334 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 177. 



stripped for turpentine, and thus practically destroyed. The 

 Pine is a forgiving victim, and does its best to protect its de- 

 stroyer from the effects of his own folly, for at the very feet of 

 the dying parents a new generation of young conifers springs 

 up that would, in time, repair the havoc made by the saw-mill 

 and the turpentine-still, but their greedy enemy will not suffer 

 it. Relentless as Herod, he slays the infant Pines by whole- 

 sale, and, like the stupid woman in the fable, who destroyed 

 the goose that laid her golden eggs, he converts his God- 

 given wealth of noble forest into a barren waste of sand and 

 Palmetto scrub. 



And thus, from Georgia to Maine — nay, to far-off Nova 

 Scotia — the work of desolation goes on ; from Georgia to 

 Maine the mouldering, blackened stumps tell their mute tale 

 of havoc and ruin. I have seen the Kennebec, from Augusta 

 to Bath, so covered with logs that you could hardly see the 

 water ; poor, little, scrubby, spindling logs they were, too, that 

 told their own sad tale of the slaughter of the innocents of the 

 forest. 



In most of the states there are game-laws for the protection 

 of useful animals, and if these are compatible with democratic 

 institutions, then, why not forest-laws as well ? We have in 

 Georgia a closed season for shad and partridges, during which 

 it is unlawful to destroy or molest them, and the Legislature 

 ought, at its very next session, to enact a law making it a mis- 

 demeanor, under heavy penalties, to cut or mutilate for the 

 saw-mill or the turpentine-still any Pine-tree that has not at- 

 tained a diameter of at least eighteen inches. If some such 

 step is not taken, and taken speedily, the present generation 

 will witness the virtual extinction of the most beneficent of all 

 our noble forest-trees, the health-giving, balm-distilling, music- 

 murmuring Pines. 

 Macon, Ga. E. F. Andrews. 



Narcissi in Ireland and Elsewhere. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir, — After reading, in the horticultural journals, the glowing 

 accounts, by Mr. Burbridge, Mr. Hartland and others, of the 

 luxuriance of the Narcissi in Ireland, it is comforting to read 

 in the communication from John Quill (Garden and Forest, 

 p. 322), of the same favored isle, that Daffodils should not 

 grow too luxuriantly — but just luxuriantly enough. While his 

 points seem to be commercial ones in trying to point out the 

 superiority of Irish-grown bulbs, they are of interest to grow- 

 ers who have nothing except pleasure in view. 



It is difficult to understand why, cultural skill being equal, 

 Irish bulbs should be better than others, and no one doubts 

 the skill of the Dutch in all that pertains to bulb-culture. If 

 fat bulbs are unsatisfactory they would not long continue to 

 grow them so. The early maturition of bulbs may be desir- 

 able for shipment, but is it of so much importance for other 

 purposes ? Take, as an extreme case, 'the Polyanthus section. 

 These are, even now, scarcely showing signs of maturity, yet 

 the Dutch send the bulbs here in immense quantities every 

 year, firm, hard, bright-coated and sure to bloom. The early 

 maturing of this section, at least, is apparently of not much 

 consequence, for the Chinese bulbs sent here every fall show 

 no signs of being ripened off; they are lifted with roots still 

 alive, a coating of mud is daubed over these, and they are 

 seemingly shipped as soon as this is dry. Surely no bulbs 

 bloom more freely than these. On examination of a collection 

 of Daffodils it will be found that they vary very widely in their 

 time of dormancy and starting into growth. General rules 

 will hardly apply here, but if early maturity is essential, it 

 would appear that the Italian growers have by far the best of 

 it, and they ought to lead the trade. Stock from Italy, how- 

 ever, is not so superior as to lead us to consider early ripen- 

 ing of first importance. 



The buyer of new bulbs may well make the general rules to 

 look over his new stock and carefully examine for maggots, 

 and separate the soft ones for special care in the way of drier 

 treatment than that needed by the main stock. Like the Dutch, 

 not all of us " have the soil, you know," but we wish to know 

 why Daffodils do uniformly well in one place and fail miser- 

 ably in others. For an instance, N. poeticus grows finely in 

 one place in my garden, blooming year after year; in all other 

 places it grows and throws up flower-spikes which uniformly 

 go blind. John Quill will have the thanks of many besides 

 myself if he will tell us how to flower the Poet's Narcissus 

 uniformly. Thanks to the commercial growers, we know 

 pretty well the main points of the successful cultivation 

 of the leading Narcissi, but, in my limited experience, 

 [ find that these points must be modified somewhat in 

 practice. Ireland may be so fortunate as to possess large 

 tracts happily adapted to the Daffodils, but there is no 



such uniformity, even in my small garden, every yard of 

 which, I sometimes think, has different capacities. My 

 little lot of Narcissi is not yet so happily planted as to show no 

 failures, and I regret to say that I see no reason to think that 

 I shall be successful with them by following any general rules, 

 except keeping them vigorous and growing as long as possible. 

 The time of blooming of Narcissi in the open with me seems 

 to depend on the state of the season, not on the time of plant- 

 ing. 

 Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard. 



A Weeping- Apple-tree. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Some twenty years ago I planted an Apple-tree hedge, 

 which it seemed best to remove after a few years. But one 

 tree in the hedge had shown a marked tendency to droop its 

 limbs, and was spared when the cutting took place. This tree 

 now sweeps the ground over a space fifteen feet in diameter, 

 and would spread farther if allowed. The habit is more 

 marked than that of Weeping Linden, Cherry, Ash and other 

 trees that I have planted. If the habit could be perpetuated 

 by grafting, this variety would be an acquisition for those who 

 have a fancy for such trees. I have no strong liking for them 

 personally, and certainly they should always be used with 

 caution. 



Clinton, N. Y. ^ ^ ^ 



Recent Publications. 



The Report of the Chief of the Division of Forestry deserves 

 a more detailed notice than the mere mention it has received 

 as a part of the Report of the Secretary of Agriculture. At 

 the outset Mr. Fernow makes it clear how the work of the 

 division has grown in the direction of giving information in 

 answer to requests. To indicate the character of this part of 

 the correspondence, a classified list of subjects is given, which 

 covers a page. Under the heads of Technology, Forest-influ- 

 ences, Forest-planting, Forest-botany and Forest-management 

 are embraced an immense range of topics, and the questions 

 asked illustrate, in a striking way, the importance, variety and 

 intimacy of the relations which forests bear to human society 

 and life. Under the head of Statistics come inquiries as to the 

 timber area of the United States, the present and future supply 

 of various kinds of hardwood, and a hundred more, concern- 

 ing which the information furnished must be very imperfect, 

 because of a lack of means for acquiring it. We, therefore, 

 agree with Mr. Fernow that it is a matter of regret that the 

 opportunity afforded by the machinery of the eleventh census 

 was not made use of to obtain some more definite data as to 

 the present condition of our timber-resources. Since our 

 forest- pro ducts amount in value, as raw materials, to not less 

 than a quarter of the value of all the raw materials manufac- 

 tured in the United States the subject is large enough to justify 

 investigation. Mr. Fernow is certainly correct in saying that 

 we ought to know, from decade to decade, what changes in 

 our forest-area, and in their conditions, have taken place, 

 just as we think it worth while to ascertain and compare the 

 areas and crops of agricultural land, and such knowledge is 

 needed more and more as the area of virgin timber-land 

 shrinks and falls into the few hands which control the lumber- 

 supply of the nation. When the division is asked to supply 

 information as to where certain kinds of timber are found in 

 abundance, or many other questions of this sort, only a very 

 general and unsatisfactory reply can be made. In addition to 

 the melancholy fact that the government does not know how 

 much timber-land it possesses, nor what is the quality or the 

 value of the timber on that land, we are reminded, too, that 

 there is a total absence of forest-management on these timber- 

 lands. Under such conditions the Division of Forestry is itself 

 an incongruity. It seems absurd that there should exist a de- 

 partment whose function it is to give advice, which is never 

 followed, about the management of a property which its 

 owner, the government, does not pretend to manage, and 

 about the extent and value of which the government has no def- 

 inite knowledge, and makes no effort to obtain any such knowl- 

 edge. All these discouraging conditions have been pointed 

 out again and again by Secretaries of the Interior, as well as 

 Chiefs of the Forestry Division, and yet our forest-resources 

 are wasting away, and the protecting timber on our mountain 

 slopes is disappearing, to the peril of the lives and property of 

 those who live below, and nothing practical is done to quench 

 incendiary fires or arrest the trespasser's axe. 



Besides the information that has been imparted by letters in 

 reply to specific inquiries, the Chief of the Division has ad- 

 dressed various associations, such as farmers' institutes and 



