July io, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



333 



England it has been considered a hybrid Ijetween C. viticella 

 and C. intcgrifolia. But whatever its origin, it is a far more 

 desirable plant in this climate than any of the more modern 

 and now more fashionable, larger-flowered varieties, which, 

 with few exceptions, have here proved themselves short-lived 

 and very unsatisfactory. „ 



June 27th. J' 



Correspondence. 



Forests and Civilization. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — I have recently asked several of the thoughtful men of 

 our country for some expression of their interest in forestry 

 subjects, and have just received the following letter from Pro- 

 fessor C. E. Norton, of Harvard University: 



" Dear Mr. Harrison : — The strange, hideous, barbaric spec- 

 tacle which the rush to Oklahoma has presented during these 

 last weeks affords the clearest proof that the work in which you 

 are engaged, of endeavoring to rouse the conscience of our 

 people to a sense of the prevalent misuse and waste of the 

 natural resources of the country, is of prime, national import- 

 ance, not only from the material but also from the moral point 

 of view. Were the proper use of these resources understood 

 there would have been no such scene of savage struggling to 

 gain possession, by fair means or foul, of the fancied advan- 

 tages which this territory, now for the first time open to settle- 

 ment, is supposed to offer. 



" It is now many years since the late eminent George P. 

 Marsh, in his most interesting and instructive work on " Man 

 and Nature,' demonstrated the fact of the calamities and deso- 

 lation which had fallen upon many once fertile regions of the 

 earth through the ignorance and reckless disregard of man, 

 in dealing with the soil, of the laws by which its permanent 

 resources for human support are maintained and replenished. 

 His demonstration fell for the most part upon deaf ears. 

 Never has the waste of what should be the permanent, inex- 

 liaustible fund of a nation's prosperity been exhibited on so 

 v/ide a field as in oin- own country during the past twenty 

 years. We have been living like spendthrifts, flinging away 

 treasures slowly accumulated dinging the past without consid- 

 eration of the rights and interests of future generations or 

 recognition of our responsibilities toward them. We have 

 used the goods of Nature as if we were sole and absolute own- 

 ers of them. We have behaved like fraudulent trustees. A 

 people can only justify its claim to be called civilized by so 

 using the free gifts which it has received from Nature and its 

 own predecessors as to transmit them undiminished and im- 

 proved to its successors. 



"All good men, all men who love their country and who 

 desire that the democracy of America should set an example 

 of rational, manly, intelligent and moral national life, must 

 desire your success, as the agent of the American Forestry 

 Congress, in the work which you have undertaken. 



With the highest regard, sincerely yours, 



" Cambridge, Mass. C. E. NORTON." 



I should like, with your permission, to write a series of notes 

 on forest interests and affairs in this country, with allusions to 

 contemporary journalism, literature and life. There is always 

 occasion for vital and discriminating discussion of these sub- 

 jects, and the need of it increases of late. For many years I 

 have observed the course and methods of action of the people 

 of the United States in their treatment of their forests and 

 woodlands, and have studied the disappearing woods them- 

 selves, in nearly every part of our coimtry, with deep interest in 

 the relation of the forests to our national civilization and devel- 

 opment. I remember many years ago when I began to talk of 

 this relation, even men of a high degree of general intelligence 

 often asked, "What have forests to do with civilization?" 

 Since the establishment of this journal the idea has been more 

 definitely presented, and such a relation has been generally 

 recognized in the discussion of forestry subjects in these pages, 

 but the idea is still imfamiliar and needs further development. 



It is not wonderful that people do not readily receive the 

 notion of such a relation, for the popular ideas of civilization, 

 and of nationality itself, are extremely nebulous, incoherent 

 and inadequate. A nation shoidd be a vital unity — a population 

 organized for intelligent co-operation for the attainment of 

 worthy practical ideals. The sentiment of nationality, or what 

 is called by that name in our country, is still superficial and 

 Indefinite, with little vital relation to the present time, and our 

 national life is in great degree inorganic, made up of scattered 

 nuclei, and without common direction. We are wanting in 

 some of the elements which are necessary to the persistence 



of national individuality. Our "magnificent vitality," to use 

 the phrase of the centennial orators, lies all abroad, and is, 

 thus far, not able to come to time, or to get down to the se- 

 rious IjLisiness which requires our attention. The principal 

 adequate and manly thing which we have done as a nation, 

 the fighting out of the great controversy over slavery, though 

 inevitable, was largely of the nature of an accident, something . 

 apart from the natural and essential continuity of our national 

 life and history. 



The Civil War has already become, to a great extent, a part 

 of ancient history. Its lessons have litde relation to the needs 

 of our time, and the fact that "we put down the Rebellion" 

 does not render it certain that the problems of the present and 

 the future will solve themselves, or that the enemies which 

 now threaten our national prosperityand success will be fright- 

 ened out of our path by the shouts with which we celebrate 

 past triumphs. We may have a splendid destiny before us, 

 but it will not be the product of our present national temper 

 or character, nor the result of the methods which now prevail 

 in our national house-keeping. Nothing splendid lies along 

 the roads upon which we are now mainly traveling. 



As to civilization, it does not appear that those who talk of 

 it most boastfully have thought much about what it is, in what 

 it consists, or how it may be maintained and carried forward. 

 They never have anything definite to say about it. The pop- 

 ular optimism may have a basis in reality, but its prophets 

 have no liking for scientific methods of inquiry. They are 

 either incapable of analysis, or they regard facts with con- 

 tempt. If our people had the idea of nationality, and a definite 

 perception of what constitutes civilization, they might be 

 brought to see clearly the relation of the nation's forests to its 

 development and welfare. 



There is a great deal of talk about forestry in this country, 

 but I cannot find out that we have much of the thing itself. 

 Forestry is an art, and it can be learned only by practicing it, 

 and it can be practiced only where there are forests to be ad- 

 ministered or cared for. The art has not been practiced in 

 this country. The only forests in which it could be illustrated 

 and practiced, and thus learned, are neglected, outrageously 

 abused, and as rapidly as possible destroyed, so that we have 

 here no means, material or opportunity for training young 

 men in a real knowledge of forestry. We have some admir- 

 ably equipped dendrologists, but forestry in the United States 

 is a matter of talk, of Arbor Day oratory and essays at Forestry 

 Congresses. We shall build nothing valuable on a basis of un- 

 reality, and to clear the ground of misconception and illusion 

 is usually a necessary beginning for any serious work or real 

 advance. J . B. Harrison, 



Cor. Sec. American Forestry Contrress. 

 Franklin Falls, N. H. 



The Choice of a " National Flower." 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — It has not seemed to me that the question of a " national 

 flower " for the United States, so widely discussed in the press, 

 had a very serious interest either for patriots or for flower- 

 lovers. Of course, if we could choose and bring into general 

 use a floral emblem of the right sort, it would conspicuously 

 enrich the sentimental side of our lives ; and, of course, it be- 

 hooves every patriot as well as every lover of Nature to regard 

 this side. No one quesfions that a flag is a precious, indeed an 

 indispensable, national possession, or can fail to see that ours 

 is all the more valuable because of the symbolic significance 

 of its stripes and starry field. The utility of such an emblem 

 as the eagle is also plain, for we must have some device to 

 serve in a coat-of-arms and to ornament a multitude of " offi- 

 cial " articles. If a flower could be added to the flag and the 

 eagle it would serve more than one end they do not meet, and 

 would be especially valuable as an element to introduce info 

 our decorative art. What a blank would be left in the art of 

 France were the Fleur-de-lis expunged ! What a boon would 

 it be to the American decorator had lie some such consecrated 

 type ready to his hand ! 



Nevertheless, the current discussion has seemed without 

 much point, for, discuss as we will, how are we to choose our 

 flower? There is no prince to hand it over to us, already en- 

 circled with a halo of significant associations ; it seems most 

 improbable that any popular assembly, charged with the set- 

 tlement of important national affairs, will put the question to 

 a vote, and such an assembly is our only substitute for the 

 personal ruler of old. A flower might have been selected 

 when the flag and the eagle were chosen; and chance niavsome 

 day give us' one, in some great national crisis, when we are 

 thinking least about it. But to choose deliberately by " pop- 

 ular " voting, and then to impose the choice upon a nation so 



