670 thansactions of the American institute. 



The Chairman then introduced the Hon. Horace Greeley, who entertained 

 them for nearly one hour on the subject of 



Forest Trees. 



In place of a full report of this address from the pen of the speaker him- 

 self, we can only present the principal points, which were very fully and 

 clearly elucidated. 



Mr. Greeley said that he was opposed to the recklessness sliown by many 

 farmers in the indiscriminate destruction of trees. In Westchester county 

 there were trees which God intended should never be cut down, and yet 

 many farmers there are too prone to clear their forests away to make what 

 they call land for cultivation. At the same time it was a well known fact 

 that there are ma;ny farmers who will persist in attempting to cultivate 

 seventy-five acres each, when they cannot till twenty acres in a proper 

 and thorough manner. He believed that if agriculture in the State of New 

 York were confined to one-third the number of acres now cultivated, the 

 produce would be much greater 'than the present yield. 



The great fault of American farmers lies in their disposition to cultivate 

 too much land, to do which they carry on a war against the trees which 

 are so necessary to render the arable land rich and available for purposes 

 of agriculture. Still, wfiile he reprobated the indiscriminate destruction 

 of trees, he knew, what every intelligent farmer^ knew, that it was some- 

 times necessary to cut down some in order to preserve others. This, how- 

 ever, should be done with great care, and only those of no especial value 

 should be destroyed. 



In EuroDe the forests were poor, compared to those of America. The 

 foliage of the latter, with its rich summer beauty, and the glory of its 

 variegated autumnal tints, finds no parallel in any other portions of the 

 globe. It constituted the principal beauty of American scenery. He be- 

 lieved that if one-half of the forests which, were standing on this continent 

 at the time of its discovery by Columbus, were still standing, the country 

 would be much better off. This could be easily proven. Trees were neces- 

 sary to the enriching of the soil and the prevention of long droughts. It 

 was a fact to be deplored, that so much land was now devoted to pastur- 

 age. Farmers permit their cattle to browse in their forests, and thus eat 

 up a portion of his prosperity. 



It was a great mistake for him to permit this to be done, for the bai'bar- 

 ism of pasturage, it could be shown, was sadly destructive to his pros- 

 perity in more ways than one. It would be well if all the forests within 

 one hundred miles of New York Avere so inclosed that cattle could not get 

 into them, to browse on the bud and the young leaf of the sugar-maple and 

 other valuable trees. In Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties, iu 

 Fairfield county, Connecticut, and in ma;ny portions of New Jersey there 

 were many places where trees were intended to grow, and where they 

 would grow, if the farmer would pennit them to do so. Wherever there 

 was a rock a tree shfnild stand by its side, and it was an easy matter to 

 plant trees between clumps of rocks in soil which could not and was not 

 intended to be used for any other purpose. 



No land was fit to be ploughed out of which the rocks can not be taken. 



