pocket from men and boys than from insects 
and birds. It is a misfortune for a fruit¬ 
grower to be located near a city, a village, a 
hotel, or a summer boarding-house. I speak 
from what I have seen and suffered. 
I have been led to make the above remarks 
from having just seen some large orchards 
cut down while the trees were just in their 
prime and yielding abundant crops of limit. 
To me it was an exceedingly painful sight. 
One man said he got, on an average, year 
after year, about one bushel in nine of his 
apples, and he could stand it no longer, and 
so he was cutting down all his orchards ex¬ 
cept one in sight of the house, i know him to 
be a man very food of fruit culture, which 
he has followed for u good many years. The 
reader cau imagine the struggle he must have 
gone through before reaching the determina¬ 
tion to destroy his trees. The law that pro¬ 
tects fruits in most of the States is very loose, 
and affords but little real protection. We 
must not only have more stringent and com¬ 
prehensive laws, but we must ante date all 
law and go to home teachiug and the school- 
house for thorough protection. Children 
must be taught that it is just as great, a. wrong 
to steal an apple or a pear as to steal a watch 
or a horse. They must be taught thut the act 
of stealing anything is wrong, ub initio and 
all the way through. As to children of 
larger growth, we must appeal to their moral 
sense; and it should be the duty of the horti¬ 
cultural press to create such a moral atmos¬ 
phere that men at least would cease from 
stealing fruit for very shame. One cannot 
help speaking warmly when thinking how 
much fruit culture is retarded by the cause 
just alluded to. Many readers of the Rural 
could, no doubt, tell a similar tale. 
had not been frozen, as is too commonly the 
case late in the season. Horticola. 
riai Ihtva L 
FORESTRY-NO. 2. 
DR. JOHN A. WARDER. 
It is one of the best evidences that we are 
making real progress in improving the native 
grape, and that the public taste is also im¬ 
proving, that so many of the newer grapes 
are said to be much better than the Concord. 
When it is remembered, however, that when 
men say that one grape is bet ter than another, 
they refer to quality und not to habit, it is 
surprising to me that they should select t he 
Concord as a standard of excellence or com¬ 
parison when we have others which are so 
much bettor. Hardiness, productiveness, 
comparative freedom from disease and adapt¬ 
edness for general cultivation are very im¬ 
portant points, but equally or oven more so 
are quality and composition, and we should 
not bo content without them. That a grape 
will yet be produced that will combine all 
these excellences in a reasonable degree, in¬ 
cluding purity of flavor, I have never had a 
doubt, but I do doubt whether it w ill ever be 
done unless we aim at a high standard, (.food 
grapes have been, and will continue to be 
raised adapted to localities, but we are still 
short of a high standard. 
Mr. Marvin (p, 801) says: “It has been 
thought doubtful if u raisin grape could be 
developed from any of our native classes,” 
but thinks be now has one. I hope he has; at 
all events, the thing is perfectly feasible 
in the hands of such a man. There is no 
valid reason why, in the nature of the thing, 
we should not have a good native raisin gra[>e. 
With but little trouble I have made excellent 
raisins from the Iona, and so have others. 
The raisin grape should be meaty rather than 
juicy, and it is essential that the hard, indi¬ 
gestible central mass so characteristic of the 
native grape should be got rid of entirely; in 
other words, the grape must ripen to the cen¬ 
ter. I have proved abundantly that this 
crude, acid mass cannot be converted into a 
raisin. With Mr. Marvin’s experience, he 
ought to see one of the points at least from 
which he should start. 
W. G. W., as well as Mr. Green, is to be 
congratulated that the Iona finds a congenial 
home with him. The Iona, it is to be re¬ 
gretted, lias proved itself to be adapted onl y 
to localities and favorable conditions of soil; 
but when it finds these it is unsurpassed (if 
equaled) by uny native grape in cultivation. 
The clusters, too, Under such circumstances, 
usually set as full as it is desirable to have 
them. The vine and the cluster have their 
faults, except under favorable conditions, but 
the fruit, as we call it, has au excellent com¬ 
position, and is of the best quality with a 
pure flavor. It is one of the few native 
grapes that ever get thoroughly ripe. It will 
keep in good condition longer than any 
nutive grape that I am acqua inted with. W. 
G. W.’s method of preserving it is worth re 
membering (p. 8(30). So, too, N. W.’s method 
of grafting it is worthy of trial (p. 844). 
On Dec. 2-lth there was a good supply of 
Catawba grapes in fine condition in the New 
York market and selling at good prices. 
There were also Ionas in lino condition, but in 
much less quantity. The secret of their un¬ 
usually good condition was the fact that they 
Influence of Mountain Forests on the Water 
? Supply. Destruction by Fires Disas- 
^ trous in the Rocky Mountains. 
Thk preservation of the forests about the 
, sources of our rivers, and especially in 
, mountainous regions, is of vast importan e. 
, The bare slopes permit the rapid escape of 
, precipitated moisture, which is largely re¬ 
tained when t hey are clot,lied with trees. Some 
explorations among the ltocky Mountains of 
Colorado and Wyoming afforded abundant 
, evidence of this truth, and the unhappy 
destruction of extensive tracts of the native 
forests in those regions could not fail to im¬ 
press the traveler with the dangers that 
threaten the permanence of the Streams which 
flow from them and water the vast treeless 
plains stretching from the eastern flanks of 
these mountains toward the great rivers. 
This paper is based upon the observations 
made when rambling among these ranges, 
and the impressions produced by seeing the 
burnt tracts were embodied in a letter ad¬ 
dressed to Hon. Oiirl Schurz when he was fill¬ 
ing the office of Secretary of the Interior. 
The letter appeared under the title of “Moun¬ 
tain Forests and the Water-supply of the 
Continent.” The ideas then presented, are 
hero reproduced for u new and larger audi¬ 
ence among the readers of the R ural. 
The destruction of the forests by fire is a 
most fearful and melancholy subject to corn- 
template. An inspection of portions of the 
public domain by one who lias studied the 
subject, and who has either- read of or wit. 
Hosted the disastrous effects of the spoliation 
of the forest in elevated mountain bights, 
cunnot fail to fill the mind with the most seri¬ 
ous apprehensions. The mountains (up to a 
certain elevation, close to the limit of per¬ 
petual coagulation) were designed for the for¬ 
ests, nor should their slopes ever be stripped 
of the arboreal coveriug; for, us is well known, 
if the forests in sueb regions be once 
destroyed they may never- be restored. 
To an educated forester it were a wor k of 
supererogation to attempt an explanation or 
rationale of the action of the forests as re 
ceivers, reservoir’s and fountains of water, 
but wc are not a nation of foresters; few of 
us have ever bestowed a thought upon 
the subject, which is, nevertheless, a matter 
for profoundest study' and research, and of 
such wide spread political importance as to 
demand the attentive study of the wisest 
statesmen. 
J5ut. to return to Wyoming and what was 
seen while traversing a broad plateau on the 
flanks of the Snowy Range and passing 
through a glorious forest primeval—composed 
chiefly of pines, and among them, in the 
lower and hamper spots, the most lovely' 
firs and spruces reared their tall shafts, 
clothed with a mystic drapery of depending 
boughs, bearing silvery green foliage of the 
Menzies, Douglas ami Eugleruann Spruces, 
and of lovely Hi’S. While contemplating these 
noble trees, we suddenly came upon a scene 
of appalling desolation. Upon a tr act many 
square miles in extent, as far as the eye 
could reach in every direction, over many 
thousands of acres, there was not a living 
tree to bo seen! All, all were standing bare, 
sturk and stiff in death, their tall, dead trunks 
blackened by lire, except where time had 
come to their relief and stripped off the bark, 
leaving the b ire poles that were waiting until 
the storms of yours should come to their relief 
and prostrate them to the earth that boro 
them, where they would at length gradually 
crumble into mold to renovate the soil, which 
had been deprived of all its humus by the 
fierce flames of the forest fire. 
The forest is destroyed, the noble trees are 
dead and gone, never in OUT time to return 
and be a kindly covering and befitting garni¬ 
ture to these sad wastes! nor to clothe these 
mountain sides with ver dure. Continued and 
continuous desolation is their doom! 
Practically speaking, this is and must be so: 
whence can come the seed germs for the future 
aforesting of such extensive tracts'! Man, 
the improvident, destructive, will not bring 
them; the kindly winds can transport the 
winged seeds but a short distance from the 
parent trees; the cunning and provident 
squirrel has a still more limited range within 
which to carry the seeds he may gather, and, 
with wise instinct, store up for his hibernal 
repast, from which a few grains might escape 
to germinate and form nuclei, or pioneers, 
producing at length seeds for further distri¬ 
bution in the future. 
Ages must be required to restore these for¬ 
ests in the course of nature, and meanwhile 
> the degrading or wearing agencies of every 
storm will be carrying away the soil and 
scarring the mountain sides with frightful 
gullies occupied at times with violent tor¬ 
rents, for there is no longer any herbage, no 
moss, nor brush nor any debris to cover the 
surface, and, sponge-like, to absorb and retain 
the precipitated moisture. 
Yes, Secretary Schurz was perfectly right 
in his assertion that in these bared mountains 
the forests will never be restored. AVhen thus 
ruthlessly destroyed, in certain situations, and 
over such vast areas, practically speaking in 
reference to any period of time tbnt it is 
worth our while to calculate upon, nny' time 
that we or our progeny for many generations 
need take any account of, this is true. 
I'KK VKNTTON. 
But it may'be asked, can not these terribly 
destructive fires be prevented ? Can not the 
calamitous results that must follow be avoided ? 
Yes! Yes! They may, and they must be 
prevented, and that at. once, lest our fair con¬ 
tinent become a desert, unfitted for the many 
millions it is capable of happily sustaining 
upon the broad territory of her fruitful 
bosom. 
This’is, indeed, a great problem requiring the 
exercise of a high order of statesmanship. It 
is truly'a difficult question, but the interests 
at stake are enormous, and are of infinitely 
greater importance to tin's Nation than decid¬ 
ing who of all the great army of office-seek¬ 
ers shall he gratified by an appointment to 
this or that petty place under the Govern¬ 
ment. Oh, that we could be blessed with a 
race of statesmen capable of grasping such 
problems as this! 
Yes, the interest at stake are really enor¬ 
mous; they involve the welfare of the country, 
since they' concern the very existence and 
permanence of our rivers. If neglected, will 
not that future explorer of the vast Sahara 
that may r bespread from the eastern slope of 
the Rockv Mountains find, amid the shifting 
sands of that wide desert, only depressions of 
the surface, marking the ancient beds of our 
great, l ivers and their numerous tributaries, 
in that American Sahara, as Champollion ob¬ 
served them in the wastes of Northern Africa; 
ol' which he said: “And so, the astonishing 
truth dawns upon us, that this desert may 
once have been a region of groves and foun¬ 
tains, and the abode of happy millions. Is 
there any crime against Nature which draws 
down a more terrible curse than that of 
stripping Mother Earth of her sylvan cover¬ 
ing? The hand of man has produced this 
desert, and, I verily believe, every other des¬ 
ert upon the surface of this earth. Earth was 
Eden once, and our misery is the punishment 
of our sins against the world of plants. The 
burning sun of the desert is the angel with 
the llurning sword who stands between ns and 
Paradise.” 
Rut how shall this great work be accom¬ 
plished? How shall we preserve these treas¬ 
ure houses of the snow and rain, that they 
shall steadily distill the streams that are to 
feed our rivers! 
Wc can only hope to accomplish the desired 
result by means of diffusing information on 
the subject, among tbe people; then we may' do 
it by wise legislation. After we shall have 
enlightened the public upon the subject of an 
advanced forest science, and educated them 
up to a proper appreciation of their import¬ 
ance, and of the special functions of the for¬ 
ests on these mountain bights as ccmservers 
of moisture, as receivers and os reservoir* of 
the water supplies of a large portion of the 
continent, all will go well. 
When so educated, and fully informed upon 
these important truths, with an enlightened 
public sentiment, the people will become more 
careful in the use of this dangerous agent; 
they will bo more watchful of their camp 
fires; they wdll compel others to be more care¬ 
ful, and they will stamp out the first begin¬ 
nings of a conflagration. 
In addition to this improved sentiment, and 
complementary’ to.it, legislation will be needed 
to operate upon those who may wickedly or 
ignorantly transgress. 
Senator Plumb of Kansas, in a bill brought 
before Congress, proposed the establishment 
of a forest police to guard these tr easur es of 
the public domain. While protecting the tim¬ 
ber’ from depredations of trespassers, those 
forest guards could also prevent the frequency 
of the conflagrations, which are now so de¬ 
structive. 
Borne of us know by sad and painful ex¬ 
perience how difficult a task it is for- the 
philanthropist w ho presents a simple proposi¬ 
tion for the public good, how great soever its 
importance, to arrest the attention of the 
public. Wc have also learned how almost im¬ 
possible it is to reach the ear of the law-male- 
ing powers, and to excite in their minds an 
active interest In such questions us are here 
pr esented; in a word, how Herculean an under¬ 
taking is presented when we attempt to edu¬ 
cate the people, und those who represent them 
in the halls of Congress, up to a proper and 
full appreciation of such a subject as this of 
forestry, which so deeply concerns the pub¬ 
lic wealth. 
More especially unpromising does such an 
effort appear’ when an attempt is made to im¬ 
press upon their minds the absolute necessity 
of keeping these extensive ranges of moun¬ 
tain higlrts in a condition best adapted to at¬ 
tract anil condense the atmospheric humidity, 
to receive, the precipitation, to retain it for a 
time, and then gradually and quietly to give 
off the fluid through perennial springs, to sup¬ 
ply the fertilizing streams that shall fill the 
rivers which are so happily and so extensively 
distributed over our great continent. 
The fact is patent that mountain ranges in¬ 
tercept and condense the clouds which are 
moisture-laden. When the showers fall upon 
their bare summits, they rapidly escape, but 
when on the wooded slopes, the moisture is re¬ 
tained for a time, and will percolate into the 
soil, whence it may gradually escape by 
perennial springs. 
Tlie next paper will show the cause of tho 
destructive torrents of Alpine regions, and 
their possible prevention by restoring the 
forests to mountain slopes. 
at o diet'd 
PROFITABLE GROWING OF QUINCES. 
WILLIAM J. FOWU.KR. 
Having just received returns from a small 
plantation of quinces, 1 am satisfied that no 
portion of my land, whether in grain or other 
fruit crops pays so well, either for the land 
occupied or tho time and money expended. 
I have comparatively lew trees In full bearing, 
but ir. an those which fully occupied the ground 
1 sold fruit at the rate of fully $500 per acre, 
and this, too, though quinces have, the past 
Fall, sold lower proportionately thau any other 
fruit. I am satisfied that, t his is not likely to 
happen again, and that the price of quinces, 
profitable as quince growing proves in the 
right localities and properly conducted, is like¬ 
ly to rule high for years to come. The quince 
is a more difficult fruit to grow than the pear, 
despite the blight which affects the latter. 
There are large areas where pears thrive well 
where the quince ent irely fails. The last Win¬ 
ter- killed or rendered nearly worthless thous¬ 
ands of trees in this section. Tho drought 
also seriously affected many young orchards, 
causing tho leaves to fall off long before 
frost, and tho few specimens that the trees 
bore were in consequence small and poor. 
It will be impossible for such trees to mature 
buds for next year’s fruiting, so f hat whatever 
tbe season, ihe crop is sure to be a small one. 
My success with quinces I attribute to the 
accident that most of my trees and all those 
now in bearing were set 
mucky 
ground, and with such shelter that their own 
fallen leaves and those of an adjoining apple 
orchard made a good annual mulch. The 
trouble in growing quinces has been lack of 
hardiness in our severe Winters. It is not 
the trunk and top that are tender, but the 
root. I have always noticed that trees in 
exposed situations were killed in years when 
the frost pu retratod deeply. In a mucky, 
rather wet soil covered with a mulch of 
leaves, the frost lias rarely penetrated to the 
roots of my older quince trees. Biuce I have 
learned this requirement of tho quince 1 have 
taken some pains to gathei leaves and put. them 
under rtty quince trees, doing this easily, as 
they are on th • bank of a small brook, which 
is full of leaves every Fall. This Winter 1 
shall add a little well-rotted stable manure, as 
ther e is no crop to w hich I can apply it where 
it will do more good, 1 am not afraid of 
making tho soil too rich for quinces, as the 
heavier manuring 1 give, within reasonable 
limits, the larger and fairer will lie the fruit. 
I am not sure that a vigorous growth will not 
also prevent to some extent the evils of twig 
Plight and the red rust on the fruit, which was 
less prevalent on my trees the past Summer 
than on muny that I have seen. 
Another help to success is a liberal applica¬ 
tion of suit every Spring, and occasionally 
during the growing season. It is not good 
policy to empty brine from old pork barrels 
under the quince tree. Too much is liable to 
be thus given, mid the tree may be killed. The 
salt is not a manure for the tree, but valuable 
mainly in keeping the soil cool and moist. A bout 
onequart to a tree, sown us far a round, at least, 
as the branches extend, is sufficient at one 
time. The sail, also bus an effect in making the 
fertility of the soil more available. The mulch 
should be kept up uU Summer’, and occasion¬ 
ally renewed to keep our, grass and weeds. 
Salt wdll help this result, and will also hasten 
the decomposition of the mulch into line ma¬ 
nure. No cultivation is needed or should be 
allowed save with the hoe, and that on the 
surface, Jest the roots l*e injured. Flowing 
among quince trees, breaking the tender r oots 
and leaving the soil harder than before, is a 
frequent cause of failure. Mulching anil salt 
will keep the soil in just the right condition. 
