390 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
THE HORTICULTURIST FOR FEBRUARY. 
The leader for this month is upon the 
preservation of our woods and forests, which 
we regard as one of the most important top- 
i es that can engage the attention of our ru¬ 
ral population. So rapidly are our forests 
disappearing, that the time is not distant, at 
least in the Atlantic States, that it must have 
the attention of our statesmen and legislators, 
or they will be entirely destroyed. The 
statement made of Rochester, that the price 
of wood there has nearly doubled within the 
last ten years, is probably true of most of our 
large towns and villages in the east, if we 
except those upon the sea-board, where the 
scarcity of wood began to be felt more than 
a generation ago. When wood reaches the 
price of six dollars a cord, coal comes in as 
a competitor, and is found to be much cheap¬ 
er, even at the present high prices. It is 
coming into use, in all places along our 
shores and rivers and upon the lines of our 
railroads ; so that the demand for wood to be 
used for fuel is not likely to increase much 
for the future. In the cities and villages, 
where almost all our increase of population 
has been in the east, for the last twenty 
years, and where it is likely to be for years 
to come, coal is readily supplied at cheaper 
rates than wood at six dollars a cord. In the 
rural districts of New-England, and of New- 
York, wood now grows fast enough to sup¬ 
ply the wants of the population. If wood 
were only needed for fuel, we should feel lit¬ 
tle’ apprehension for the disappearance of 
our forests-, when we remember our inex¬ 
haustible supplies of coal. 
But the trees of our forests, we think, have 
a nobler part to perform, in the economy of 
human life than to gladden our firesides with 
their cheerful blaze. They are nature’s art¬ 
ists, beautifying every home, a means of 
adornment within the reach of the humblest 
citizen. A group of shade trees, such as any 
man may transplant from the forest in a day, 
would redeem the rudest of dwellings from 
utter ugliness. We can forgive the first set¬ 
tlers of the country the box like architecture 
of their houses, for the sake of the elms, ma¬ 
ples and oaks, they sometimes remembered 
to plant in the streets. Downing has well 
said that “ among all the materials at our 
disposal for the embellishment of country 
residences, none are at once so highly orna¬ 
mental, so indispensible, and so easily man¬ 
aged, as trees or wood. A tree is airy and 
delicate in its youth, luxuriant and majes¬ 
tic in its old age. It constitutes in its vari¬ 
ous forms, sizes, and developments, the 
greatest charm and beauty of the earth in 
all countries. The most varied outline of 
surface, the finest combination of picturesque 
materials, the stateliest of country houses 
would be comparitively tame and spiritless, 
without the inimitable accompaniment of 
foliage.” 
But the forest also exerts a very great in¬ 
fluence upon the climate, moderating the 
cold and the winds of winter, and the fierce 
heats of summer. The most disagreeable 
feature both to man and beast, in our north¬ 
ern climate is cold cutting winds; and 
where their fury is unbroken, as in treeless 
or prairie regions, no living thing can resist 
them. With the disappearance of the forest, 
the climate changes for the worse, and fruits 
and crops, once certain, are now raised with 
difficulty. Peaches fail in central New-York 
and in many parts of New-England, where 
they once grew as readily as apples. We 
have less snow, more severe cold winds, and 
winter wheat and other such crops are 
much more uncertain than formerly. These 
results are due in some measure to the 
change the climate is undergoing in conse¬ 
quence of the loss of our forests. Trees, 
especially upon mountains and hill tops, are 
conductors of electricity, and often serve to 
bring down the showers that would other¬ 
wise pass unbroken above us. It is stated 
as a curious fact, that the mahogany cutters, 
when they first visited those thick tropical 
forests, needed at times to build fires to pro¬ 
tect themselves from the cold. The rainy 
season is now said to be much shorter, and 
fires are an annoyance. We should like to 
pursue this theme, for it is one of national 
importance. The dread of intense cold, ex¬ 
cessive heat, or dryness, high winds, &c., 
haunt the anxious cultivator from one end 
of the year to the other ; and in the most 
favorable seasons he can not hope to escape 
without loss. We trust that in these days 
of improvement, when every thing pertain¬ 
ing to the rural arts is undergoing an itelli- 
gent scrutiny, that the influence of trees upon 
climate will not be overlooked. Stay the 
ax, is a word that should go out into all our 
rural districts. In many parts the time has 
now come when poor worn out land could 
be better sown with the seeds of our forest 
trees than put to any other use. 
There is an article on the Tyson and other 
summer pears. The Tyson is an accidental 
seedling, found in a hedge-row, some sixty 
years ago, on the farm of Jonathan Tyson, 
near Philadelphia. It is thought to be a cross 
between the Madeleine and Seckle, having the 
form of the first, with the color and some¬ 
what of the flavor of the latter. It ripens 
about the middle of August. We are yet in 
want of very early American pears compet¬ 
ing with the Madeleine and Doyenne d’Ete, 
and we Avould suggest to those who are hy¬ 
bridizing to turn their attention to this fruit. 
A pear equal in flavor to the Seckle, and as 
large as the Bartlett, ripening the last of July, 
would be a great acquisition. The three best 
summer pears, according to the opinion of 
Hon. Samuel Walker, who has great experi¬ 
ence in pear culture, are the Rostezier, Tyson, 
and Brandywine. But as these ripen too 
nearly at the same time, the writer would 
recommend Madeleine or the Doyenne d’Ete, 
the Tyson and the Bartlett. If a larger va¬ 
riety are desired, he would add Bloodgood, 
Beurre GifFard, Ott, Manning’s Elizabeth, 
Jalousie Fontenay Vendee. 
A. Messer, of Geneva, has some valua¬ 
ble hints on foreign grapes. He doubts if 
perfect grapes can be secured in a cold 
vinery. Gentle heat in March and April, 
enables them to ripen in summer weather, 
when they will be very sweet, having their 
peculiar aroma well developed. 
John Saul, of Washington, next tells us 
how to cut willows, so that they will yield 
the largest quantity of material for manu¬ 
facturing purposes. The cuttings should be 
put into the ground, the upper eye on a level 
with the surface of the soil, and the cuttings 
each successive year should be made at the 
surface. Where the eye is put in on a level 
with the surface, roots shoot out immediate¬ 
ly beneath, and grow more rapidly than where 
they are made deeper. This rule is the re¬ 
sult of many years’ experience, and willow 
growers will profit by it. People who sup¬ 
pose that any sort of cutting will do “ well 
enough,” will find themselves as much mis¬ 
taken as those who suppose that any sort of 
pruning will answer for fruit trees. Willow 
culture is said to offer ample remuneration in 
a suitable soil, and not a few are at this time 
engaged in it. 
“My life in the country, or Chronicles of 
Oakland Home,” by Frank Hazleton, opens 
well. If it has half the spiciness of Chroni¬ 
cles of a Clay Farm, it will prove a treat to 
read it. The wood cut that graces the sec¬ 
ond chapter we do not regard as much of an 
addition. Rochester Cruikshank could have 
spared his pains without much loss to the 
readers of the Magazine. 
In the Editor’s Table we find a notice of 
E. A. McKay’s Isabella grapes, of Naples, 
N. Y. He keeps them perfectly until the 
middle of January, by placing them in a cool 
dry cellar, without any thing around them. 
He had over 11,000 pounds on one acre, 
which, at one shilling a pound, gives $1,375, 
which is a handsome return for the land and 
labor. The gross product of many a farm 
is much less than this. A. B. Lawrence, of 
Mississippi, applies guano to ground infested 
with ants, and exterminates them. The 
ants would hardly be the “ wise folk ” they 
are represented if they did not emigrate un¬ 
der such a regime. The California items 
are astonishing. “ Two splendid Oregon 
pippins, weighing two and a half and two 
and a quarter pounds, and one splendid pear 
weighing one and three quarter pounds, were 
sold at ten dollars each. What will our fruit 
growers in Massachusetts say to this 1” 
Knock under at once if they are sensible 
people. Bassano beets weighing 31 pounds, 
Flat Dutch cabbage weighing 32 pounds, 
strawberries of the finest varieties and in 
the greatest abundance, November 1st, are 
some of the pleasant realities of the land of 
gold. Mr. Allen, of Salem, has a letter to 
the Editor on the Concord and other grapes, 
which is valuable as giving the opinion of an 
eminent fruit-grower. “ The Concord has 
a decided fox flavor. The Diana, like the 
Catawba, has less. In Massachusetts the 
Catawba rarely ripens its fruit, and then on¬ 
ly in favored positions. The Isabella under 
proper cultivation, and in a wet, cold soil, 
will always ripen its fruit. When neglected 
and suffered to be overloaded with fruit, it 
cannot fully do this. The Diana will ripen 
the crop in unfavorable positions, and under 
circumstances where the Isabella will not. 
I consider the Diana and Isabella the best 
