FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE. 



FORESTRY. 



349 



The British House of Commons in the ses- 

 sion of 1883 passed a resolution prohibiting 

 the importation into Great Britain of cattle 

 from countries in which the foot-and-mouth 

 disease exists. This was expected to stop alto- 

 gether the trade in live cattle from the United 

 States ; but the British Government were un- 

 willing to alter the regulations to gratify the 

 protectionist desires, which were the motive of 

 the resolution. The United States Treasury 

 Cattle Commissioners were directed to inquire 

 into the facts relating to the supposed exist- 

 ence of the complaint in the United States. 

 In their report, made in the beginning of Au- 

 gust, they declared the country to be entirely 

 free of the disease. They found no trace of it 

 in the cattle-depots at Kansas City, Council 

 Bluffs, and Omaha, nor in the stock-yards 

 along the line of transportation and on the 

 Atlantic seaboard, nor in the dairy districts of 

 the East. An epidemic of the foot-and-mouth 

 disease, which spread from Canada into North- 

 ern New York and New England in the au- 

 tumn of 1871, was brought from England by 

 two cows imported into Montreal. The seclu- 

 sion of the herds during the winter confined 

 its action, and it soon disappeared. A cargo 

 of Channel Island cattle suffering from the 

 malady were landed at New York in 1881. 

 These were quarantined by the State authori- 

 ties. The steamship France, which brought 

 them, after an imperfect disinfection, returned 

 with a cargo of American beeves, which were 

 condemned on their arrival in England as suf- 

 fering from the foot-and-mouth disease. A 

 similar case occurred in March, 1883, when a 

 herd of Channel Island cattle, landed at Balti- 

 more from the steamer Nessmore, were found 

 to be affected with the disease, and were se- 

 cluded so that the infection did not spread to 

 the home herds ; but the fat cattle which were 

 shipped to England by the same vessel were 

 found to be suffering from the disease on their 

 arrival. The use of the head-ropes of dis- 

 eased animals on others is believed to be a 

 means of communicating the infection. 

 . The foot-and-mouth disease has existed in 

 various parts of Great Britain since 1880, in 

 which year it is supposed to have been brought 

 into England by a Frei ch cow. Ireland was 

 free from it for many years ; but recently it 

 has committed great ravages in that country. 

 A Westmoreland bull is believed to have con- 

 tracted it from contact with a cargo of infect- 

 ed cattle at Liverpool, and contaminated the 

 Irish herds. In 1883 occurred an outbreak in 

 Scotland, into which country it was intro- 

 duced by cattle brought from Ireland ; but by 

 vigorous measures on the part of the local au-. 

 thorities the disease was speedily stamped out. 

 In 1839 the disease was imported into England 

 by some other agency than by living animals, 

 because importations of animals had been pro- 

 hibited for several years. The measures taken 

 to combat the malady in Great Britain, thoagh 

 not sufficient to exterminate it, greatly niiti- 



its ravages. In 1881 there were 4,833 

 outbreaks and 183,000 animals affected; in 

 1882, 1,970 outbreaks and 37,950 animals af- 

 fected. In July, 1883, the disease began to 

 spread in the English counties, and it became 

 a serious epidemic. 



FORESTRY, the science and art of manag- 

 ing and developing trees in masses. It does 

 not relate to single trees by themselves, but 

 only as they are combined and constitute what 

 we call a forest. It studies not only the gen- 

 eral laws of tree-growth, which are the same 

 everywhere, but also the peculiar nature or 

 habit of each species, and the adaptations of 

 different species to various soils, climates, and 

 exposures. It considers the conditions which 

 will best promote the growth of trees, whether 

 for fuel, for timber, or for other purposes. It 

 ascertains what trees grow best by themselves, 

 and what thrive best in company with others. 

 It falls within the province of forestry, there- 

 fore, to investigate whatever promotes or hin- 

 ders the growth of trees, the causes of disease 

 among them, the insects that prey upon them, 

 and everything that may be an impediment to 

 the development of the forest. 



But forestry, as now understood, has a wider 

 range than this even. It recognizes the con- 

 nection of trees in masses with rain-fall and 

 moisture, and with the distribution of the same 

 and their consequent influence upon the at- 

 mosphere and upon the flow of streams. It 

 therefore regards the forests as having an inti- 

 mate connection with the interests of agricul- 

 ture and commerce, as- well as with climate, 

 and consequently with health. 



The subject of forestry has only recently be- 

 gun to receive attention in this country, al- 

 though it has long been known and recognized 

 abroad. The first settlers of the country found 

 it well wooded. From the St. John to Florida 

 the whole sea-coast was fringed with trees, 

 and as fast and as far as the settlers penetrated 

 inland they found the trees abundant. Indeed, 

 after the very earliest settlement, as the tide 

 of immigration from the old country set in 

 with increasing strength, the difficulty was to 

 find open space enough for agricultural pur- 

 poses, and a principal occupation of the set- 

 tler, for a considerable time, was necessarily 

 that of removing the trees. As there was then 

 little use for the trees except for house-build- 

 ing and for fuel, they were felled and burned 

 in huge piles upon the field, the stumps being 

 left until a partial decay admitted of their re- 

 moval. This process of settlement prevailed, 

 for the most part, until within the memory of 

 those now living, when the westward-moving 

 column of migration emerged from the woods, 

 through which it had almost literally hewn its 

 way, and came out upon the prairies, which 

 were almost destitute of trees, but most invit- 

 ing to the tiller of the ground, partly on that 

 very account. 



That early and protracted struggle with the 

 forests was not calculated to engender in the 



