JULY 23 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
483 
^rhritulteral. 
THE PRESERVATION OF OUR FOR1STB— 
NO. 3 
CLINTON. 
The Patriarch! of the Foreat. 
It may perhaps be supposed that I am some¬ 
what of an enthusiast on the subject of forest 
trees, and of trees generally. It may be true, and 
I am willing to plead gnilty to the charge, if 
anything censurable is implied in it, for to mr 
trees have always had an attractive charm. I 
could not in boyish days stand beneath a noble 
pine and listen to the Bough and the sighing of 
the breezes through its branches, without a 
feeling of awe almost akin to veneration. 
And even now, in mature life, if I Btand before 
a noble oak or a magnificent elm which for 
centurieB has been contending with the warring 
elements, whose branches give evidence by 
their scars of the many severe conflicts they 
have had with the lightning and the tempests, 
and whose sturdy trunk, gray with the mosses 
of centuries, still stands firm and erect as if 
bidding defiance to the blast, I cannot re¬ 
sist a feeling of solemnity approximating to 
reverence. I once had opportunity to deter¬ 
mine the age of one of these monarchs of the 
forest, which it became necessary to cut down 
on my own premises to prevent damages 
which might be occasioned by the fall of por¬ 
tions of its decaying top, and I found its con¬ 
centric annulara to indicate it to have been a 
centenarian at the time Columbus discovered 
our continent. But this was a mere juvenile 
pigmy when compared with those stupendous 
giants of the Pacific Slope, whose origin is be¬ 
lieved to date back thousands of years; not 
merely to the time of the advent of the Saviour, 
but back to the founding of Rome, back even 
further to the days of Homer and Hesiod, back 
even to the days of David and Solomou; even 
back, as it is claimed lor some of them, to the 
foundation of Niueveh, or still further back to 
the days of Noah. And yet, there they still 
stand, as they have stood for thousands of 
years, gigantic columns, as it were, support¬ 
ing the blue arches of heaven. 
Admitting that they possess all the antiquity 
that i6 claimed for them (and I see no reason 
to doubt it), one thing is certain, viz., that they 
have been more enduring than the proudest 
and most lasting of the works of man ; and on 
their native soil of the Pacific Slope, these 
trees are majestic witnesses of the average 
climatic ranges for thousands of years past, in 
steady succession. For if, on the 6pot where 
they have so long stood, there had been any 
great changes of temperature, even for a few 
months at a time, these great living witnesses 
would have been destroyed. They, therefore, 
testify, better than all our historians, to the 
average state of things since the dry land first 
appeared, after the Mosaic deluge. And their 
testimony is corroborated by that of the great 
trees of South America, Australia and Tene- 
riffe. But a truce to sentimental theorizing. 
The “ Ulg \Vood»," IV. Y. 
I have advocated the adoption of a “ conser¬ 
vative" policy with regard to our timber lands 
by our National Government. But I admit 
that it is becoming too late for such policy to 
repair the iDj ury already done. Still, with the 
adoption of a right policy by the several 
States, much may yet be done to avert the evil 
which I apprehend as threatening us, in the 
absence of national action, Bat it is to be 
feared that no sufficient reliance can be placed 
on the action of the separate States, till they 
shall be aroused to its necessity by the de¬ 
mands of public sentiment. Take, for in¬ 
stance, our own State of New York, proud of 
the honor of being termed the “ Empire State” 
of the Union. We flud still remaining in her 
northern central portion, and mainly the prop¬ 
erty of the State, a vast, unbroken wilderness, 
comprising nearly 10.000 square miles of terri¬ 
tory, or 6 . 000.000 acres of land, including what 
is known as “Joliu Brown’s Tract,’’ entirely 
worthless for cultivation if cleared, but still 
covered with a dense growth of timbers adapt¬ 
ed to its cold, damp soil. This growth of tim¬ 
ber, extensive as it is, would be barely sufficient 
to supply the demands of our whole country 
with timber for a single year at the rate wo 
are using it. The soil, as already stated, would 
be comparatively worthless for cultivation, 
were it cleared of its timber. This foreet. 
therefore, should be reserved for the benefit of 
all the people of the State. And yet, twice 
within my own knowledge our Legislature 
has chartered companies to run railroads 
through this wilderness in different directions 
—not for any of the necessities of travel or 
commerce, but for the ostensible purpose of 
opening this wilderness for sale by securing a 
market for Its limber; and, for the purpose of 
encouraging the enterprise, the Legislature 
granted to the corporators the right to pur¬ 
chase from the State 350.000 acres of this for¬ 
est land lying contiguous to the line of their 
proposed roads, at the nominal price of five 
oents per acre —a tract of land equal In extent 
to an entire county, for $12,500 ! This, of itself, 
indicates how lightly our State values its for¬ 
est lands. But these enterprises, thus far, 
have proved failures. Let us hope that all 
similar projects hereafter will result in fail¬ 
ures. 
We cannot aj'ord to have that romantic 
region thus desecrated and denuded of Its for¬ 
ests for any such purpose. We need its shel¬ 
tering influence to protect ua from the icy 
winds of the North ; and who can estimate the 
injurious effects upon Central and Eastern New 
York were this protective barrier to he swept 
away, and the chill winds of the North and 
Northwest let in upon us in full force ? This 
forest should be preserved as the great “Central 
Park" of our State for the.benefit of all who de¬ 
sire to visit it and in it to breathe the pure air 
of heaven ; and to which the student, the artist 
or the professional man can retire in the heat 
of Summer for rest and recuperation, and 
where the denizen of the crowded city can find 
a rejuvenating season of relief from the cares 
of business, and a relaxation from the re¬ 
straints or conventionalities of city life. For, 
for such purpose, I feel assured it would prove 
more salutary and effectual in its influences 
and leas expensive and demoralizing in its ten¬ 
dencies than any of our fashionable watering- 
places, or our crowded sea-side resorts. 
The “ Renewal ” System. 
But I pass to consider another means of re¬ 
lief from the evil I apprehend from the dearth 
of timber, and this I will designate the renew¬ 
al policy. This is a measure in which every 
land-owner can aid, 5u some degree, however 
limited may be the extent of territory which 
he controls, if he be -he owner of but asingle 
rood of laud he surely can find some nook or 
corner where he can plant at least one tree, 
either for ornament or for use: and every 
tree thus planted tends, in its proportion, to 
promote the general welfare by its sheltering 
and ameliorating influences, to say nothing of 
its adding to the general beauty of this scenery. 
To every such person, therefore, as well as to 
others, i would say. “Plant trees! Plant them 
for nse; plant them for profit; plant them for 
ornament; plant them for comfort. What you 
thus plant may be a blessing to many succeed¬ 
ing generations. But the road-side should not 
be neglected. Plant trees upon each of its 
borders—frnit trees if you choose, but plant 
the trees," 
The State of New York and some of the 
other States of the Union have offered liberal 
inducements for the encouragement of road- 
Bide tree planting. But let us not limit our¬ 
selves to this. Let us plaut wind-breaks and 
even groves to take the place of, and compen¬ 
sate for, those which have been so indiscreetly 
destroyed. A recent writer has said, “ Young 
America al ways cuts down ail his trees as a first 
step toward civilization ; then, after an inter¬ 
regnum, when all the kings of the forest have 
been laid low, he sets out some saplings In 
whitc-wasued tree boxes, and watches and 
tends them with fervor." How often have 
I seen the truth of this remark verified 
in a half century’s opportunity for observation. 
Let us learn wisdom from the mistakes of 
those who preceded us. 
.\ec«(tnl!y for Tree Planting. 
Tree planting is, In fact, becoming a necessi¬ 
ty for us as it has been in the prairie States of 
the West from the first. There the necessity 
of planting trees for shelter and for their influ¬ 
ence on the climate, as well as for timber and 
fuel, is moreaud more appreciated with each 
advancing year. The lack of timber waB 
what so recently drove out the settlers from 
naked western Kansas and prompted them, 
after being thus forced to abandon their all, 
lo endeavor to take possession, forcibly or 
otherwise, of a portion of the reserved Indian 
Territory; a purpose which it would seem 
they have not as yet entirely abandoned. So, 
too, in Dakota aud elsewhere ou oar treeless 
Western plains, wo read of several families 
deserting their houses and gathering in one, 
and pulling down the others and burning the 
fragments for fuel, to avert the danger of 
death from freezing during the past severe 
Winter. The “ American Society for the Ad¬ 
vancement of Science," at a rucent meeting in 
Boston, recommended that the States should 
enact laws for the eueouragement of tree¬ 
planting, and with this object should appro¬ 
priate uioucy to their agricultural and horti¬ 
cultural societies to be paid in premiums for 
the largest area of forest trees planted and for 
their best management. There is not & single 
State in which numerous barren localities may 
not be found, which are now treeless and 
affording no profit whatever for agricultural 
purposes; some moist, sunken ground that 
cannot bo drained; some rocky ledge; some 
gravelly, barren knoll or sandy ridge or some 
precipitous hill-3ide, serving no useful pur¬ 
pose whatever, unless it be to hold the rest of 
the country together. Most of these places 
could bo profitably planted to trees. 
Judgment Needed. 
But in this planting judgment must be exer¬ 
cised in udapting the kinds of trees to the lo¬ 
cality, or the effort will be u failure. Our 
country was originally supplied with as many 
as 150 different varieties of trees,‘sufficient in 
quantity and quality to meet every reasonable 
requirement. But let us not mistake by sup¬ 
posing that all. or- even a majority of these 
are adapted to our own locality. If we con¬ 
clude to plant let us select such kinds as are 
known to be adapted to the climate and Boil in 
which we propose to plaut. For instance, we 
may learn by observation that the beech, the 
ash and the hard maple grow the most luxui- 
iantly on lime formations; the oak on clay; 
the cheBtnut on gravel; the pines and the hem¬ 
locks on Band ; the elms on alluvial bottoms; 
the walnuts on rocky ledges; aud the spruce, 
white cedar, tamarack and black ash and al¬ 
ders in cold, damp soils and in swamps. 
Some of these, it is true, may succeed in other 
soils; but on the whole it will be found better 
to give observance to the teachings of nature, 
as shown in her general rules. We may also 
notice that nature, in her plantings, inclines 
to mingle a diversity of kinds of deciduous 
trees together, as she does of grasses. We 
may do well to follow her example to some 
extent in this also, and mingle different 
kinds of trees adapted to our soil and cli¬ 
mate. Let us 6ee that they are properly 
planted and then sufficiently cared for and 
protected, so that they may as Boon as possi¬ 
ble recover from the shock consequent on their 
change of position, if they are transplanted, 
and we may feel an assurance of satisfactory 
results. Some kinds are better grown from 
their seeds. I had designed to speak more 
fully of the season and the manner of trans¬ 
planting, but my proposed limits do not now 
admit of my doing so. Directions are given, 
from time to time, in regard to tree planting, 
most of which are valuable but some of which 
are erroneous, according to my experience, 
and likely to lead to error. But my further 
remarks on tree planting, whether for orna¬ 
ment or use, must be reserved till some more 
convenient opportunity. 
®|jf ffitugarir. 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
Crossing Grapes. 
Thebb are many people who have vineyards 
of some extent or a number of different varie¬ 
ties of grapes, who never think of raising seed¬ 
lings, much less of crossing one kind with 
another, thus selecting the paients. Yet grape¬ 
vines are xaised from seeds as easily as peach 
trees, and the crossing of one kind with anoth¬ 
er is a very simple operation. In this climate 
the grape-vine blooms about the middle of 
June, t^e date varying, of course, with the 
earliness or lateness of the season. The per¬ 
fect flower is 6hown at A, Fig. 350, enlarged to 
four times its natural eixe. 
Before the anthers ripen, burst and shed 
their dust, or pollen, they must be cut off. the 
flower then appearing as in B, Fig. 350. The pis 
til, as shown, slill remains and upon the head of 
this we are to apply the pollen from the varie¬ 
ty with whieha cross is desired. A fineeamel’s- 
hair brush may be used to collect it, or the 
ripe aDthers may themselves be held iu contact 
with the stigma (the head of the pistil), hold¬ 
ing on by the filament, or thread-like stalk 
which supports the anther. If the pistil is 
ripe or in a lit condition to accept the pollen, 
we have nothing further to do except to cut 
ofl all the other flowers of the same raceme or 
bunch, and cover the manipulated flower with 
fine tissue paper, to prevent any interference 
on the part of ineects or the wind. If, now, it 
be found that the pollenated flowers set fruit, 
we may know that our work has been effec¬ 
tual. No evidence of the cross will appear on 
such berries; but if we plant their seeds the 
new vine and its fruit will probably differ in 
part from either parent, while showing char¬ 
acteristics of both. The pollen, or fertilizing 
powder or grains, may be collected in jihials 
from other vines miles distant, since it has 
been known to prove potent at least ten days 
after it has been collected. 
We have often taken occasion to urge our 
readers to Interest themselves iu this work of 
producing new fruits. All fruit trees or plants 
of whatever kind which we purchase from nur¬ 
serymen and plant in our dooi-yards. gardens 
or orchards, at once become the obj acts of onr 
care and of an interest proportioned to our 
love of fruit and our desire to beautify our 
homes. But the cross-bred seedling is, in a 
measure, one’s own creature, and the credit 
which attaches to the origination of a new and 
superior fruit Is far greater if its parents were 
selected aud united by our own choice and 
hands. It is better lo plant the seeds of grapes 
as Boon as the berry is ripe. Pots of any kind 
may be used for this purpose and kept in a 
green-house or sunny window. Some will then 
sprout in three weeks, ’though others will re¬ 
quire from one to three months. Those sprout¬ 
ing in three weeks or even a month or bo, will 
make fine plants from one to two feet high by 
the next Spring. They may then be thumped 
out of the pots into the open ground. Bat If 
the seeds are permitted to dry, a much longer 
time is required for their germination. 
<Jfarm fetwrag. 
GREEN MANURING IN NEW ENGLAND. 
T, H. HOSKINS, M. X). 
Notwithstanding the unquestionable fact 
that we have in New England very large areas 
of land that would be much benefited by the 
plowing under of green crops, and notwith¬ 
standing the equally unquestionable fact that 
this is a qaick and effectual method of restor¬ 
ing to landtbe “condition” lost by injudicious 
cropping, the practice of green manuring, so 
general in New York, Penn., and other of the 
Middle States, Is almost unknown among us. 
What there is of it is found amoDg the bc- 
called “fancy farmers,” and a few others who 
are above the average in thoughtfulness and 
firmness of purpose. Noah B. Safford, one of 
the early members of our Vermont Board of 
Agriculture, and a very successful farmer, 
(though a lawyer by profession), was one of 
the first within my knowledge to systematically 
and successfully adopt green manuring as a 
means of bringing up an exhausted farm. His 
large and now beautiful estate was & sandy 
farm upon the high bluff, at the junction of 
tbo White River with the Connecticut. He 
has, I believe, no valley land on either river, 
and his attention was first called to his present 
homestead by a fine grove of young pines, 
which were supposed to give about all its value 
to the property. He bought tho farm to get 
the pine grove, which, though a nice one, is 
now of minor importance alongside of the fair 
and fertile fields that spread around it. 
The improvement of this farm lo its present 
pleasing and profitable condition is due mainly 
to green manuring. While the process wts 
going on, and before the results now so appar¬ 
ent were fully realized, Mr. Salford was fre¬ 
quently called upOD, at agricultural meetings 
to give an account of his operations. Same 
ten years ago I heard him discuss the matttr 
and was particularly struck with his declara¬ 
tion, that he had never done anything which 
required so much real courage as the plowing 
under of 20 acres of clover In blossom. He 
said he believed that had been, and would be, the 
rock upon which every farmer who attempted 
to improve his property by green manuring 
would split, unless he was a man of decided 
firmness of purpose. The temptation to 
“ hay ” the clover, instead of plowing it in, 
would almost invariably overcome him. I be¬ 
lieve Mr. Safford was right in this, and that it 
gives the true reason why green manuring 
makes such slow progress among our farmers. 
If any ask why it should be more so here than 
in New York or Pennsylvania, I think the 
answer must be that New England is not a 
wheat region. As a preparation for the wheat 
crop, clovering is so manifestly a success that 
the prospect of a fine yield of grain, to a grain 
farmer, iB sufficient to overcome a temptation 
which very few dairy farmers can resist. Mr. 
Safford is strictly a dairyman, supplying from 
his excellent herd the village of White River 
Junction with milk, aud also making consider¬ 
able butter. The steady improvement of his 
grass-land, notwithstanding Its apparently 
light texture, has necessitated a continual ex¬ 
tension of barn space, until he now has I 
think, nearly, if not quite, the largest accom¬ 
modations for storing hay to be found in the 
upper Connecticut Valley—and this on a farm 
where a 40 foot barn was once considered quite 
sufficient. While this Improvement has been 
going on the farm has constantly paid its way, 
no large sums having been sunk to secure the 
ultimate improvement as now seen. The 
steady anuual practice of green manuring, in 
connection with dairying and the careful utili¬ 
zation of the stable manure, have done it all. 
1 was myself greatly helped and instructed 
by hearing Mr. Safford discourse, years ago, 
upon green manuring, and it was that, with 
the free use of ashes and bone, which helped 
me in bringing my own little farm up from a 
seemingly barren pastnre to its present com¬ 
paratively high condition. I was unable to 
prodnee (or, had it been procurable to pay for) 
stable manure sufficient for the purpose. Asher, 
which I could buy for 10 cents a bushel, 
and bones which I got from old slaughter¬ 
houses free, furnished me with mineral matter 
and clover turned down, stored the soil with 
organic substance, so that in four years’ time 
the yield of potatoes went up from 80 to 460 
bushels, and of hay from a quarter of a ton to 
over two tons per acre. I have all around me 
men who are called good farmers. I have 
