July 16, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



349 



autumnale late in fall. H. Hoopesii is perhaps the showiest and 

 best of all, and should be in every garden of hardy Mowers. It 

 is as showy as Coreopsis lanceolata, and has stout, erect stems, 

 with numerous large, bright orange-colored Mowers, just when 

 no other similar Mowers are to be had. The Mowers are larger 

 than those of the Coreopsis, and as they are of good substance 

 stand well when cut. H. Bolanderi is a new species, one of 

 Dr. Bolander's discoveries in north-eastern California, where 

 it grows in low grounds near the coast. This species Mowers 

 in June soon after H. Hoopesii, and makes a nice succession 

 to that species. The Mowers are not as large, but are of a 

 pleasing bright yellow. The ray Horets are notched at the end, 

 and give the Mower-heads a pretty appearance, not unlike those 

 of the Gaillardias. We have noticed some variation in the 

 color of the Mowers in a batch of seedlings, some being much 

 darker than others. Both the above Mowers have black discs 

 or centres. H. Bolanderi is perfectly hardy here, growing 

 about eighteen inches high. It is free Mowering and useful for 

 cutting, and like H. Hoopesii, it comes readily from seed sown 

 in pots. When large enough these should be planted where 

 they are to Mower, for, with Heleniums, as with many other 

 herbaceous perennials, the less disturbance during the earlier 

 stages of the plant's life, the better will be the bloom when 

 the Mowering period arrives. These Heleniums will not 

 Mower the Mist year from seed, but if well treated a quantity of 

 bloom will be produced the second and following years. 



South Lancaster, Mass. J£_ O. Orpet. 



Polemonium pauciflorum, now in bloom from seeds sown 

 early in the year, is a native of the province of Chihuahua, 

 Mexico, and was Mrst offered this year by Mr. W. Thompson, 

 of Ipswich. It is an interesting variety, because other species 

 of Polemoniums, with the exception of P. ftavum, are blue 

 Howered. The Mowers of this one are pale yellow in the inte- 

 rior of the corolla and yellowish tinged slightly with red on 

 the exterior. The Mowers are funnel-shaped, some two inches 

 long, with a spreading five-lobed mouth, and are produced 

 from the tips of the stems and branches in clusters of from 

 two to eight. The plant forms a bushy tuft twelve to eighteen 

 inches high, with the neat foliage characteristic of the family, 

 and as the Mowers are pendent or drooping it is very graceful and 

 attractive, though by no means showy. It is said that it blooms 

 in succession from July to October, and is classed as a hardy 

 perennial, which points remain to be tested. There seems to 

 be no variation among my score or so of plants either in 

 growth or bloom. 



Elizabeth, N J. G. 



Correspondence. 

 Communal Forests. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — The Rural New Yorker of July 5th contains a contribution 

 by Mr. Charles Barnard on Communal Forests, a subject which 

 deserves the attention of all persons interested in forestry. Re- 

 ferring to the increasing number of abandoned farms and un- 

 cultivated, apparently valueless lands, which in the older east- 

 ern states reduce the tax-paying capacity of the township, he 

 suggests that by planting these waste, non-producing lands to 

 forest a revenue might be derived from them. "A man," 

 the writer says, " may not live to grow trees for a crop — a 

 town can, because it is itself immortal. Why, then, should 

 not a township grow timber? " 



The suggestion, not novel in itself, is a good one, and should 

 command careful consideration, not only by the friends of a 

 rational forest-policy, but by every citizen who is interested in 

 the prosperous condition of the town in which he lives. If 

 every community will concern itself in the rational use of the 

 land within its borders, if every town and every county will 

 give profitable occupation to its waste lands by utilizing them 

 for forest-growth, the movement would not only increase the 

 Mnancial prosperity of each community, but the efforts of those 

 who work for a rational forest-policy in the country at large 

 would be subserved by every communal forest established. 

 In fact, no better method of forest-reform could be suggested 

 than by beginning forestry in each town, which as a part of the 

 country at large, will inHuence the movement of the whole. 

 As to the desirability of communal forests — of which we have 

 an example in the Mrst town forest in the United States, at 

 Lynn, Massachusetts — there can be no question. 



Whether the method of inaugurating such action on the part of 

 the communities as Mr. Barnard proposes is the proper one 

 need not be discussed here, and whether his plantations would 

 prove proMtable as readily as he anticipates is open to serious 

 question. Upon this last point Mr. Barnard himself contra- 

 dicts his anticipations, for while he Mgures early returns from 



his plantings, he admits at the same time that forestry may not 

 be a business for private enterprise, because of the long 

 time before the investment pays. This is the very bane of 

 forestry reform. If it could be shown as a general proposi- 

 tion that forestry was a paying enterprise from the start or 

 after three to four years' waiting, it would not be difficult at 

 once to interest capital in forest-planting. There may be re- 

 turns from thinnings, and the farmer who does not calculate 

 his time while cutting and preparing the material which comes 

 from the thinnings, may Mnd a proMt thereby; but even in 

 Germany, where labor is cheap and every kind of wood material 

 is used, necessary thinnings are omitted from calculation be- 

 cause " they do not pay for the work." It would be folly for 

 the townships or counties to engage in forest-planting, except 

 with a full realization that they build for the future, and that 

 no returns can be expected within a decade or more. 



The case stands differently in communities where the waste 

 and brush lands can be aggregated with some already produc- 

 tive timber-lands into the communal forest, for the returns 

 from the latter part of the property may, under rational man- 

 agement, be made to pay in part for the improvements and 

 superintendence of the remainder. The profitableness of 

 forests begins to assert itself only after a considerable period 

 of time and after a large enough area has been brought under 

 systematic management. 



It takes, then, years and patient waiting, expenditure at Mrst 

 and rational management, to establish a profitable forest. 



That such properties can ultimately be made profitable, even 

 under our present conditions, which differ from those of 

 France and Germany considerably, I have no doubt. 



In Germany I know of communities where not only all taxes 

 are paid by the revenue from the communal forests, but every 

 citizen receives a dividend in addition. The town of Gorlitz, 

 in Silesia, is an example; also the town of Munden, where one 

 of the Prussian forest-academies is situated. The town of 

 Goslar, in the Harz Mountains, derives from 7,500 acres of 

 forest an annual revenue of $25,000 to $30,000, and it may be 

 of interest to American farmers to note that it receives the 

 highest prices for its wood products on account of the excel- 

 lent roads, which facilitate transportation. The capital in- 

 vested in making and keeping in order these roads is 

 calculated to yield twenty per cent, yearly on the investment. 



From the excellent report of the Forest-master of the Citv 

 of Zurich (Switzerland), which gives the history of the city 

 forest, going back to the fourteenth century, it appears that 

 the revenue derived from its less than 3,000 acres averaged 

 $15,000 annually during the decade from i860 to 1870, and 

 $18,600 during the next decade. How forest-property under 

 management appreciates in value appears from the following 

 table, which shows in the forests belonging to the canton of 

 Zurich, and comprising about 82,000 acres, during a period of 

 fifty years, almost a threefold increase both of yield and value. 



The figures as to yield, expenses and valuation are for a sin- 

 gle acre. 



Decade. Gross yield. Outlay. Net vield. Capital value 



1830 to 1840, . . . $3.25 $0.85 $2.40 $60.20 

 1840 to 1850, . . . 3.50 I.OI 2.49 61.90 



1850 to i860, . . . 4.59 1.02 3.57 89.24 



i860 to 1870, . . . 7.06 1.29 5.77 144.43 



1870 to 1880, . . . 8.84 1.87 6.97 174.33 



The price now is nine to twelve cents per cubic foot, and 

 sixty to seventy cents per day for wages. 



While, then, no move in forestry reform could be more 

 promising than the establishment of communal forests; while 

 eventually these forests will be profitable and sources of' hand- 

 some revenues, we should not expect the impossible from the 

 forest-commissioners and foresters who shall be called to in- 

 augurate the movement. 



Washington, D. C. J>. E. FerilOt^ . 



[A full description of the public forest of the City of Lynn 

 or the " Lynn Commonwood," alluded to by Mr. Fernow, 

 has already been given in Garden and Forest (ii., 526). 

 The early towns of New England held their woodlands 

 and pasture-lands in common, and some 1,400 acres of 

 this land belonging to the City of Lynn now returns to its 

 original character as woodland held in common; but from 

 its position its highest use will be that of a free public 

 pleasure ground. 



In an early number we shall publish the first of a series 

 of letters describing the most interesting features of the 

 forest of the City of Zurich, to which Mr. Fernow refers. 

 The letters have been prepared by a young American who 

 is studying forestry in Europe. — Ed.] 



