530 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 6, 1889 



schools and churches res^arding man's relation to the earth 

 on which he lives, and his responsibility for the care and 

 ordering of it and its products, not only would there be a 

 saving every year of millions of dollars in the crops of our 

 farms, gardens, orchards and vineyards, which are now 

 destroyed by insects, but life would soon be much more 

 intercstinsr to the wiser race of men and women. 



An Associated Press dispatch, dated at Silver City, New 

 Mexico, October 27th, serves to emphasize what was said 

 in these columns last week with regard to the difficulties 

 which will attend any effort to secure from Government 

 consideration even of a comprehensive scheme for pre- 

 serving the forests on the public domain of the United 

 States." It appears from this dispatch that an attempt made 

 by the agents of the Treasury Department to protect the 

 forests in southern New Mexico from promiscuous thieving 

 has met with violent opposition and protest. The effort of 

 the Government to preserve its valuable timber from being 

 stolen bodily is characterized as " a summary step to para- 

 lyze the chief industries of the territory." The owners of 

 saw-mills, who have been carrying on their business for 

 years with timber openly stolen from the Government, 

 receive the sympathy of the community because thej^ have 

 been "made miserable by Government agents," who have 

 attempted to perform the duties of their office. Congress 

 is to be asked to modify the laws so that plunder can be 

 made legal, that the mine-owners and timber-men of New 

 Mexico and of the other territories can carry on their 

 operations without fear of molestation. 



The forests of southern New Mexico, covering a mass of 

 high and almost inaccessible mountains, are the most 

 valuable in all the region immediately adjacent to the 

 southern boundary of the United States. The timber 

 which they contain is often large and of good quality, con- 

 sidering that it has grown in a comparatively dry region. 

 These forests, could they be managed with a little care and 

 forethought, are capable of supplying, indefinitely, the peo- 

 ple and the mines of New Mexico with timber, and of fur- 

 nishing a large amount for shipment to the treeless regions 

 east, north and west. The time, indeed, is not far distant 

 when the great body of timber occupying the mountain 

 ranges of southern New Mexico and south-eastern Arizona 

 will, if it can be preserved from needless destruction, be- 

 come a considerable factor in the timber-supply of North 

 America. These forests, too, assure the integrity of a 

 number of small streams absolutely essential to the existence 

 of the inhabitants of the valleys at the base of the mountains. 

 Were these forests under proper control, and systematically 

 worked, the people of New Mexico would be able to pur- 

 chase regular and abundant supplies of timber and fire- 

 wood, and there would be no question of "one-third of the 

 population being driven out of the territory, and of all busi- 

 ness being paralyzed" by Government action. The truth 

 of the matter is, however, that the people of New Mexico 

 want their timber for nothing, and that a not inconsidera- 

 ble part of the population are now in the territory because 

 good timber can be had there for the taking. Settlements 

 have been made and industries have sprung up on this 

 basis, and every effort of the Government to protect its 

 property will be met with determined and well organized 

 opposition. 



In this active local opposition lies the great obstacle to 

 forest-conservancy in the United States. The task of pre- 

 serving the forests of western America is in itself sufli- 

 ■ ciently difficult to tax the energy and the administrative 

 ability of any nation. No forest region, not even that of 

 India, which has been brought under control, presents any- 

 thing like the physical and climatic difficulties which a 

 forest-administration would be called on to encounter in 

 dealing with the forests in the central and western parts of 

 this continent. When to these natural difficulties arc added 

 national indifference and active local opposition, the pros- 

 pect of serious reform is not encouraging. And yet if this 

 destruction cannot be stayed, that portion of this continent 



beyond the looth meridian must, with the exception of a 

 few favored localities, be uninhabited before another cen- 

 tury has passed; and the people of the United States, what- 

 ever their numbers may be, will then be crowded into the 

 eastern side of the continent. The forests mean existence 

 to the people living in more than one-half of the present 

 territory of the United States, and in their future lies one of 

 the great social and economic problems of the twentieth 

 century. 



Landscape-Gardening in Persia. 



"DERSIA has long lieen famed for the artistic genius of her 

 -'- people. It is 1-ess generally known, however, that the art 

 of landscape-gardening has been for thousands of years one of 

 the most characteristic of the aesthetic expressions of Ivan. 

 This ignorance is doubtless caused by the fact that examples 

 of the other arts of Persia can be exported or reproduced in 

 color, whereas a garden cannot very well be exported, and few 

 travelers have visited Persia or had the artistic training that 

 would lead them to write intelligently about her arts. 



I speak of the landscape-gardening of that country as reach- 

 ing the rank of an art, because, in the first place, it is an origi- 

 nal expression of a national taste for the beautiful, and in the 

 second place, because, like all true art, it is an outgrowth from 

 natiu-al conditions and adapts itself to those conditions. 



Tlie climate of Persia makes out-of-door life essential. For 

 nine months no rain falls, and even the wet season, which 

 lasts less dian three months, is attended with only moderate 

 rain or snow on the elevated plateaus, which constitute the 

 larger part of the country. The remainder of the year the 

 skies are cloudless, the dews are imperceptible, and the dry 

 air quivers with mirage. The heat is steady, but the nights 

 are cool, owing to the elevation of the country. Exception 

 may be made to these observations in regard to the climate of 

 the narrow strip between the Caspian and the Elbarz Range, 

 forming the northern watershed of those mountains. The 

 vapors of the Caspian striking these slopes deposit a vast 

 amount of moisture, which descends in numerous streams. 

 The northern slope is covered with dense, jungle-like forests, 

 the alluvial lands at the base are devoted to rice fields, and the 

 steaming atmosphere reeks with malaria. 



But, on passing the ridge, one enters a dry atmosphere and 

 beholds before him plains extending six hundred miles, often 

 mere waterless, verdureless sand, and always destitute of 

 trees, except where irrigation has been employed. This is the 

 region where the landscape-gardening of Persia has been de- 

 veloped and brought to exquisite perfection. 



It is evident that an arid soil and a cloudless sky at once sug- 

 gest the need of water and shade, and that those must be the 

 prominent objects to be brought together in agreeable combi- 

 nations, while the scai'city of the population and the engineer- 

 ing difficulties to be encountered must regulate to a large de- 

 gree the characteristic features of a place. Add to these a 

 third element — the last one would imagine as giving a direction 

 to landscape-gardening — polygamy. This institution shapes 

 almost every phase of Persian life. In the present case the 

 seclusion of the women imperatively controls the arrangement 

 of the grounds as well as of the dwelling apartments, and hence 

 is one of the causes for the constant surprises and variety we 

 find, in the country-seats of Persian gentlemen. 



In spite of these limitations, artists in landscape do not 

 slavishly follow a fashion or some dominant conventional 

 system of decoration, but allow the genius loci to stand at their 

 elbow and direct them how to evoke beauty in accordance with 

 the particular spot that, from an arid rocky slope or a bar- 

 ren ])lain, is to be transformed into a dream of voluptuous 

 delight. 



Having purchased his land, the proprietor does not say to 

 the designer : " What is the latest style in landscape-gardening 

 or in the construction of villas ?" But, " What can you make 

 out of this piece of land ? " The land is not to be twisted into 

 conventional designs, but the design is to be brought into har- 

 mony with the land. The variety possible on this principle in 

 Persia is evident when we consider that the first object of a 

 country-seat is, wherever possible, to locate it on some ele- 

 vated point, in order to lower the temperature, and approach 

 the sources fed by the mountain snows, the latter in order to 

 have abundant water for irrigation, without which it is useless 

 to attempt culture in that country, either of woodland or tilth. 

 I cannot better illustrate these statements than by a brief 

 description of a characteristic place in the neighborhood of 

 Teheran. These country-seats, by the way, all have specific 

 names, by which they are known, rather tlian by the name of 

 the proprietor. Jeferabad includes some sixty acres on the 



