January 23. 1S95.I 



Garden and Forest. 



,1 



r~^ A D r^ ET I\l A 1\1 r^ C (~\ D TZ? O T~' sacred by some noble action in the past. It is rather the 



LjAKUcIN AINLJ FLJKCoI. fault of society, which has never decided what are the 



riijhts of the individual to the beauty of the world into 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY which it has been born. One reason for this is that we do 



not recognize the real value of such spectacles and associa- 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. tions as an uplifting and civilizing force. Libraries have 



been written to prove the value of art as a refining influ- 



Office: Thibunh Building, New York. • , i _„ u 1 ■ ii 'N 1 



eiice on society, and a man would be justly considered a 



vandal who should destro}' a priceless painting of some 



Conducted by Professor c. s. Sakcent. old master, even if it were his own private property- But 



vandal is a harsh word to apply to the men who are blast- 



" ing down the face of the-Palisades and defacing the digni- 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICE AT NEW voRK, N. V. (^gj portal through whlch OHe of thc noblcst rlvBrs of ^he 



=:= world enters one of its noblest harbors, and yet no one can 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1895. tleny that the destruction of the Palisades would be a 



calamity more serious than the loss of any work of art on 



the continent. 

 TABLE OF CONTENTS. We allude once more to the danger which threatens the 

 Palisades because the Governor of New Jersey in his late 



PACE. , -^ . ^ 



Editorial Articles :— To Preserve the Palisades 3, message invited the attention of the Legislature to the 



CreirL^hT?he^VesY'.'',!"!^:.\^:;;:;::;;:.\:/^;,V;;;^;a;/;fe^^ % matter, and has suggested the passage of certain acts 



Hybrid OaUs in Western Missouri B. F Bush. 32 which he thinks will prevent this magnificent natural ram- 



FoREiGN Correspondence: — London Letter /r. WatsDn. ^i , r 1 • . .1 rni 



New OR Little-known Plants :-Proteacynaroides. (With figure.). .. /F. W. 34 part from becoming a prey tO the quarryman. Lhe pur- 



Plant Notes .. ....... 34 chase of the Palisades throus:hout their entire leneth as a 



Cultural Department:— Peach Yellows Prof, sscyy L, H. Bailey. 34 ... , ^ ttt ■ , , r , ,. 



Seed-sowing E. o. Orfet. 36 public park Govemor vVeris considers out ot the question 



Simu^a¥nensi^!!'"'.'!T."™^::::::::;■:;::::;■.■.::;^ ^6 »" account of its expense, what gives the rock its market 



Ctieriac K. 36 Value, hovi'ever, is its proximity to navigable water and 



CoRRE.t™TLNcl^-L'ma;iJi.s'i',rFijrbushV.y.;V.;V..:V.V.'.V.V.;^ 3^ the ease with which it can be loaded for transportation. 



Orchids at short HiiLs. New Jersey A'. 37 Somc of the riparian rights of the state have been disposed 



Shall we have an Orchid bocietv? L.O.Off'Ct. 3S r 1 ^ i iMi i- 11 i 11- ir -i c ,u 



The Forest:— The Consumption ot Wood in the Comstock Mines. Ot, but it Still practically OWllS tWO and a halt miles Ot the 



Recent Publications n'liii.im .iivor,/. 38 shore, including those portions now utilized by the quarry- 



NoTEs .'''.'.'.\'.^^'.'.'.. ".'.'.'. 40 men. The Governor recommends that the riparian laws 



Illustration :-Proteacynaroides, Fig. 5 35 of the State be SO modilicd that the building of Stone- 



= breakers or piers for working and loading the rock shall 



To Preserve the Palisades "°* ^® permitted on the state lands, and that none of the 



water-rights of the state shall be disposed of without such 



IN one of his journals, Thoreau, in speaking of the natu- limitations as will make the work of quarrying unprofita- 



ral beauties of a country, declares that they have a ble. We are by no means assured that such legislation 



high use which dollars and cents cannot represent. If the would save the Palisades. Nevertheless, it would be well 



inhabitants of any town or state were wise they would if such a law were enacted, so that a practical test of its 



spare no pains to preserve such beauties, for they furnish a value could be made. 



kind of education that no hired teachers, preachers or Another suggestion in the message of Governor Werts is 

 school systems can suppb". The most impressive object to be commended without reserve, and that is the appoint- 

 he found in a certain New England town was a noble Oak- ment of a commission under a general act to receive and 

 wood to which he felt assured that men from all parts of hold such lands in the state as they may deem for any 

 the country would make pilgrimages a hundred years reason worthy of reservation for public use. This is practi- 

 hence if the town would only save it. But if the people cally a similar commission to the one organized in Massa- 

 there were of the same temper with the inhabitants of chusetts, which we have had frequent occasion to speak of 

 many other towns they would estimate the value of the with approval. If the people of any stale feel that their rights 

 grove onl)' for what the trees would bring as timber. In in spots which are hallowed by tradition or are inspiring 

 many countries precious metals belong to the crovv'n, so by their beauty are being infringed upon, they must organ- 

 here more precious objects of rare beauty should belong to ize to assert these rights, and no better plan has yet been 

 the public. The summit of Mount Washington was once devised than this board of trustees of public Reservations 

 in litigation before the New Hampshire courts, which were in Massachusetts. There are few other states in the Union 

 to decide whether it belonged to A or B. "Think of a where a man who owns a battlefield or a waterfall in fee 

 mountain-top," he adds, ''which even the Indians rever- simple can give it to the public, much less sell it, because 

 enced as a sacred spot, only accessible through private no one is entitled to hold it legally for the state. The 

 grounds — a temple which no man can enter without the existence of a continuous body like these trustees is a con- 

 danger of letting out or letting in somebody's cows ! " stant invitation to public-spirited citizens to make over for 

 No doubt, this is fundamental truth on which Thoreau the public use forever many j^l'aces which ought to be 

 here takes his stand, but, after all, he is bringing up a form of reserved. Governor Werts thinks that if such a commis- 

 the old and ever-recurring problem, how to reconcile the sion in New Jersey could secure a few points on the Pali- 

 rights of the individual with the rights of society. The sades besides those which would be protected under the 

 ocean is free to every keel, and yet there are miles along modified riparian act the danger would be averted. Let us 

 our coast-line where the people are fenced away from its hope that this will prove correct. 



beach, as if they had no right even to look at a spectacle In any event, neither New Jersey nor any other state 



which in all time has been a source of health and inspira- can err in organizing'^ perpetual board of trustees to hold 



tion to man. Places with a history which ought to stir the forever all places whose history or natural character justifies 



pulse of patriotism have been degraded into low resorts by their reservation as public property for public use. It is a 



landowners, who prize and use their historic associations pleasure to add that, since the foregoing paragraphs were 



simply as an advertisement. But it is not just to denounce written, a bill has been introduced into the New York State 



people as criminal for using what is their own property as .Senate to create a commission for this jnirpose, comjiosed 



may suit their advantage within the limits of the law. If of eminent citizens from different parts of the state, and that 



any one is censured, the blame should not rest solely on the the bill expressly authorizes flie commission to cooperate 



men who devastate natural beauty or places rendered with similar bodies in other states, where joint action is 



