252 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 488. 



scenery, which is the essence of the value of the park. No 

 city in the world possesses more beautiful scenery or a park 

 area more thoroughly characteristic of what is most de- 

 lightful in the landscape of the part of the world in which 

 it is situated than does New York in Bronx Park. There 

 seems to be some danger that a portion of it which has 

 been handed over to the directors of the Botanical Garden 

 may be marred by the intrusion of buildings which could 

 be placed elsewhere. Let us hope that conservative coun- 

 sel will prevent any such desecration. The city spent 

 money like water to create some charming natural scenery 

 in what is now Central Park by blasting out ridges of rock, 

 filling in the spaces with soil, and turning this desert of 

 stone into tree-flecked meadow-land. Now that it has 

 come into possession of scenery far more beautiful and 

 ready-made, it would be worse than folly to destroy it. 



Private Forestry and State Forestry. — III. 



TOWNSHIPS* and counties, generally speaking, are 

 scarcely qualified to own such reservations. Nearly all 

 of these are so poor or so unstable as to render forest man- 

 agement impossible, except such as is merely meant for 

 revenue. The population of the counties is too shifting to 

 be interested in far-reaching local undertakings. Besides, 

 if all the surrounding counties do not unite in the scheme, 

 steps toward solving the forest question by a single com- 

 munity are useless. Forests are most needed in counties 

 situated in mountainous regions, at the headwaters of the 

 streams. But these are the very counties that, suffering 

 comparatively little from the consequences of forest destruc- 

 tion, do not care to spend any money in the matter. The 

 lowland counties are the interested ones, but they cannot 

 legislate for the territory of other counties. The state alone, 

 as the aggregate of all the counties, is capable of establish- 

 ing and managing reservations. A public loan to buy 

 such areas as must necessarily be kept under forest-cover 

 — whether wood-clad now or not — might be obtained at a 

 low rate of interest, as the security, consisting of real estate, 

 renders it a safe investment. The United States, if neces- 

 sary, might guarantee such loans, thus still further reducing 

 the interest to be paid.f 



There is most need of purchase by the state of such 

 tracts as cover the steepest and highest ridges. These tracts 

 command the lowest price, being but thinly stocked and 

 more exposed to fire than to the lumberman's axe. Large 

 areas, usually of bare land, are annually sold for taxes. J 

 The state should secure those that are suited for- a reserva- 

 tion and reopen them to the production of timber, which, 

 in most cases, is the only possible product. Reforestation 

 cannot, of course, be accomplished at once. It can be done 

 gradually, the most urgent cases first. When protected 

 from fire, some part of such reservation will be restocked 

 in the course of time by nature. If any human action, 

 apart from fire protection, is needed on such part, it will 

 only be the closing of ravines and gullies. Any delay will 

 greatly increase the cost, the land becoming more impov- 

 erished, natural regeneration more doubtful and the gullies 

 growing worse. The less feasible it is to enforce mainte- 

 nance of a forest-cover on lands owned by private persons 

 the more urgent is the duty of the state to secure such 

 tracts for itself. 



A singular solution of the forest question is at the present 

 moment recommended by the Minnesota State Forestry 

 Association to the legislature of that state. The plan, 

 drafted by Captain Judson W. Cross, provides " that persons 

 may deed to the state for forestry purposes such land as is 



unfit for agriculture, reserving the right of hunting for them- 

 selves, and the right to dig, mine and carry away such 

 minerals, oils and coals as may be found on such land." 

 No taxes are to be paid on it. The expected revenue from 

 forest crops is to be divided as follows : Two-thirds shall 

 be paid to an educational institution, and the remaining 

 third to state, county and township, to reimburse them for 

 loss of taxes. The Minnesota forestry plan, if it becomes 

 a law, will provide an inexpensive method by which the 

 state may secure large bodies of lands, which is the first 

 and most important step toward state forestry. The next 

 step is protection from fire, after which forest management 

 might follow. 



I might here describe the means by which the German 

 Government has induced wealthy individuals to buy utterly 

 worthless land and plant it with trees after having restored 

 it to productiveness by steam-plowing and drainage. Such 

 plantations are free from taxes for forty or fifty years.* 

 The Government forest guards protect them from fire in 

 connection with the work of protecting Government lands ; 

 the plants are furnished from excellent Government nurse- 

 ries at cost price. The usefulness of this latter arrangement 

 I cannot state strongly enough, and similar methods should 

 be at least tried in this country, j" The idea is not at all con- 

 trary to American principles ; why can we not distribute 

 plants from Government nurseries as fish are distributed 

 from Government hatcheries ? The prices which commer- 

 cial nurseries quote are simply exorbitant, and the dealers 

 are not prepared to furnish the kinds required in sufficient 

 quantities at any price. Plants produced in forest nurseries 

 en masse can be raised at one-tenth the expense. 



Private enterprises, although fostered by the state, will, 

 however, never solve the forest question. State forest res- 

 ervations are a necessity wherever forests act as "barriers 

 against losses." The reservations must be protected from 

 marauders and fires by a staff of forest guards, with the 

 necessary number of officers. The forest guards, wherever 

 feasible, should also be employed in enforcing fish and 

 game and forest-fire laws on private lands which may sur- 

 round the reservations. An administration of this kind is 

 as economical as it is effective. Strict discipline and free- 

 dom from political influence are necessary, and therefore a 

 connection with the army seems advisable. | 



Biltmore, N. C. C. A. Schetick. 



Dock Gardens. 



PIER parks or promenades were suggested by Mr. 

 W. D. H. Washington in a report to the Tenement- 

 house Commission of 1894. The idea so evidently con- 

 tains the germ of practical relief for a crowded population 

 in hot weather that under the charter for Greater New York 

 the Dock Board is expressly authorized to plan certain 

 piers in such a way that they will serve for purposes of 

 recreation. 



Mr. Olmsted once said, in support of a proposal to make 

 a waterside park, that in such parks " for one acre of land 

 you procured a thousand acres of space and fresh air." 

 Mr. Washington states that a dozen of such pier parks as 

 this could probably be created for little more than the cost 

 of a park covering a single block in the city. His descrip- 

 tion will do equally well for the present plan, on page 253, 

 which claims no other merit than an attempt to design an 

 attractive formal garden and playground on architectural 

 lines for the space at command. The structure, 544 feet 



* In Maine 1,000 acres of land are set aside in each township for public purposes, 

 probably a good deal being timbered. But no enactment in reference to Ihese 

 lands exists. (Report of United States Division of Forestry, 1887, page 98.) 



t Such a loan could and should be made the favorite investment of the thrifty 

 workman, enabling hi 111 to invest money as safely as in a Government savings bank. 

 The poor laborei .ill over the world is likely to lose Ins savings through invi sting 

 them in speculations, the financial standing of which he has neither the education, 

 Hi': 1 xperience nor the means to investigate. 



X in Pennsylvania tin.' land advertised to be sold for taxes in June. 1894, amounted 

 to more than one and a half million acres. (Governor D. H. Hastings' Message.) 



* in the United States exemption from or reduction of taxes on areas planted up is 

 granted in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Dakota, Montana and Utah. Iowa has 

 repealed a similar law in spite of its apparent success. Indiana is going to 

 grant a small reduction. 



t The United States Division of Forestry was created for " the collection and 

 distribution of valuable economic tree seeds and plants," among other objects. For 

 lack of funds, however, practically nothing has been done as yet. (Report of United 

 States Division of Forestry, 1890, p. 197, and 1891, p. 193.) The direct aid which 

 the United States Government has held out in the interest of forest culture lias 

 consisted in permitting the acquisition of Government lands in the treeless region 

 free of expense, by planting one sixteenth ot the area to trees. This method has 

 proved ol little avail. (Report of United States Division of Forestry, 1890. p. 107.) 



X Professor Charles S. Sargent's excellent plan (Century Magazine, February, 

 1895, page 626). The majority of the forest guards in Germany are taken from 

 the army. 



