Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 313 



places. The ax of the lumberman may be beard not only on our 

 plains, but far up the sides of our mountains, and their beautiful 

 green is being transformed into bare and rugged rocks. There are 

 large sections of our country where valuable farms have not only a 

 scanty supply of fuel, but are nearly destitute of a single tree suit- 

 able for repairs of fenees or buildings, where rocky woodland would 

 command a higher price per acre than the rich lands of the Connecti- 

 cut or Schuylkill, and where a single pine tree that has survived the 

 destruction of its fellows would more than pay for an acre of our 

 best land. A late United States commissioner of agriculture stated 

 that, at the present rate of destruction, our forests east of the Mis- 

 sissippi would not hold out thirty years. The annexation of the 

 Canadas will not save us, for the Canadian press already warns its 

 people that they will soon deplore the destruction of theirs. The 

 nse of young trees for posts and larger ones for zig-zag fences has 

 done its share to produce this state of things. Zig-zag in fencing is 

 about the worst sort, except that produced by strong drink. On 

 account of its snaky course, it requires eighty rods more of fence 

 than a straight one, three or four times as much lumber, and one and 

 a half acre of land to the mile for the hideous thing to wriggle upon; 

 and yet men are to be found who will continue to zig-zag while 

 whisky and fence rails are to be had. President Lincoln showed 

 his good sense in abandoning rail-splitting soon after he came to years 

 of discretion. Iron and stone must come into use as the foundation 

 of our fences. The west is full of iron, and the time is not far dis- 

 tant, certainly not long after the steam plow shall have come into 

 use to turn the soil of her magnificent prairies, when her broad fields 

 and lines of railroad will be inclosed with fences, the foundations of 

 which shall be sure for half a century. 



Adjourned. 



October 17, 1871. 



Nathan C. Ely, Esq., in the chair ; Mr. John W. Chambers, Secretary. 

 Preserving Peaes. 



Mr. Samuel M. Furman, Astoria, L. I., exhibited some fine 

 Duchesse d'Angoleme pears, and asked how he should keep them. 



Mr. P. T. Quinn — They should be picked with great eare, laid in 

 the basket without the slightest bruising, and kept apart in an 

 atmosphere dark, cool and dry. 



