I 



No. 151.] 243 



ed mountains of Wales and Scotland are rapidly being planted witk 

 magnificent forests, not for embellishment merely, but as inexhausti- 

 ble sources of wealth. The old duke of Athol planted a forest on 

 his estate in Perthshire, of 15,593 acres, which contained 27,431,600 

 young trees when he died; and his successor set out 6,500 acres of 

 poor mountain land solely with larches. The land was not worth 

 over twenty-two cents rent per acre; and now, with the timber on it^ 

 is valued at $3:,500,000. 



The citizens of this country have, here and there, selected the 

 most fertile and eligible locations, and call most of the immense re- 

 mainder of the land either refuse or worthless. Time and the increase 

 of population will show that nearly the whole will become more valua- 

 ble than even what is now considered the most choice. Embankments 

 like those in the vicinity of New-Orleans will be extended on each bank 

 of the Mississippi, from the Gulf of Mexico to the falls of St. An- 

 thony. 



If but one of the most valuable of the two hundred plants intro- 

 duced by Dr. Perrine, can be successfully cultivated, all Florida will 

 be drained and become luxuriant fields and gardens, and be embel- 

 lished by canals, rivers, bays, harbors and beautiful lakes. It will be 

 the Cuba of this nation. 



I know your liberal disposition, and enlightened and enlarged 

 views in relation to subjects connected with agriculture, and all the 

 great branches of national industry, and am confident you will be dis- 

 posed to do what is expedient on this occasion. 



Dr. Perrine, like most men of science and ardent patriotism, has 

 devoted much time and expended his resources tor a great purpose^ 

 is sanguine in the beneficial results to the Republic, and the hope 

 of future remuneration from his own practical exertion; and it is 

 very desirable that l.e should not be left, as is too often the case, to 

 lament his labors and to find that others hereafter reap the fruits of 

 his meritorious enterprise without having endured any of the toils, or 

 incurred any of the expenses of a first experiment. Congress must 

 be to him as munificent as would have been Henry IV. of France, or 

 Napoleon, to render his indefatigable researches and accumulated in- 

 telligence upon subjects he has presented to the consideration of the 

 government useful and honorable to himself and the country. 



With assurances of the highest respect and esteem, 



Your obedient servant, 

 H. A. S. DEAllBORW. 



Hon. Levi LiNti^Ly, Member of Congress for Massachusetts. 



