April 8, 1 89 1 . ] 



Garden and Forest. 



165 



hardy, being a native plant, and, according to Gray, found 

 from Connecticut to Illinois and southward. 



I well remember finding it wild for the first time and bring- 

 ing specimens to the late Dr. Thurber for name. His words 

 I repeat as nearly as my memory will permit : " Don't plant it, 

 or if you do, don't try to dig it up, for if you do you will have 

 a task that will last for years." His advice sufficed for me, 

 and it was left to ramble over its native hedgerow where it 

 was very ornamental. The plant has a very thick root which 

 penetrates deeply, and every particle of this root, when broken 

 off, will grow, so the more one tries to dig it up the more 

 persistently .does it appear over a wider area. But if one 

 plants it where it is to remain to be gazed at for. a lifetime, 

 it would probably not spread or cause trouble. But there 

 comes a time, in the history of most plants, when it seems 

 best to remove them, or replace them with something else, 

 or to dispense with them altogether. When that time in this 

 Ipomaea's history arrives, trouble is to be apprehended. The 

 moral is to plant the vine on a back fence or hedgerow, and 

 not in any dressy part of the garden. 



\e country are 

 •Is submitted at 



S. Lancaster, Mass. 



0. 0. 



Tomatoes under Glass. — In providing for a second crop of 

 these, a trial is now being made of some unusual methods. 

 Instead of raising seedlings to take the place of the old plants 

 from which a crop had been removed, a large portion of the 

 earth was removed from the boxes in which they grew, and 

 the plants were coiled around in the boxes and covered with 

 fresh earth, the ends of the plants being left projecting above 

 the surface. In another lot the old plants were cut down 

 nearly to the surface of the ground, and a single shoot was 

 allowed to grow up from the stem. In both cases the young 

 shoots, having all the roots of the mature plant to support 

 them, have grown with great vigor. Both of these methods, 

 but especially the second, seem to indicate at present that a 

 considerable reduction in the interval between successive 

 crops may be made by their use, as the plants have far out- 

 stripped, in growth and flowering, the seedling plants of the 

 usual size which were transplanted beside them at the same 

 time. „ ,„ „ , 



Cornell University. C. IV. Mathews. 



The Forest. 



Prairie Forestry and the Timber Culture Law. — I. 



'THE proposed repeal of the Timber Culture Law, with no 

 *■ provision suggested whereby Government will offer any 

 encouragement for the planting of trees on the treeless prai- 

 ries, has led me to look into the question of how far the law 

 has been instrumental in promoting tree-planting on the wind- 

 swept plains. I began the study of this question with the im- 

 pression that I had only to consult the records of the Govern- 

 ment Land Office to find incontestable proof of the wisdom and 

 value of the law. Such incomplete data as I have been able 

 to secure have not inclined me toward the enthusiastic sup- 

 port of the measure in its present form, but I do not believe 

 the figures warrant the repeal of this important law unless 

 Government is ready to adopt a comprehensive system for 

 the conservation of forests on the public domain, and attempt 

 the planting of timber of its vast treeless plains. Little has 

 been accomplished in the way of successful tree-culture under 

 this law, much less would have been done had Government 

 offered no inducement to the settler to plant trees. 



In the land offices at Huron, Watertown, Mitchell, Aberdeen 

 and Yankton 53,499 entries have been made under the Timber 

 Culture Law. Had every entry thus made represented a dif- 

 ferent piece of land this figure would indicate the presence of 

 534,990 acres of trees on 53,499 sections of land, for but one 

 timber-claim can be located on a section. But the figure first 

 given represents the total number of entries, and when a 

 claim is relinquished the land is returned at once to the public 

 domain and is again subject to entry. The statistics of the 

 Land Office are very faulty in this, and no data are obtainable 

 by which the exact number of different pieces of land entered 

 as timber-claims could be known. The Mitchell office reports 

 15,231 entries, 4,000 relinquishments and 920 proofs. The 15,- 

 231 includes all entries that may have been once or twice relin- 

 quished, and hence does not give a correct idea of the acres 

 held under the law ; neither do the 920 proofs thus far made 

 afford a basis for estimate, because probably the majority of 

 tree-claims are not yet old enough to be proven up. The 

 Aberdeen office reports 7,287 entries, and the Register esti- 

 mates 5,319 cancellations. 



The authorities of the General Land Office at Washington 

 estimate that ninety per cent, of all the timber-culture entries 



proois submitted at the offices named above number 2,890, 

 making about five per cent, of the entries ; this would seem 

 to prove the estimate a good one. But, granting the very great 

 number of failures, the Timber Culture Law has placed on the 

 prairies of South Dakota 28,920 acres of timber, every acre of 

 which contains at least 675 trees ; 2,890 groves on lands that 

 otherwise would probably have remained treeless for an in- 

 definite period. It is true that many of the claims on which 

 proof has been accepted are far from being ideal groves, either 

 in the quantity or quality of the trees that compose them, but a 

 single winter in this windy state will teach that every tree that 

 grows is worthy of respect. 



Nearly all the settlers of Dakota came from the regions far 

 better adapted to tree-culture than their new home. Naturally, 

 when they saw the luxuriant growth of grass that covered the 

 prairies, they concluded that the Timber Culture Law offered 

 the easiest and cheapest means of securing land. Govern- 

 ment designed to cover the naked prairies with groves, the 

 ameliorating influence of which should be apparent in in- 

 creasing ratio as the trees grew older. From the standpoint 

 of the law the settler's first duty was to cultivate his trees and 

 make his plantation a success ; but he saw in the trees only 

 one element of value, a means of securing a quarter section 

 of land for a very small amount of money and effort. He soon 

 found that the ten acres of trees, which brought no money 

 return, demanded care and time which could be made an 

 element of profit if put on the remaining acres of his claim. 

 Every part of his tree-claim was a source of income but the ten 

 acres which gave him title to it, and these were a constant ex- 

 pense. A very great number of those who made entries re- 

 garded the ten acres of trees as the one incumbrance on the 

 land thus secured, and all such people naturally gave what 

 they considered the least possible care to the trees that would 

 insure them a title to the land. Many people believed that 

 very little cultivation was necessary for trees (indeed, there is 

 still prevalent a popular belief that too much cultivation is 

 ruinous), and when to the wrong ideas of the inexperienced 

 new-comer is added a lack of interest in trees for their own 

 sake, the chances for success would be greatly against him. 

 At the time when the greater part of the timber-culture entries 

 in South Dakota were made, from 1880 to 1885, it was honestly 

 believed by many settlers that trees would grow with very little 

 care. When the trees died, as the great majority of them did, 

 the planter attributed the failure to an "off year," and did not 

 learn that no part of his land demanded so much attention 

 as the ten acres that he had especially promised to care for. 



The two causes for the many failures in tree-culture in this 

 state are the planter's ignorance and his failure to cultivate 

 intelligently. From what I have seen of tree-claims dur- 

 ing my residence in the state I can testify that wherever trees 

 were well planted and intelligently cultivated success was 

 attained. I know of successes in the most unfavorable parts of 

 the state, and failures are common in those parts of the state 

 having the most rain-fall. 



The great number of relinquishments have been in the 

 hands of men who have been badly disappointed. Instead of 

 being the cheapest way of securing Government - land, any 

 one who has proved up a tree-claim is very apt to say it is the 

 most expensive land he owns. Congress was honest in mak- 

 ing the law, and settlers thought they had a rare bargain. But 

 both were deceived. 



Ag-iicultural College, Brookings, S. D. CllCirles A. Keffer. 



Correspondence. 



Notes on Nomenclature. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Nearly all botanists are thoroughly in unison with 

 the present vigorous movement to place botanical nomen- 

 clature on a firm footing, in so far as this can be effected by 

 the identification and establishment on the principle of priority 

 of the oldest names of groups and species. Much has already 

 been accomplished in this direction in recently published 

 catalogues, notes, special papers, and notably in Professor 

 Sargent's " Silva of North America " as far as published. 



It is true, however, that in two or three peculiar cases the 

 principle of priority has not, as a matter of fact, been rigidly 

 adhered to ; although in the particular instances referred to 

 the avoidance of extraordinary combinations was doubtless a 

 reason for not carrying out the law. 



Dr. Britton, in his "Catalogue of New Jersey Plants," in re- 

 ferring to. the question of reinstating the oldest specific and 



