PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 671 



It was bad economy to inako land by blasting rocks and pulverizing them 

 into vliat some farmers call soil. Stone, no matter how fine it might be 

 pulverized, could not be transformed into ground. It was a mistaken idea 

 to suppose that it could be done, and he desired the farmer to see it in that 

 light. In Westchester county there were thousands of acres, now devoted 

 to cultivation, which should be covered Avith forests. The farmer could 

 not m:\ke a better investment than by planting them with locusts, sugar- 

 maple and other valuable trees. In Europe this planting of trees was 

 understood, and in many portions of Scotland it is done with great advant- 

 age to the farming interests of the country. Trees are valuable, not only 

 for their immediate product, but they are highly valuable for the moisture 

 which they retain and shed upon tlie soil during the period of drought. 



JBy the wholesale destruction of them the ftvrmcr intensifies our summer 

 drouths. If it were desirable to have a long drouth annually, let the country 

 be denuded of forests, and it will not fail to pay us a visit. Wisdom, it was 

 true, dictated the policy of cutting down many ttees that are of no value, so 

 that our forests might be improved in beauty and value. There should he 

 combined enterprise for increaiing our forests. He deprecated the running 

 of a railroad through John Brown's tract, which he denominated the great 

 park of the State of New York. The enterprise had "broken" two or three 

 men, and he hoped it would break every man who ventured into it. We 

 could not afford to have that lovely region cut bare of its trees. He believed 

 that if it were done there would be immense floods annually on the Mohawk 

 and the Hudson, which would sweep away whole streets in Albany and Troy. 

 That tract should be preserved for the benefit of all who desired to leave the 

 city and all its conventionalisms in summer, and go to that place to breathe 

 the pure air of Heaven, and enjoy a season of freedom from the restraints of 

 society. 



Mr, Greeley urged the establi.shment of forest parks in various parts of the 

 country. These could be found within a distance to be reached by a five 

 hours' ride fiom the city, and they could be filled with animals like- the ante- 

 lope of the west, and others equally as valuable. There was no reason why 

 wc should not have parks of this kind in this country which would throw 

 those of Europe far in the shade. In conclusion he hoped that the farmers 

 of the couutry would adopt measures to prevent the destruction of birds on 

 their farms. The preservation of the birds was an absolute necessity. They 

 destroyed insects which were becoming more numerous year after year — a 

 fact which could be attributed to the great scarcity of birds as compared with 

 the great abundance of former years. He hoped that if the murderous de- 

 sired to shoot anything, they would shoot the insects, and not the insectivor- 

 ous birds. 



On motion of Mr. Jireh Bull, it was 



Ro.aolced, That the thanks of this Association are due, and they are hereby 

 presented, to the Hon. Horace Greeley, for his interesting, instructive and 

 practical lecture delivered this evening. 



Adjourned. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



