M'o' 
^TRY H 
VOL,. XXXVIII. No. 40, 
WHOLE No. 1549. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS, 
82.00 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according’ to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1879, by the Rural Publishing Company, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. — Entered at the Post-Office at New York City, N. Y,, as second-class matter.] 
century. It abounds chiefly in Tenuessee, as¬ 
sociated with the Kentucky Coffee Tree, Red 
Mulberry, Walnut, etc. The wood is, of course, 
of a deep yellow color, whence the name. In 
branching, leafage and flowers, our specimen 
is simply admirable, and it is only a fair ex¬ 
ample of a Yellow Wood of its age grown 
under tolerably favorable circumstances. The 
smooth aud slightly wrinkled, light-colored 
bark swathes the rounded growth of trunk and 
wide-spreading branches in a way that makes 
ouo think of some agile, clean-limbed animal. 
It is literally a tough, brittle-wooded tree, of 
very eccentric growth, picturesque in both 
trunk and branches. The leaves are those of 
a leguminous plant, light-green, small aud by 
no means thick, but growing rather on the 
outer parts of the branches. As the light falls 
on it at times, we might think it a round- 
headed, large-leaved Locust, were not the 
branches and trunk so distinctly character¬ 
istic. 
The crowning beauty, however, of the Yel- 
ow Wood is its flowers, which, unfortunately, 
trusses, white and Wistaria-like, are worthy 
rivals and mates for either the Laburnum or 
Wistaria. Their effect is also much enhanced 
by the peculiar light foliage and rounded for¬ 
mation of the tree. 
Indeed, I am confident that if people would 
only seek ont and realize the beauty of the 
Yellow Wood, it would require hut a few years 
to secure well-developed specimens on numer¬ 
ous lawns; whereas now it is a rarity and 
wonder wherever seen in positive excellence. 
planting and protection of them for this pur¬ 
pose. Yet it is more than doubtful if they 
have any such influence. 
Primitive New England and New York were 
described as being a country of “boundless 
and interminable forest:” but to-day they are 
so stript of this leafy covering that the fuel 
aud timber to supply the imperative wants of 
the people, must be imported from Canada or 
the Gulf States. And yet, had an early record 
been kept, it would undoubtedly have shown 
that the rainfall on this territory was no 
greater in the ten years between 1669 and 1679 
than between 1869 and 1879. It is an evident 
fact, that in relation to forests increasing rain¬ 
fall, or that, by their planting and growth, a 
rainless can be changed to a rainy country, 
error has been inculcated, and this a few con¬ 
siderations will prove. 
Forests do not make or impart to a country 
its general or controlling climatic conditions. 
These, as a law, are the result of its peculiar 
location in relation to large bodies of water 
and their currents, and the great wind cur¬ 
rents which ceaselessly circle around the globe 
in but slightly deviating courses. These cur¬ 
rents of the ocean and the air. which are not 
materially affected by the topography of the 
land, carry heat and moisture, and, importing 
-hem beneath their regular and fixed track, 
THE YELLOW WOOD 
(Cladrastis tiuctorla.) 
This is best known as Virgilia lutea, though 
Cladrastis—not Cladastris as it is often printed 
—is now its accepted botanical name. There 
are urgent reasons why especial attention 
should be called to this tree, the more at the 
present time as we approach the fall trans¬ 
planting season. Let us at ouee hasten to remove 
the misconception that seems very generally to 
exist, that it is difficult to transplant. This seems 
entirely without any fact to support it. We 
once received a tree from Rochester, not less 
than four iuches iu diameter. Duriug trans¬ 
portation, the branches aud upper part of the 
main stem were so badly iujured tbat it was 
necessary to cut it back to a mere stump four 
feet iu bight. This was seven years ago. The 
tree is now the best of our four specimens, 
one of which—two iuclies iu diameter—was 
ordered at the same time from a neighboring 
nursery aud cut back as it is usual to prune 
transplanted trees. From our own experience, 
therefore, as well as from extended inquiry, 
we find that, in the place of being oue of the 
most difficult, it is oue of the easiest and safest 
trees to remove. 
The Yellow Wood belongs to the Pulse or 
Leguminous family, like the Pea, Locust, Wis¬ 
taria, Red-bud or Judas Tree, Kentucky Coffee 
Tree, etc., etc. It is found iu Eastern Ken¬ 
tucky southward along the western base of 
the Alleghanies, though it is quite hardy iu 
Rochester, and we know not how far North of 
it. Our engravings of the leaflets, flowers and 
fruit are from the specimen above referred to 
as having been received from Rochester seven 
years ago. It bloomed last June for tlie first 
time. The flowers, which are white, are suf¬ 
ficiently portrayed by the engraving. The 
petiole bears usually seven leaflets of an ovate 
shape, from two to six inches in length, the 
the terminal one being the hugest aud of a 
more orbicular shape than the others. The 
petiole itself is about eight inches long, slender, 
green aud swollen at its base, so as to resemble 
a horse’s foot, beneath which is the bud for 
the noxt season’s growth. The tree may be 
called a fast grower. Our best specimen, 
planted, as we have said, seven years ago, is 
now thirteen feet high, with a proportionate 
spread in all directions. It is said that it has 
a tendency to grow faster ou one side than 
on tlie others. We have observed this ten¬ 
dency, but it is one easily overcome. The bark 
is always smooth aud clean aud quite in keep¬ 
ing with the many aud marked traits of this 
tree,which is, iu our judgment, one of the most 
elegant known to ornamental grounds. Grace¬ 
fully curving, especially iu the early part of 
the season; sufficiently, but not densely 
foliaged, airy, shapely, though informal—as 
between the weeping trees tbat seem ostenta¬ 
tiously sorrowful, and the upright trees that 
seem pompously unbending, the Yellow Wood 
is tbe happy medium. 
THE INFLUENCE OF FORESTS ON CLI¬ 
MATE. 
PROFESSOR LEVI STOCKBRIDGE 
In quite recent times, books, periodicals, 
associations and National and State govern¬ 
ments have been calling public attention to 
the very rapid decrease of our forest area and 
the consequent climatic effects. The discussion 
of the subject thus far has not served to edu¬ 
cate our people in relation to the true and full 
THE YELLOW WOOD 
SAMUEL PARSONS, 
I confess to a very decided preference for 
the old liquid, musical name, Virgilia lutea, as 
botauically applied to the tree commonly 
called Yellow Wood. But the proper authori¬ 
ties have declared for the more difficult aud 
rasping name, Cladrastis tinotoria, so we must 
even submit. Whatever may be said of the 
name, however, the Cladrastis tlnctoria,. or 
Yellow Wood, is worthy of much praise for its 
many excellent qualities as an ornamental 
tree. Why it is not used more I cannot ima¬ 
gine. Unquestionably it has been widely 
known for at least 50 years, having beeu no¬ 
ticed by Michaux at the very beginning of this 
FRUIT OF YELLOW WOOD. — REDUCED HALF 
(SEE PAGE 639 FOR flower and leaf.) 
do not come every year by any means. But 
they do uot need to be scarce to render them 
precious, for their beauty is an all-sufficient 
recommendation. Seen under favorable lights 
duriug June, these blooms, hanging in loose 
meteorological influence of this decrease; but 
it has served to create the quite, general belief 
that extensive forest tracts have an offoetivo 
power in increasing the rainfall in their vicin¬ 
ity, and, to some extent, has stimulated to the 
