202 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 483 



so-called ornamental Apples. Altogether, wherever it is 

 desirable to add to the general attractions of a park a 

 special display of..fto>:;- er s in early May, no class of plants 

 can produce s.jjfch splendid effects as these flowering Apples. 



ii'i the last session of the legislature of New Jersey a 

 as introduced for the establishment of a commission 



Di 



bill w 



:, .ivestigate the forests of the state, to determine the best 

 mft Jihods of forest management adapted to existing con- 

 ditions, to arouse general interest throughout the state in 

 various ways, and to prevent, so far as possible, the 

 ravages of forest fires. All these objects are worthy ones, 

 but fortunately investigations have already been under- 

 taken under the direction of the Geological Survey which 

 look toward the accomplishment of the same ends. The 

 forest interests of the state, therefore, will receive no injury 

 because the Governor has failed to approve this bill. 

 The State Geologist is qualified to superintend work of 

 this sort, and everything which can be accomplished by 

 this commission can be done by that officer. There is no 

 doubt that the forests of New Jersey have a high value, but 

 if the state makes any appropriation for protecting and 

 developing this great natural resource, it can be used for 

 the present to much greater advantage by the Geological 

 Survey, which is already organized and active, than by the 

 creation of another new board for this special duty. 



The Source of Abietene. 



ABIETENE is the volatile product from the resin of some 

 _/~\_ west American Pines, and is the counterpart of tur- 

 pentine which is distilled from the resin of some other 

 Pines, chiefly those in the southern United States. Abie- 

 tene is a more volatile liquid than turpentine, but both are 

 hydrocarbons, although belonging to different series. 

 About the year 1878 samples of abietene were received in 

 Philadelphia with the statement in one case that it was the 

 product of Pinus Sabiniana, and in another case that it was 

 derived from P. ponderosa. Of recent years it has come 

 to be understood that the commercial source of abietene is 

 P. Jeffrey i. As I had in my possession the barks from 

 P. ponderosa and P. Sabiniana, it occurred to me that 

 something might be learned by examining the volatile 

 product of these two samples. They were accordingly dis- 

 tilled, and, while the yield was small, it was enough to get 

 the characteristic orange odor of abietene in both cases. 

 In another experiment the amount of volatile oil in the bark 

 of P. ponderosa was determined to be about 0.2 per cent. 

 The bark, therefore, would not be a profitable source of the 

 oil. It is probable that both P. ponderosa and P. Sabiniana 

 have yielded samples of this oil, although it may be possi- 

 ble that P. Jeffreyi is at present tire commercial source. 

 Some years ago Professor Wentzell, of San Francisco, de- 

 tected oil of turpentine in the resin of P. ponderosa. It is 

 possible that both oils occur in different parts of the tree. 

 Unfortunately, the commercial production of abietene and 

 its resin is in the hands of a medicine company, which is 

 disposed to attribute to these products curative virtues 

 they do not possess. It is doubtful if abietene has any 

 medicinal virtues superior to common oil of turpentine, or 

 if the residual resin is superior to common rosin. 



College oE Pharmacy, Philadelphia. Henry Trimble. 



A river with its waterfalls and meadows, a lake, a hill, a 

 cliff, a forest, ancient trees standing singly — it is objects like 

 these which give beauty to a township and have a high use 

 which dollars and cents never represent. They do more for 

 education than hired teachers or preachers, and if the inhabit- 

 ants of a town were wise they would cherish and preserve 

 them. . . I know a town in Massachusetts with a noble 

 oak wood, to which, if preserved a century more, men would 

 make pilgrimages from all parts of the country. As in many 

 countries precious metals belong to the Crown, so here more 

 precious objects of rarer beauty, like groves and river banks 

 and mountain peaks, should belong to the public. — Thoreau. 



T 



Quercus lobata at Ukiah, California. 



HE great White Oaks make the most delightful 

 features of our valley landscapes. A few years ago, 

 Ukiah Valley, viewed from the foot-hills, appeared to be 

 covered entirely with one vast Oak forest. Throughout 

 our rich bottom-lands immense spreading trees could be 

 seen on every hand, now thickly dotting the grain-fields, 

 now in extensive groves, and every valley view had a 

 background of great white trunks and domes of foliage. 

 The trees followed the smaller streams up into the foot- 

 hills, they luxuriated in the deep rich coves about the 

 base of the mountains, and even on the mountain slopes 

 they grew wherever they could find the deep rich soil 

 which seems essential to their happiness. Higher up the 

 flanks of the mountain they soon gave place to the Black 

 Oak, Quercus Californica, and the Post Oak, Q. Douglasii, 

 which continued over the drier lands and over the moun- 

 tains. But it was in the deep rich deposits of black gravel 

 on the main valley floor that they grew most thickly and 

 attained their greatest size. Year after year their numbers 

 have been thinned slowly when grain or hay was the usual 

 crop, but more swiftly since large orchards have been 

 planted, and fruit, Hops and Alfalfa have become sta- 

 ples. But, in spite of the great gaps made in their ranks 

 after all these years of cutting, thousands of veteran speci- 

 mens still live and many large fields remain really groves 



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urn 



V!J 





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*WUBfitM lliiy , 





Fig. 25.— Quercus lobata in the Ukiah Valley, California. 



of magnificent Oaks, which stand as they stood when the 

 first white man entered the valley. 



On the east side of the valley there was a wide belt a 

 mile across and five miles long, which was once one 

 great forest, and portions of it still contain our noblest 

 trees. Other valleys in California have laid claim to pre- 

 eminence in the beauty of their groves, and there are 

 magnificent trees scattered through all of our valleys, but I 

 believe that, taking into account the splendid proportions 

 of some individual Oaks, the average size of all, with their 



