144 FOREST CUIiTUKE AND 



ture ; one plantation for the desert, one for gubalpine 

 regions, one for the deep valleys of the woodlands. 

 The two latter might be in close vicinity at the Black 

 Spur, and thus within the reach of ready traffic. The 

 outlay in each case would be modest indeed. What 

 an endless number of new industrial plants might 

 thus be brought together within a few hours' drive 

 of the city, under all the advantages of rich soil, 

 shelter, and irrigation ! What an attractive collection 

 for the intelligent and studious might thus be per- 

 manently formed. 



I will not weary this audience by giving a long 

 array of names of any plants resisting alpine Winters, 

 such as in our snow-clad higher mountains they would 

 have to endure. We know that the Apple will live 

 where even the hardy Pear will succumb ; both will 

 stiU thrive on our alpine plateaus. The Larch, strug- 

 gling in vain with the dry heat of our open lowlands, 

 would be a tree of condparatively rapid growth near 

 alpine heights. The Birch, in Greenland, the only 

 tree in Italy ascending to six thousand feet, in Rus- 

 sia the most universal, and there yielding for famed 

 tanning processes its valued bark, is living — to quote 

 the forcible remarks of an elegant writer — " is living 

 on the bleak mountain sides from which the sturdy 

 Oak shrinks with dismay." Add to it, if you like, 

 the Paper -Birch, and a host of arctic, andine, and 

 other alpine trees and bushes. Disseminate the Straw- 

 berries of the countries of our childhood, naturalize 

 the Blackberry of northern forest moors. The Ameri- 

 can Cranberry-bush (Vaccinium macrocarpum), with 

 its large fruits, is said to have yielded on boggy mead- 

 ows, such as occupy a large terrain of the Australian 



