PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS* CLUB. 135 



trees in desert places, where the soil is too poor to grow any other kind, 

 for the production of fuel and timber. 



Mr. Nathan C. Ely replied that he had found it next to impossible to season 

 the wood for fuel, and if burnt in an unseasoned state, in an open fireplace 

 it emits a very unpleasant odor. He also thinks the pollen which is blown 

 from the blossoms about the streets, where it gets into people's eyes is a 

 greater nuisance than the odor. Yet great as the nuisance may be, he will 

 not recommend cutting down the ailanthus until some better tree can be 

 found as a substitute. 



Mr. John G. Bergen. — I concur generally in the views expressed by Mr. 

 Robinsdn. The ailanthus is the tree for the city. I would not plant it 

 upon a country place because we there can grow fruit or other trees which 

 cannot be grown in cities. I think this writer is mistaken in several 

 things. I do not think the tree is generally considered a great nuisance. 

 He jumps at false conclusions, and thinks the tree deleterious to man be- 

 cause birds and worms avoid it. This is not so. Birds make their nests 

 in it, and of late years it has been infested by worms. There arc no facts 

 to prove that it has ever caused sickness. The odor is disagreeable, but it is 

 not as much so as chloride of lime. That neutralizes miasma. Who knows 

 that the odor of ailanthus blossoms does not neutralize more miasma than 

 it creates ? As for fuel, if cut in Avinter, it will season readily, and is as 

 good as any other soft wood. 



Mr. Carpenter. — This man's argument based upon worms not eating the 

 ailanthus, is a very weak one. I have a largo tree that has been almo.st 

 denuded the past season, and birds have made their nests in it for years. 



Mr. Nathan C. Ely. — I should like to know if the writer of that letter has 

 been the cause of the destruction of eight or ten ailanthus trees in Sixth 

 avenue, which have lately been cut down; and other in the same neigh- 

 borhood, which afford a broad and agreeable shade to many a weary pas- 

 senger upon the street, have been girded for the purpose of effecting their 

 destruction. 



Adjourned. 



JoHK W. Chambers, Secretary. 



July.n, 1868. 

 Mr. Nathan C. Ely in the chair. 



Drought. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — I understand from conversations had with farm- 

 ers and gardeners, in Westchester county, that something may be done with 

 young trees that are now suffering with the present drought. I Imve a 

 number of young trees that have not yet thrown out a leaf; I shall set my 

 men at work, stirring the earth, digging round the young trees, say six 

 feet in circumference, and apply mulch round the stem, and this should be 

 done in the course of a week or ten days, by this means nearly all the 

 trees that are now alive can be saved; some persons apply water, but it 

 should not be one except the trees are mulched. 



