March i8,' 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



119 



Oaks in the United States, and other species of the genus 

 have been noted in this country by Dr. Mayr. The White 

 Pine and several of the conifers of the Pacific slope suffer 

 from injuries inflicted by members of the genus Trametes. 

 In Europe, T. radiciperda is the parasitical fungus most 

 dangerous to coniferous woods, of which it destroys the 

 roots and the lower part of the stem. 



In discussing means of protection against fungal dis- 

 ease, Professor Hartig says: "The best prophylactic mea- 

 sure against the occurrence and spread of an epidemic is 

 the formation of mixed woods. Infection, both below and 

 above ground, is least likely to occur when every tree is 

 isolated by being surrounded by others of a different spe- 

 cies. On ground which is infested by root-parasites, or 

 which contains resting-spores whose vitality is preserved 

 for many years, it may be advisable, under certain circum- 

 stances, to abandon the cultivation of some particular 

 species of tree." 



It may fairly be asked how these matters bear upon the 

 forest questions that confront us here. Their value, to my 

 mind, lies very largely in the emphasis they give to the 

 good qualities of mixed forests. If we must plant forests, 

 a remote contingency east of the Mississippi, but an imme- 

 diate necessity in many places west of it, the question of 

 what kind of forests requires an answer. To specify the 

 kinds of trees is by no means a solution of the problem. 



Mr. Fisher's discussion of the injury done by frost is 

 unfortunately not clear; nor has he improved upon the 

 usefulness of Dr. Hess's description, although he has brought 

 to the subject the results of more recent investigations. 

 A statement of the action of frost upon the tissues of 

 plants, on the points of which both Hartig and Prantl 

 agree, is somewhat as follows : 



As the temperature of a plant descends pure water is 

 separated from the cell-sap and withdrawn from the inte- 

 rior of the cells, which lose their turgescence. (Tur- 

 gescence in a plant cell occurs when the cell is suffi- 

 ciently supplied with water. It is the prerequisite of 

 growth.) The concentrated sap remains in the interior of 

 the cells, while the water freezes in the intercellular spaces 

 outside of them. Rapid thawing, to which the major part 

 of all injury from freezing is due, does harm because it 

 allows insufficient time for the reabsorption of the water 

 through the cell-walls. Consequently it either remains 

 between the cells, where it stagnates and eventually dis- 

 colors the plant and causes its decay, or it evaporates and 

 the plant dries up. In either case the cells lose water. 

 On the other hand, if the amount of water withdrawn from 

 the cells is small, or if the thawing is sufficiently slow to 

 allow reabsorption, the plant recovers. It is in this defi- 

 ciency of water in the cells that the harm done to green 

 vegetation by freezing always lies. In frozen wood, since 

 for the most part intercellular spaces do not occur in woody 

 tissues, the water separates from the sap and freezes inside 

 of the cell. The effect of severe frost may be noted in the 

 narrower annual rings found during the years when it 

 occurs. 



Rime or hoar-frost is a very dangerous enemy to trees of 

 all ages. The damage done by ice-storms is at times most 

 incredible. In the southern Alleghanies I have seen trees 

 six or eight inches in diameter broken off short, and in 

 many places the ground so littered with branches torn off 

 by the weight of ice that progress on foot was a difficult 

 matter. Snow is far less harmful to old trees than rime, 

 while hail does serious damage only to the very young. 



The process by which frost lifts young seedlings from 

 the ground is somewhat as follows : When the moisture in 

 the surface soil freezes it expands, rises and carries with it 

 the young roots of the seedlings imbedded in it. As the 

 ground sinks back to its original level when the thaw 

 comes, the numerous fibres of the roots cannot drop back 

 into the holes from which they were drawn, and the seed- 

 ling remains at the height to which it was raised by the 

 freezing. A repetition of this process finally lifts it so far 

 above the ground that the roots lose their hold upon it and 



the young tree falls over. This may be one of the most 

 extensive causes of damage in nurseries, where the process 

 of replanting often becomes extremely expensive. To guard 

 against the evil effects of low temperature and storms many 

 ingenious protective rules are laid down, but they need not 

 be quoted here. 



A curious form of damage to young growth mentioned 

 by Mr. Fisher is from heat reflected by the trunks of old 

 trees standing among seedlings in early youth. I have 

 noticed similar damage in the vicinity of trees with large 

 shining leaves, such as the Balsam Poplar. Such facts sup- 

 ply still another reason, where there are already so many, 

 for keeping the leaf-canopy uninterrupted in the forest. 



The matter of protection against winds, except in so far 

 as it regards the planting of wind-breaks, and, perhaps, 

 occasionally the maintenance of unbroken forests on the 

 summits of hills, has very little application in the United 

 States at present. The means taken to guard against it 

 nearly all require for their execution a degree of refinement 

 in methods which is still many years in the future. The 

 danger and injury are here, but the remedies are out of 

 reach. 



The chapter on forest fires contains much interesting 

 material from Indian experience, especially as regards 

 measures of protection. It is more nearly adapted to the 

 question of fires in the United States than any other similar 

 treatment which I have seen. Indeed, Indian experience 

 in this matter resembles that of the United States, at least in 

 the enormous areas devastated and the enormous interests 

 to which the fire is destructive. As a striking instance of 

 the divergence in the European and American points of 

 view and scope of experience, it is curious to note in a sec- 

 tion entitled Register of Fires that the burning of 5,675 

 acres in the year 1800 in the Black Forest is still thought 

 worthy of record, as well as that of 3,300 acres in Prussia 

 in 1857, and of 3,250 acres on the Ltineburg Heath in 1880. 

 On the other hand, our own fires of 1881 and 1894 are also 

 mentioned, and the great destruction in Canada in the year 

 1863. 



In happy contrast again is the statement that the average 

 number of fires a year in Prussia from i860 to 1880 was but 

 twenty-nine, and the average area burned over only 1,335 

 acres. Here is a condition utterly beyond us at the mo- 

 ment, but for which we may look and work with confident 

 hope. Thirty years ago the attempt at protection against 

 fire was just beginning in British India. Now it is effective 

 over more than 24,000 square miles, and at a cost per square 

 mile of somewhat less than $3.00 per annum. 



One of the subjects which demand most earnest investi- 

 gation in this country is the natural history of forest fires. 

 Already some material has been gathered, such as an ex- 

 ceedingly interesting paper by Mr. Austin Cary in the 

 report of the Forest Commissioner of the state of Maine for 

 1894, and certain articles by Mr. H. B. Ayres, of Minnesota ; 

 W. W. Ashe, of North Carolina, and John Gifford, of New 

 Jersey ; but, on the whole, the vast body of information 

 which must exist in the minds of those who know the forest 

 best has not been adequately formulated, nor have the 

 investigations needed to give accuracy and completeness 

 to such a statement been undertaken. Such a field is far 

 too promising to be long neglected. 



In conclusion one sentence must be quoted, for in it lies 

 the gist of the whole matter. Speaking of countries like 

 India, Mr. Fisher says, "More than half the battle against 

 forest fires is won when the protection of the forest from 

 fires meets with sympathy from the neighboring villagers." 

 New York. Gifford Piiichot. 



Notes. 



At the exhibition of flowers at the Farmers' Club in this city 

 a vase of Mr. Fisher's new crimson seedling Carnation at- 

 tracted much attention. This variety commended itself to the 

 experts at the late meeting of the Carnation Society for its si/e, 

 form, fragrance and other good qualities. 



Vol. i., No. 1, of a little ten-page monthly entitled Hortieul- 



