April 19, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



171 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office : Tribune Building, N' bw York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1893. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articles :— The Adirondack Park 171 



The Gardens Surrounding the Taj 171 



An Avenue of Elms. (With figure.) 172 



Notes of Mexican Travel. -I C. G. PringU. 172 



Maple-sugar : How the Quality Varies.— Ill Timothy Wheeler. 173 



Foreign Correspondence:— London Letter W. Watson. 174 



Cultural Department: — Notes on Varieties of Raspberries E. Williams. 176 



A Summer Greenhouse Professor W. F. Massey. 176 



Amaryllis O. O. ■s.^^ 



The Spring Garden J- N. Gerard. 177 



The Side-saddle Flower W. F. Bassett. 177 



Correspondence:— Hardy Rhododendrons James MacPherson. 178 



Cinerarias at the World's Fair E. J. Hill. 178 



A Good Collection of Greenhouse Plants T. D.H. 179 



A Woodsy Corner 7". 179 



Recent Publications '79 



Notes "^° 



Illustration :— An Avenue of Elms in New England, Fig. 29 175 



The Adirondack Park. 



THERE must have been some public interest in the 

 woodlands of this state considerably more than half 

 a century ago, or Governor DeWitt Clinton would not have 

 sent a message to the Legislature in which he insisted upon 

 the importance of sustaining the productive capacity of its 

 forests. This sentiment had grown so strong by 1872 that 

 a commission, with Horatio Seymour at its head, was ap- 

 pointed to inquire into the expediency of legislation for 

 vesting in the state the title to the timbered Adirondack 

 region and converting it into a public park. It would have 

 been coinparatively easy then to acquire these lands, but 

 public opinion was not ripe for the project, and as acre 

 after acre of the forest has disappeared, the difficulties in the 

 way of rescuing what remains have become greater and 

 greater. The bill drawn up with care by the commission 

 of '85 was not adopted, and a substitute containing only a 

 few of its features was enacted, but the destruction of the 

 timber and the absorption of the land by various corpora- 

 tions and individuals has gone on as before. This imper- 

 fect scheme has now been superseded by another plan of 

 administering the state forest-lands, embodied in a bill to 

 which Governor Flower has just affixed his signature. How 

 much this will accomplish in the way of saving the rem- 

 nants of the North Woods depends largely on the intelli- 

 gence and the executive force of the forest-commission 

 just named. The measure is not such a one as has been 

 recommended by those who have given the most study to 

 the subject, but it may embody most of the protective pro- 

 visions which it is possible to enforce until public opinion 

 becomes more thoroughly educated. We have often ex- 

 pressed the opinion that a forest-tract which is such an 

 important factor in the welfare of the entire community as 

 the North Woods shoulci belong to the community, and that 

 state ownership in fee-simple is, therefore, the only final 

 and satisfactory solution of the problems involved. 



The first part of the act just passed relates to all the 

 forest-preserves throughout the state, but the important part 

 ofthe law is that concerning the Adirondack Park, which 

 sets apart certain townships in the counties of Hamilton, 

 Franklin, Herkimer, St. Lawrence and Warren to be held 

 in forest for the preservation of the chief rivers of the state 

 and its future timber-supply and for the free use of the peo- 

 ple for their health and pleasure. The state already owais 

 a half-million acres within the boundaries of this park, and 

 the novel feature of the bill is an effort to gain control of 

 about as much more land for park purposes, while leaving 

 it to be owned as it now is by private individuals. The 

 proposed covenant is, that in return for the remission of 

 taxes on these lands by the state their owners shall contract 

 to refrain forever from removing any of the timber thereon 

 which is less than twelve inches in diameter at a height of 

 three feet above the ground, except that the owners have 

 the right of clearing for domestic purposes one acre in each 

 one hundred of forest-land cov'ered by the contract. The 

 commissioners also have the authority to issue leases of not 

 more than five acres in one parcel for the erection of 

 camps or cottages under conditions prescribed by 

 them. They are also empowered to sell fallen timber 

 and timber "injured by blight or fire," and standing tim- 

 ber which shall measure twelve inches or more in diameter 

 three feet from the ground, the proceeds of which shall be 

 credited to the fund for purchasing other land within the 

 Adirondack Park. They have the power to sell portions of 

 the 250,000 acres of forest-land owned by the state without 

 the park and to apply the money thus received to the pur- 

 chase of land within the park, and they may exchange 

 directly state lands without the park for lands within its 

 boundary. Finally, they may buy lands within the park 

 and leave the present owners the privilege of cutting down 

 timber above the regulation size for fifteen years. This is 

 an attempt at the gradual acquisition by the state of land 

 which it is considered too expensive to take at once. 



As we have said, the immediate value of this legislation 

 depends on the quality of the commission just appointed. 

 The powder to lease tracts for camp-grounds and to make 

 compacts for a divided ownership of the land may result 

 in the establishment of many small parks which are practi- 

 cally private property, or in which the people have, at 

 most, but few rights. The privilege to sell large timber is 

 dangerous. If the proper method of cutting and transport- 

 ing this is not strictly prescribed and enforced, great 

 damage may be done to the smaller trees. No doubt, it is 

 right for the state to sell its forest-products, for this is the 

 only legitimate revenue which can be expected from the 

 land. But this should only be done under the supervision 

 of trained foresters, and with such men in charge there 

 would be no need of fixing a limit to the size of the trees to 

 be cut. A skilled forest-master knows what trees to cut, 

 whether they are large or small, without any assistance 

 from the Legislature. In many instances, for example, it 

 would be advisable to thin out small trees of inferior 

 kinds to aid the growth of better kinds. For the present, 

 how^ever, the restriction as to the diameter of timber felled 

 may be on the side of safety. It would be easy to criticise 

 other details ofthe act. But if a better law would fail of 

 enforcement, owing to the lack of enlightened popular 

 sentiment behind it, and if it is impossible to find men to 

 whose charge the forest can safely be entrusted, the proper 

 attitude now of all patriotic citizens is to encourage the 

 commissioners in well-doing as they deserve it, to watch their 

 conduct closely and point out mistakes of administration 

 when they are made, and to continue through the press and 

 otherwise to educate the people as to the vital importance 

 of this forest to them and their children, until they are 

 jealous of the slightest encroachment upon their right to 

 have it preserved and perpetuated. 



According to the Kew BuUelin, the famous gardens sur- 

 rounding the Taj at Agra are in imminent danger of de- 



