New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-01-12
AGRICULTURAL.
PROFITABLE USE OF THE AILANTHus


cred wort, lees. 1t is not it is good both for fuel
and timber, and it il Of the most rapidly growing
ree- to BE- found in the Northern States The aian.Lu.
il in bad odor with many it is true but that Is on &c.
count Of IFS bad odor when in bloom which is truly
very disncreeahe fault, bu, that can be cured BY
selecting for all situations Tear dwellings trees that
| 90 not emit any odor from blossoms, which can be
easily done since the trees grow in the order of many
other plants sexes ard efuvium Is only given off by
the blossoms upon female trees. Only where trees Of
both sexes grow together seeds produced and the
species multiplied to the great extent that they have
been OF late years. This proved by the fact that
.ianthus tee has been growing in this city We are
assured by an old inhabi.an. for fifty years more
willie it is not a dozen years since ssnthus seeds
were generally disseminated over the United States.
| The manner in which this done is worthy of note
| as showing the spirit OF speculation. Some shrewd
chap sen. out circulars from this city containing eleven
packages of ten seeds each 10 a., the postmasters,
requesting them to se ten of the packages at dime
each, and keep the other for commission returning
dollar to the sced distributor.
II was this that brought them oil nj into univer
sal notice and filled the country with trees whose
native soil is India. 1t found that they would
grow rapidly and make a shade than any other
known tree and that they flourish in any SOIL
where there is scarcely any, only just enough TO allow
the tree to get start often in crevices Of
rocks or pavenents.
Hitherto the tree has only been valued for shade and
It's beauty of foliage blossoms and seed-pods ts
form; while il is periodically mathematical for its vile
smell when in bloom in which we have INDUCED not
little But il need not be condemned to be eat down
and cast into the fire for this fault. although
great one We have only TO keep ii away from our
dwellings and If il has virtues discover and profit by
them These tine ailaIthus has. Now, let de-
yelop them II is not soft, worthless wood the
contrary when seasoned it is firm hard strong and
durable II will make fer ce-posts nearly a. valuable
as locust timber ard when seasoned, it will burn freely
and give n strong heat. 1t is good fuel.
Then instead of planting ailanthus trees for shade
or ornament let some one establish a plantation of
hundred acres on the cheap, barren" land of Long
Island or thousand acres upon the Western prares
and zee what q valuable timber lot you may have in
only ten years. In fact there millions Of acres of
land in the United States l3nc idle, barren, I'M
productive of anything valuable to the owners, that
might be made to produce valuable crop of wood,
while az the same time becoming renovated So as to be
worth cultivatng in some food-producing crop.
We will instance one such tract because ii is one 30
often seen By numerous persons travelling from
New-York TO Boston; and because il lies so near that
beautiful town. the City OF NewfIaven, and in the
very mdst of the most enterprising people in the
world-the most improving of machinery the most
money-rnaLing in II ade; the most negectul of any
other equally educated people, of improvements OF
the soil. 1t is the sandy plain, through which the
railway passes rUul view Iru,on - noriie-, ..-.
allnde to; once fine, cultivated, productive tract;
now a waste of drifting sand
Upon this waste, confident that ailanthus
trees may be planted, with only wheel-barow load
of rich loam to tree and that in ten years the growth
would not only be such that it would hide the desoate
barenness OF the land but would make it OF salable
value Of 800 an acre.
Much of the land called barren upon Long Island
which has not produced the annual interest of dime
an acre since the discovery of America, might be
planted in ailanthus, which in ten years would &C
quire growth sufficiently large to afford an annual
cutting of ence-posts and fuel worth more than most
of the cultivated farms the island have ever netted
their owners. Beside the tracts utterly worthless,
there are thousands Of that kept for wood
the owner depending upon the slow growth of oaks
and scrubby "oldfeld pines, which are cut of once
in twenty or thirty years, when two TO four inches in
diameter In place of the oaks and pines grow allan
thus and twice the quantity can be cut IN half the
time. If such unimproying morals as some OF these
wood-cutters ever read and think, let them think OF
this and profit by it.
Upon a hundred hills denuded Of their wood by
that Unsuitable wood-consumng dragon the New York
and Erie Railroad, the silanthus might be planted
where no food crop can be proftably cultivated,
where it would bring sure return to the planter.
But of all places where it might be grown most rapid
". and to the greatest profit We must look to the
great prares of the West. There, where the richest
soil of the world that is susceptible of cultivation
without irrigation must lie waste for want of wood
systematic business of ree-planting might be made
the NEST profitable of any pracced in this coun-
ry There we would not confne the planting to tins
one tree but certainly would it for the first plants
ton on account of its easy production from seeds, It's
rapid growth s hardy nature withstanding cold ana
heat wet and dry and not being liable to attacks OF
insects. belt of these trees wosId afford shelter Tor
the production of other valuable ones-Such "a
locust, oak, elIn CEDAR pine, sugar maple, and fruit
trees.
Let il be an edict' that the world shall ct once
prepare lot for the destruction of this anathenazed
tree but for its extended propagation, cultivation ana
usefulness Let lis cease the insane folly OF planting
ailanhus trees under our bedroom wndows-as great
folly as would be to keep pet skunk in the house
| and plant them where would keep the unsavory,
| though useful, bug and misunderstanding amman, IN
the forest-an ailauthus.tree forest grown Tor useful
| not ornamental purposes.
EXPERIENCE IN SORGHUM CULTURE
| To The Edto, If The " Y. Tribune
SIN. have read your long article in your Issue u