January 23, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



37 



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, JANUARY 23, 1889. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



EDnoKiAi. Articles: — Arbor Day Tree-plantino;. — Some Sound Advice about 

 Forest Interests 



H ints about Lawns 7- C- Olmsted. 



Autumn in Oregon E. W. Hammond. 



Foreign Correspondence :— London Letter W. Watson. 



New or Liitle Known Plants :— Ilex Amekinchier (with illustration). . C. S. S. 

 Cultural Department: — Sub-irrigated Gardens A. H. Oirtiss. 



The Relation between Blossoming and the Tubers in the Potato 



Rose Notes W. H. Taplin. 



The Hybrid Tea Rose, Puritan W. 



Polyantha Rose, Mme. Georges Pernet E. G. Hill 



Orchid Notes F. Goldring, Geo. Savage. 



Plant Notes. — The Banyan Tree (with illustration) 



Principles of Physiological Botany. — IV Professor George Lmcoln Goodale. 



The Forest: — The Forests and Woodlands of New Jersey. — II. .y. B, Harrison. 

 Correspondence : — A Horticultural Register .4. L. Bajicroft. 



Fruits for Cold Climates .' C. L. Watrous. 



Periodical Literature 



Recent Plant Portraits 



Notes 



Illustrations : — Ilex Amelanchier, Fig. 88 



The Banjan Tree in the Botanic Garden, Calcutta, Fig. 89.. 



iGE. 



37 



Arbor Day Tree-Planting. 



TREE planting- is, of course, not forestry, nor is there 

 any close or necessary relation between them, but 

 tree planting is itself a good thing if it is done intelli- 

 gently. We need more trees, of the best and most suita- 

 ble kinds, nearly everywhere in the settled portions of 

 this country. If there is a fixed day for the work, at the 

 proper season of the year, with ceremonies, social ob- 

 servances, and opportunity for "a few remarks," many 

 persons are likely to plant a few trees who would not 

 otherwise think of it. If good trees are selected, and 

 they are handled with care and intelligence, both in the 

 process of transplanting and afterward, we shall proba- 

 bly have, in the course of time, more good trees than 

 now, and this is to be desired. A beautiful, graceful or 

 majestic tree is a valuable possession for any coiTimunity. 



But the tree is not an end in itself. It does not exist 

 for its own sake. It is valuable solely for its effect upon 

 human health and human psychology, for its relations to 

 the welfare of the men, women and children who see it. 

 Whatever tends to implant or nourish right feeling about 

 trees, or more intelligent regard for them than now pre- 

 vails in this country, helps along a little the long, slow 

 process of human development and elevation, which, 

 with many fluctuations, goes on from age to age among 

 the best races of mankind. The development of ideas 

 connected with the subjects of forestry and landscape- 

 art, and their continued discussion and illustration, are 

 of value simply because they constitute a real and vital 

 contribution to the sum of the forces by which human 

 life is refined and strengthened, made more vital and 

 interesting. This is an object in itself, and all means to 

 this end are to be valued in proportion to their compara- 

 tive efticiency. 



The new interest in forestry and related subjects in 

 this country is a natural development. It is time for it. 

 It is an important next step in our national progress. The 

 production among our people generally of a vital and 

 intelligent appreciation of the true place of forestry and 

 landscape-art among the forces which improve man- 



kind would constitute a real advance in civilization. 

 Whatever tends to increase popular interest in these sub- 

 jects is to be encouraged, utilized and made more 

 el^cient. It is greatly to be desired that the people of 

 this country should know more about trees, should think 

 more intelligently of their varied relations to human life 

 and welfare, and should become capable of deeper and 

 keener delight in their exhaustless charm, and especially 

 in their capabilities for the expression of ideas of beauty _ 

 and of peace. 



It is good to have people think and talk of these sub- 

 jects until they shall be "in the air" everywhere. How 

 to bring this about is a psychological problem, and most 

 of our problems in this country are largely psychological. 

 That is, they are questions of means and methods for the 

 propagation of ideas — of the best way to go to work to pro- 

 duce the conditions of public intelligence, thought and 

 feeling which we esteem desirable, and which will lead to 

 more efficient action for right and noble ends. Arbor Day 

 observances may be so managed that they shall be dis- 

 tinctly helpful. But all fine writing and long essays are a 

 hindrance when we wish to accomplish anything. Tree- 

 planting is a good object-lesson for the boys and girls of 

 our country, if they learn to plant the trees properly, and 

 with their own hands. 



A general interest in trees, and in forestry and in land- 

 scape-art, would supply favorable conditions, soil and 

 atmosphere for the development of just and rational taste 

 regarding them, and of ability to deal with their problems 

 successfully. Such results are impossible under conditions 

 of national indifference and ignoi-ance. A great musician 

 could not be produced by a race which cared nothing for 

 music. If all the men and women in this country who are 

 working for any good object will help to make it the 

 fashion to care about the subjects we have here discussed, 

 they will find the material upon which they work, the 

 minds of the American people, more tractable and re- 

 sponsive than they now are to all good and elevating 

 influences. 



Professor F. L. Harvey, in an address delivered in Bangor 

 last month, gave the people of Maine some sound advice 

 about the forest interests of the state which is of general 

 application. The statement that " it is of the utmost con- 

 cern to owners of timber lands, or those in any way con- 

 nected with the lumber industry, that they inform them- 

 selves upon all matters relating to forest management and 

 the care of lumber after it is cut, so that the greatest returns 

 be realized from the money invested," may well be applied 

 to lumbermen everywhere; and "the question for our 

 lumbermen to solve, is whether they adopt the selfish 

 policy of devastating forests for present gain, or whether, 

 b.y proper care and management, and being satisfied with 

 the annual growth, they will bequeath them to future 

 generations with their original productiveness," is one 

 which affects the whole country ; or, at least, all that part 

 of it east of the Rocky Mountains, where the control of the 

 forests has now passed froin the ownership of the govern- 

 ment into that of private holders. The future, therefore, 

 of all our eastern forests, is now in the hands of individuals, 

 who are at liberty, of course, unless a very radical change 

 in the control of private property in this country can be 

 effected, to decide, each man for himself, whether he will 

 turn his forest into money at once, or manage it in such a 

 way that it will continue to be productive permanently to 

 an amount equal to the annual increase of timber. That is, 

 whether he shall manage his forest as a prudent farmer 

 manages his land, and maintain and increase its produc- 

 tiveness. It must be remembered in this connection that 

 the owner of a forest who allows it to be destroyed sacri- 

 fices one of the most permanently productive and stable of 

 all properties ; and sacrifices, moreover, the prospect for 

 much larger returns in the future, when increased popula- 

 tion and smaller forest areas in all parts of the world must 

 inevitably increase the value of forest products. 



