442 



Garden and Forest. 



[September ii, 1889. 



discussions in the press. Since papers of inHuence have de- 

 clared that " tile only plan hy which threatened injuries can he 

 averted, and means provided for the permanent conservation 

 of these invaluable forests, is the acqiu'sition by the state of the 

 entire Adirondack region," the minds of the people here have 

 been turning' more and more in the direction of such a change. 

 A valuable educational work has also been carried forward 

 among the woods-people by the chief Forest Warden and his 

 subordinates. They remind everybody that unless the forests 

 are preserved, the occupation and livelihood of the inhabitants 

 of the country here will begone. "No woods, no tourists, no liv- 

 ing for you." The most intelligent and observant men here are 

 coming to be in favor of the gradual acquisition of the entire re- 

 gion by the state. But nobody wants the state to buy the land 

 before the timber is cutoff ! Thehunbermen want the existing 

 crop for themselves. But some arrangement coidd doubtless be 

 made to pLuxhase considerable tracts for the state as soon as 

 the timl)er now standing on them is utilized. Then, if fire is 

 kept out, the forest will soon come back again, and the state 

 can take care of it if her people are wise enough. 



There has been comparatively little depredation upon timber 

 on the state lands during the last few years. Some ne'er-do- 

 wells steal a tree or two at a time for shingles, or to sell, and 

 some lumbermen still l)uy logs from men who are known by 

 everybody not to own a foot of fend or a stick of timber any- 

 where, but the pillaging of the state timber lands has greatly 

 declined. The Forest Commission has successfully prose- 

 cuted some offenders, and has successfully discouraged others. 

 The Bill providing for a change of venue in suits for trespass 

 on state lands, which the Commission brought forward in the 

 Legislature last winter, was a good measure, and should have 

 become law. Such cases cannot always be fairly tried in the 

 vicinage where the depredations were committed. 



The extensive and increased cuttings which thoughtful men 

 deplore is, of course, not on state lands but on those of 

 private owners, who have a right to cut their own timber 

 whenever they choose. They have also a legal right to cut it 

 as they choose, and to destroy forest-conditions all over their 

 own territory, if they are so imintelligent as to wish to do that. 

 What observing and public-spirited men regret is, that so 

 much of the forest is cut off with so little thought of the future 

 and its needs. There is really no sound objection to cutting 

 off the woods if it were done in the right way, for they would 

 soon be reproduced. But much of it is done thoughtlessly, 

 carelessly, stupidly ; without the application of judgment, in- 

 telligence or common sense. I think we shall have to interest, 

 engage and educate the lumbermen, and get them to help us 

 in the effort to establish a more enlightened and practical 

 policy and method in cutting off timber, and maintaining per- 

 manent forest-conditions, so as to have a succession of crops. 

 They ought to feel more interest than mostodier people in the 

 permanent preservation of the forests as a source of revenue 

 and profit to themselves individually and to their children, but, 

 unfortunately, they do not always act from enlightened self- 

 interest, any more than the rest of us. 



While these mountain forests are in the hands of private 

 owners we must expect that they will be utilized, as other 

 property is, for their benefit, and it is not reasonable to de- 

 nounce them for managing their possessions for profit, as 

 other people do. Here are two lines of work, the encourage- 

 ment of forethought and wise management among lumber- 

 men and private owners of forest lands, and the discussion of 

 the policy of the gradual extension of state ownership of land in 

 the Adirondack region. 



The Conemaugh catastrophe has had a distinct influence 

 here in stimulating thought about the relation of mountain 

 forests to streams and their flow, and the eflect of mountain 

 denudation in producing destructive torrents and freshets, and 

 intelligent men in the wilderness, and in the towns along the 

 Hudson, are giving these subjects more attention than ever 

 before. It is not quite plain to them just how this disaster 

 teaches the lesson drawn by my friend Major Powell, "that for- 

 ests are a disadvantage to irrigation where the chief precipita- 

 tion is snow." But the question of the quantity of water that 

 might be saved, by destroying the mountain forests of Cali- 

 fornia and Colorado, is not practically important. If forest- 

 conditions are destroyed on the mountains, in which the 

 streams to be used in irrigation have their sources, evil and 

 destructive forces which no human power can control will be 

 Hberated and set in motion. The soil will be carried down 

 from the mountain slopes. The irrigation reservoirs will be 

 filled up, and the fertile lands below buried under sand and 

 gravel. The streams will be ruinous torrents for a short time 

 each year, when the snows melt, or the rains fall, and their 

 channels will be dusty chasms during the season when water 



is most needed. The air will be filled with dust from the per- 

 petual erosion of the hills. The regions which might be the 

 permanent seat of vast and prosperous populations will be 

 wrecked, desolate and accursed. The laws and forces of 

 nature will not make exceptions in our favor, though we are 

 a great country. 



But why should our friends, the geologists and hydraulic en- 

 gineers be eager for the destruction of the forests on our 

 western mountains which still belong to the nation ? The 

 forests are not in their way. Their permanent conservation 

 and proper management will in no way interfere with the 

 great expansion of engineering and constructive work for the 

 storage and distribution of water, upon which it is evident that 

 we are about to enter. There will be plenty of business for the 

 engineers for a great while to come, and vast revenues will 

 be appropriated for its cost. The magnitude of the possibili- 

 ties before us is indeed stimulating to the sanest mind, and it 

 will not be wonderful if some enthusiasts conclude that arid 

 lands are better for agriculture than those to which nature has 

 given an adequate rainfall, and that the world is to be saved 

 by being sufficiently dammed. But the fact remains that 

 mountain forests are the natural storage reservoirs for the 

 water that falls upon them, and that they are indispensable to 

 the integrity and permanence of the streams which have their 

 sources in them. y. B. Harrison, 



Lower Saranac, New York. Cor. Sec. American Forestry Congress 



The Practicability of an Improved Use of Popular 

 Plant-Names. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir. — Popular plant names are a part of a great mass of descrip- 

 tive terms, applied to familiar or conspicuous natural objects, 

 and form an important part of every language. They seem 

 to be as necessary to the people at large who want names that 

 easily become familiar, as "scientific" names are to the 

 student who must have a universally understood system and 

 mode of expression. 



Botanists pay less attention to popular names than ornitho- 

 logists, entomologists and other students of natural science. 

 Why they should may perhaps be explained by circumstances 

 connected 'with the early history of botany. The study of 

 plants, first confined to the physician, who considered them 

 for their real or supposed medical virtues, was for a time 

 thrown into great confusion from lack of means for identifica- 

 tion. Later students began to work out a system of classifica- 

 tion and at length botany was established as a science apart 

 from medicine. But in the mean time the early physician had 

 degenerated into the herbalist, with his quackery and supersti- 

 tion, and both he and his vocabulary were held in contempt 

 by the botanist. This early antagonism I'esulted in a separa- 

 tion between the popular and scientific names of plants. 



Some popular names have come to us from a very early 

 time, while others, more recent, can be traced to many differ- 

 ent sources. We have not the various dialects that are respon- 

 sible for many of the seemingly trivial names in English books, 

 but from all parts of the world names have come to us with 

 the plants to which they belong; while others have become 

 attached to new plants. Purely American names have been 

 adopted from Indian languages or corruptions of them, and 

 many have originated among our people. 



There are many common names which are used without 

 practical confusion or inconvenience of any kind ; such, for 

 instance, as Quince, Elm, Wheat, Cabbage, Cocoanut. That 

 there is a much larger number in the use of which there 

 must be uncertainty and consequent confusion, is not a suffi- 

 cient reason for outlawing all such names. If it were, scientific 

 names must also be outlawed by the same reasoning, for 

 even the best botanists often make changes in what is re- 

 garded as the correct name of a plant, and often append to 

 the name of a particular plant a long list of synonyms. 



Considerable attention has been given to popular plant 

 names in England, and several books are published there on 

 their origin, meaning and use ; but the more important of 

 these are written from the standpoint of the philologist and 

 archaeologist, and while all deplore the uncertainty and con- 

 fusion in the use of these names, little is done to correct it. It 

 is often added to when a great number are given, by not speci- 

 fying those worthy of general use. 



We, in America, stand well to lead in establishing the correct 

 use of popular names, for our text books and catalogues agree 

 in the use and application of many of them, and we are com- 

 paratively free from complications that perplex our English 

 friends. 



