June 4, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



269 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office : Tribune: Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



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



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, i8go- 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articles:— The Lumber Trade Journals. — The Use of Deciduous 



Trees and Shrubs .—Central Parle 269 



A Stone Bridge in Wales. (Illustrated.) 270 



The Trees ot Persia S. G. IV. Benjamin. 270 



The Water Supply of Southern California Charles H. Shinn. 271 



New or Little Known Plants :— Phoenix Rcebelenii. (With figure.) 



W. Watson. 272 



Foreign Correspondence :— London Letter W. Watson. 273 



Cultural Department :— Notes on American Plants F. H. Horsford. 274 



Notes on Shrubs J- G. Jack. ■2-js, 



Originating New Peas 27s 



Notes on Vegetables Professor W. /•'. Massey. 276 



Cvpripedium barbatum John Weathers. 276 



Morsea Pavonia B. 277 



Propagating Chrysanthemums G. 277 



Cliantnus Dampieri, Eurycles sylvesti is W. -i-j-j 



Chionodoxa Luciliae alba, Exochorda Alberti Max Leichllin. 277 



Correspondence :— State Control of the G\'psy Moth J. G. Jack. 277 



What is an Orchid ? E. F. B. 278 



Planting Street Trees H. W. S. Cleveland. 278 



Horticultural Society of Japan huabuchi. 279 



Recent Publications 279 



Notes z 79 



Illustrations :— Phcenix Rcebelenii, Fig. 40 273 



A Stone Bridge in Wales 275 



The Lumber Trade Journals. 



IN all the older parts of our country where there are no 

 government lands, the various interests which depend 

 upon our forests and woodlands are chiefly in the hands of 

 individual land owners and of lumbermen and it is impor- 

 tant therefore that the persons interested in forestry should 

 come into close relations with these two classes. The 

 lumber trade papers and the recent improvements in their 

 character are on this account worthy of special notice. They 

 show marked gains in breadth of view and in seriousness, 

 and the discussion of trade subjects is more direct, definite 

 and business-like. The assumption that only lumbermen 

 can have practical ideas on forestry subjects has been out- 

 grown, and writers for the leading lumber journals recog- 

 nize the community of interests which is involved in 

 nationality and civilization, and which binds all the people 

 of our country together. The clear perception of the fact 

 that the functions of forests and their relations to the future 

 timber supply of the country, the permanence of the 

 streams and the fertility of the soil are matters in which all 

 intelligent and patriotic Americans should feel interested, is 

 a distinct advance. 



The increased earnestness is the greatest gain. This has 

 been brought about naturally by the operation of the laws of 

 business and by the immense development of the interests 

 represented by these papers, and these processes of ex- 

 pansion and improvement are still going on. Not long ago 

 the writing in lumber journals — there was not much of it 

 indeed — seemed intended to be humorous rather than in- 

 forming, and the selections appeared to have been made 

 by the office boy when in a hurry to get away to a ball- 

 game, as they often had no relation to the objects of the 

 paper, but merely filled up the space. At present the lead- 

 ing lumber papers are usually pretty well filled with inter- 

 esting matter. Some of them have valuable special con- 

 tributions descriptive of the timber resources of various 

 regions of our country, which are evidently based on 

 actual observation. 



In some instances the old fashion of "bright'' writing, 

 which has no relation to facts, is still followed, but the 



method of accurate reporting, which is the basis of all real 

 journalism, is gaining ground. One of the western lum- 

 ber papers had an editorial article on the late annual meet- 

 ing of the American Forestry Association at Philadelphia, 

 which contained exactly as many errors as items of state- 

 ment. The misrepresentation in such cases is not what most 

 deserves attention, but the lack of intellectual seriousness, 

 the slight way in which the writer manifestly thinks of his 

 own work and of the important interests with which he 

 deals. 



The editor of a lumber trade paper has a chance to 

 make his place highly influential and useful. This depart- 

 ment of American journalism has undeveloped opportuni- 

 ties and capabilities which should make it attractive to 

 young men of ability and education in the lumber busi- 

 ness. There is no reason why the best writing of the time 

 on forestry subjects should not be done in the offices of 

 these papers, if such young men equip themselves with 

 adequate knowledge and with the power of comprehensive 

 thought. This last is one of the most important require- 

 ments for the people interested in forestry, too. They need 

 to be able to "look before and after," as Shelley says, to 

 understand relations and tendencies, and to estimate 

 rightly the effect of forces which operate slowly. Our 

 country needs more men who can think of interests beyond 

 the limits of their own farm, town or state. Some men in 

 NeAV England, for example, think the discussion and agita- 

 tion of forestry subjects unnecessary, because in their neigh- 

 borhood there is more woodland than there was thirty 

 years ago. We call a worn out field woodland, though it 

 may have but half a dozen specimens of Pinus rigida to 

 the acre, and these worried and crippled by cattle past all 

 possibility of useful growth ; and though the area of wood- 

 land may have increased, there is, in many instances, far 

 less of valuable timber than formerly. A jaunty and 

 superficial optimism is often comfortable for thoughtless 

 people, but no man can treat our national forest-interests 

 adequately who does not understand the possibilities of 

 tragedy which are involved in our methods of mismanage- 

 ment. 



What do the intelligent and public spirited men who are 

 interested in forestry subjects desire ? What are their wishes 

 and aims ? That the forests and woodlands of the country 

 shall be managed intelligently, so that the greatest benefit, 

 service and profit for all concerned can be obtained from 

 them. What do sensible and practical lumbermen and owners 

 of timber lands desire ? Precisely the same things, of course. 

 We are all interested in forestry, as we are in agriculture, 

 and whatever leads to wiser knowledge and better methods 

 advances the general welfare. The lumber people and the 

 forestry people are alike interested in having timber cut off 

 with foresight and calculation, and in having the land so 

 cared for and protected that the timber will grow again, 

 and that it will be perpetually reproduced on all land which 

 is fit for no other crop. What is the good or sense of wan- 

 ton waste and destruction, however limitless our supply 

 of timber may be supposed to be? Not many years ago 

 a citizen was remonstrating with an army officer when he 

 and his men had killed over thirty buffaloes one afternoon, 

 when only their tongues, and not all of them, could be 

 used. But the officer replied that if the whole army of the 

 United States were constantly employed in killing buffaloes 

 no impression could be made upon their numbers. He is 

 still living, but he will never dine on buffaloes' tongues 

 again. 



Not long ago it was pointed out to a farmer in south- 

 western Iowa that if the Black Walnut which he had been 

 cutting for firewood for thirty years had been allowed to 

 stand it would now have been worth more than the entire 

 farm would sell for without it. He was surprised, but, 

 after a few moments, said he did not doubt it. " But," he 

 added, "it is too much trouble to think of anything so far 

 ahead." Perhaps we cannot reasonably expect the mass 

 and average of our fellow-citizens to learn to act with habit- 

 ual recognition of laws and forces which operate so slowly 



