New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-01-02
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

NICHE, Forester. Cullen House Wlliiam Dlaeh W &C.
q Sons, London aud Edinburgh, 1857. small o'o
PIP 2S4
This stout volume IS exactly what 1t claims 10 DO
"a practical handbook Oflarch culture bya forester
OF thirty years experience. No doubt there 10 -"
demand for such manual in Great Britain Wnero
young arches are annually planted By the ihIiI'on
and where there are plantations like the Duko u
Richmonds at Huntley. covering 3,OOO acres "'tn'n
one fence. and those of the Duke OF Atho', "hicn
aggregated $4,000 acres fifty years ago. III .n'S
country we have no such body of experience as mas
been accumulated in older lands and the area
annually ulaDted with timber trees is lnIgnucah''
Nevertheless orr marvellous forest wealth has been
so recllessly squandered that the poverty in THIS
resnect which threatens us IN the near future VIII
SON drive us TO forest planting on generous scare
Half century is a short time 10 allow 10Y the ma
turing OF q tree crop from the seed, ana therefore
there is no time to waste in idle experiments. III IL
important that the early ventures should De lnlei
gently conducted. For careless tree-planthS VIII
bring certain failure to chill the aIdor and hopelui
ness which are needed to support every new enter
prise The information in books ike TINS Is heiplu
although it will never answer to put blind trust III
European trees or European methods Our climate
NAY give hospitable welcome TO some foreign
trees, as it has done to mgny imported weeds when
now oyerrun our fields. But after all our main de-
pendence must always be placed upon species which
have been adapted by ages Of natural selecnoh 10
the conditions climatic and other, which SURROUND
them here Fortunately for us. no other part OF Iho
earths surface is so rich at once in the variety anu
value Of its arborescent growth as the Eastern pol
ton of the United States.
One fact is clearly demonstrated by Nj. Nucme'
and that is that larch culture can be ma 10 prout-
able in Great Britain. If our people could DC con-
WINGED that forest culture hero would pay
Il INT, oct at
their investments. no other stimulus would DO
needed for It is plain that forest products can never
he cheaper han they are now. Other inducements
have been offered. SO long ago as SS3 ne LONDON
Society for the Encoura cement of AVIS ana man
rfactures offered gold IN dal TO anyone who should
plant in the same season 800 arches from TWO 10
four years old at a distance of i've tcot apart ana
in TWENTY-FIVE years more than a miIioh lfc'S N'Io
planted under the auspices of this body. Iii 1871
the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agr'-
cnlture offered prizes Of 81 600, 5000 and $500 for
the best plan atoms of European arch OF not less
than ave acres each. The competition was to all
landowners but restricted to land unfit for agrl-
cnlture. In Barnstabe, Dukes and Nantucket
Counties Scotch and Corsican pine could be subst-
tinted for larch. Prizes of 5000 ana
$500 were at the same tnno Oh
fered for the best plantations of American
white ASH The awards are to be made IN leo"
The general Government has passed. timber cui'uIo
acts but they have proved peTneious. In Aanie'
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island Iowa.
Nebraska. d akota. Wyoming and Washington GER
tain exemptions from taxation are allowed by Ia"
for every acre planted with forest trees In mime
sofa. Missouri and Nevada a direct bounty is PAID
for planting These inducements have aroused
some interest, but stronger motives must DE pre-
sented IL is well enough to show that unless
certain proportion between woodland and piough-
land is preserved agriculture itself VIII languiSh
that forest destruction will be followed by disaster
from flood and drouth, and by 1unous climahc
chances But the country does not abound with
citizens who feel burdened with responsibility Tor
the health and comfort of poserty and forests VIII
NOT be nlaoted till the need seems urgent and the
profits sure.
Eorest culture on paper is a seductive industry
,nd always shows an attractive balance sheet.
Fortunately we are not altogether without actual
eran,ples which corrObOrate tae paper estimates.
Perhaps the most valuable experiment IN syl'l-
culture on record in this country was hat con
Quoted for sixty years near Providence H. L.
by the late Zachariah Allen. IL was not an
experiment on a large scale, but 1T was specaHy
important because carefully conducted through a
lorc period with every item of charges and receipts
INFINITELY recorded In the year 1920 Mr.. Allen came
in.o possession Of forty acres of WORKOUT pasture
land living on a bleak hill. Some scant herDaga
grew in the soil which lay between projecting
lodges of granite rock, and few white birches Kept
ND struggle with the vines but the land was prac-
tjoally worthless for pasture or tilage Wherever
the soil could be scarifed between the rocks 1t was
broken up and seeds of locust chestnut and yarle-
ties of oak aud hickory were sown in shallow fur
VOWS or dropped and covered by hand where a
plough could not among the rocks. The enllIC
cost OF planting was only $45, but Mr. Allen lived q
see his forest furnish the Navy with locust timber
during the war; AID his ledger after ftyseven years
of careful entries with interest computed on every
outlay showed profit OF more than $500
amounting to nearly per cent per annun
upon his original investment for the whole
period - and that, too. after estimating
his land above its actual value. Besides tb
value received in money from thesale OF cordwOOd
fence posts, hoop poles and small wood, the sol
had been enriched by tho decaying leaves o
sxtv autumns, and the land was left in condition t.
sustain forest growth indefinitely without fur'he
expense
Now. the market for forest products is certain
The demand is continually on the increase and tn
supply of some of our most valuable woods VIII b
practically exhausted before new gro with OF ma
ture wood can take the place Of what has been 81
recklessly squandered The total value of luInbe
sawed during the past year was SZ33367,7-9
The wood consumed as fuel was worth even more
while railway sieeperS anu he"h t"nei VI 81
sorts, charcoal paper pulp and other forest product
swell the grand total TO nearly $l,0OO,OOOOOO
These enormous figures will increase as population
increases so that every fear that trees planted
fodav on the most extensive scale vii
not be needed when mature. can be ban
ished. Such experiments as Mr.. Aliens are not re
oui-ed TO prove that VIII grow in this climate
Every neglected field protected from fire and flock
will soon be covered with forest growth of som
KIND. But Mr. Aliens experiment shows that tn
,,,;p rrovy unon land 0Ood for lit Tile else