1877. } 205 
[Price. 
of tracks for shade, and for cross-ties and car timber, against the time when 
lumber will surely become more scarce ; and should, for its best self-inter- 
est, use every device to avoid firing the forests, and use cross-ties that have 
been barked, creosoted, kyanized, or saturated with boiling tar. The in- 
terest they have at stake to economize is incalculable. 
Legislation is not here suggested, except it be to authorize the roadside 
planting ; and, perhaps, counties to offer rewards for such planting. The 
functions of our Society in regard to tree planting are two: to diffuse use- 
ful knowledge,‘and to execute the trusts of the Michaux legacy, yet this is 
to co-operate in a sphere of action that is boundless and endless. True, our 
fund is small, but held by a perpetual trustee, its munificence should be 
perpetual ; its beneficent effects never cease to spread, and the knowledge 
we impart and incentive we give, may bring sympathetic and enduring 
aid by many others, by the States, and the United States. 
When we consider that trees require the growth of many years; that 
large tracts of country are denuded, which can be more profitably used 
by reforesting than otherwise, and that to make the reforesting useful and 
profitable, there must be choice of trees, and skill in the manner of their 
management and care, we must see that no time should be lost. This gen- 
eration should begin the work effectively, and enjoin the duty upon those 
to follow. 
The kinds of trees to be preferred by considerations of durability and 
their multifarious uses, are the American White Oak; the American 
White Pine ; the American White Ash ; the American Elm; the Chest- 
nut, Walnut, Hickory and Larch. To this list of trees is to be added the 
Eucalyptus, or Blue Gum, of Australia, for its anti-malarial properties, and 
for its rapid growth, yet excellent timber. Its wood is white, about as hard, 
but a little stronger than the best Eastern Ash. (J. T. Stratton, Agl. Reps. 
of ’75, p. 845). The planting and management must be left to professional 
skill. 
The Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, who received 
two-fifths of the Michaux Estate, have offered prizes for the cultivation of 
plantations of not less than five acres, to be planted with the European 
Larch, Scotch and Corsican Pine, and American White Ash. The compe- 
tition will be likely to exact the use of farm lands, while agricultural 
economy requires the chief sowing and planting of trees to be on the stony 
places, and profitless sandy spots, such as are often savingly allotted to 
bury the dead. These too may be planted with economy and pleasing ef- 
fect. 
Annexed to their circular is a very valuable Essay by Professor C. 8. 
Sargent, Director of the Botanic Garden and Arboretum of Harvard Uni- 
versity. This I have read since writing the preceding pages, and the facts 
and opinions by him expressed, sustain the foregoing views, He shows by 
sufficient testimony that woods do produce rainfalls ; do preserve springs 
and rivers; do protect the soil and crops, nurseries and orchards ; that 
sandy lands though exposed to the fierce winds of the seashore, have pro- 
