth, and from 

 which more recently the high price of ship-timber, 

 has stripped the few remaining oaks, until they now 

 stand bleak and bare, exhibiting the aspect of steril- 

 ity however good the soil, without shade or shel- 

 ter for the cattle under our summer suns ! And how 

 obviously would rows of trees by the fences and 

 clumps scattered over these hills, heighten the beau- 

 ty of the landscape, afford a grateful shade to ani- 

 mals and augment the value of the land ! The val- 

 ue of the trees which might now be planted in the 

 county, would, thirty years hence, without materially 

 diminishing the income of the land, be almost inval- 

 uable. 



r Nathan Webster of Haverhill, is the first and 

 only claimant for this premium. He commenced 



