New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-19
RY TREES TO THE TREASURY.

One who should MAINTAIN liilJ VIC on"ii wi"
tinue to want forest trees for all the Varleu
mechanical purposes to which their DARK ana
timber are now applied would he counting
without the inventive genius and resources
of the world But it is safe to say that we
must ever need groves and belts and wood
lands for their climatic influences and Tor
their benefcent and far-reaching minstra-
tions OF beauty. Hence we note with much
pleasure the continued agitation of this impor-
tant subject in the agricultural and other
| journals all over the country 1t is by such
line upon line, and precept upon precept,
that our infant forestry must be fostered,
rather than by preamble and resolution OF
self-appointed "Congresses of which the
latest had recent weeks sickly existence In
| Cincinnati. 1t was widely announced with
not q little flourish of handbiils. 1t was
divided into four sections (which looked
large in the general press dispatches. Each
section was assigned q separate apartment III
the great Music Hall. and "on the day when
the most interesting papers were read there
were present in one room four persons, III an
other six, in another twelve, and In the
fourth for a short time there were as many
as fourteen.
The Washington Esthete of Agriculture
was down there, and "quoted some Latin
and " talked of flowers; and other polti-
clans of more or less reputc, and promiscuous
| local gentlemen of leisure, aided in making
the occasion what one newspaper character
ICES as "a big jamborec." For though the
attendance at the sessions where something
was to be learned was so dcpressngly meagre
! there seems to have been plenty OF the
! element of outside show. There was street
parade, or something of that nature, ana
doubtless feast and flow, and we know
certainly that the combined physical energies
of the convention succeeded in placing at least
one real tree, maybe more, in the solid suDurDan
earth-too solid, as the dlggers doubtless
| agreed Taking q retrospective view OF the
| Congress, it is not to be wondered at therefore
| that me local papers, which would naturally
wish to speak of it as well as they could,
should feel constrained to acknowledge that it
was asignal failure" An outside report
SAYS "a shameful iizzle."
This outcome is just what might have been
expected. There was not on the list of lead
ing movers in the scheme one person whose
name we remember ever to have seen IN
connection with matters relating to practical
| forestry And there was over it all the trail
of suspicion that possible appropriation"
with all that that implies, was more or an anlmus
| than prospective sawlOgs and shingles.
Hoop-poes are a humane substitute for
cats-paws but they may be found somewhat
unwielly in hands of persons whose previous
practical numbering" was probably confined
to the manipulation of " sticks in lemonade.
| And it is true that ree-planting in this
country, immensely desirable rs it is, will hardly
ever be promoted by the best laid plans of those
whose familiarity with forestry consists III
! observation of the cOnsumptive conlfers ut the
| door of old Gambrinus, or in knowledge OF
| the great arboricultural fact that as shade
tree the pumpkin vine is as dismal failure
as the recent Congress itself. Much less will
| it he promoted 10y those who would II they
| could climb by it to political position, or to
| Treasury window.
We have planted quite enough Government
funds in this forestry business Heavy vol
umes from the Public Printer will bear witness
to this fact, if any of them can be resurrected
from the dusty heaps of old bookstores or
iunk-shops. Examination would show thai
| they contain unavailable matter from foreign
sources fruit of Government Forestry, where
|
Lappily, it is not needed in free and hight
ened America. Trees are being planted i'll
our soil year by year, more and more OF them
| the obvious advantage OF conserving what
| forests we have and replacing what Is gone
| is more and more acknowledged. This, as
we have said, is the natural result OF agitation
| by multitude of unsefsh teachers all
apprccating and urging the great interest
1t is the result CT neighborly comparison
of experiences and of conference at local
horticultural and other meetings. BY such quiet,
transformations effort, widely diflused, Our fores
| try is spreading and will spread its bOuntiful
branches, rather than by the DIFFUSION of
fluent and too pervasive individuals with appro
priaton bees in their b0nnetS, whose waste OF Vi
| tality in barking up the wrong tree Is painful
| to witness. We venture to say That, for example,
the admirable little "Forestry Annual " issued
and circulated at trfling cost by local Iowa effort
and talent has done vastly more to encourage
enlightened tree planting i'll that State than
all the emanations from an expensive Com
mission and "a public printing press that
| goes on forever regardless of considerations
| of necessity or economy.
| Several students. scientists and professors
| Justly distinguished and influential in this
matter of forestry, contributed, with the best
of motives, valuable papers to the aforesaid
| Congress, and these essays will probably be
buried in Washington books. and, quite in
the natural order, mostly emerge i'll due
course OF time as blank sheets from mills that
/ grind up waste paper. How much better for
al practical purposes had these worthy
gentlemen placed this excellent material
through the various agricultural and other
publications that find their way direct to
| he rural 1iatrcfs--iuSt where il Woull do