The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-10-12
Editorial NOtings.

Editorial NOtings.
IN another column we print very
readable communication, d" More Inter-
esting Trees" in which the grand
eanoe birch is strongly but not too
greatly praised. 1t is no excess of lam
guage to say that if such a noble tree,
before unknown, had been introduced
from Siberia, or Mongolia, there would
be Juror for it all over the country.
1t is indeed the most striking of all our
forest trees; but its abundance has
dulled our minds to its unique beauty
and majesty. We bought our new farm
just in time to save little grove of
these trees from destruction; and so
much do we value them that we have
often thought of naming the farm in
their honor" Birch Grove Farm"
THE black cherry is another noble
tree referred to by our correspondent.
It's high value for cabinet purposes is
thinning it out in the East as rapidly
as it has thinned out the black walnut
in the West; but, like that tree, also, it
is rapid grove, and a plantation of
them on any farm, if properly attended
TO, would be profitable investment,
especially on farms held in a family
through succeeding generations. The
time is coming when such will be the
case, and the present farmer" will be
replaced by the "landed proprietor"
who will regard the ownership of the
soil as a badge of social distinction, if
not of political influence and power, as
is now the case in older countries.
OUR black cherry is better in quail
lty, as a fruit, than any other wild
cherry of this or other continents, and
itcould easily be made the parent of
race of orchard cherries exceeding in
size, beauty and, quaity-and especially
in the hardness of the trees against win
ter's cold-anything in this line which
the world now possesses. 1t is just
such work as the horticultural pro-
fessors of our agricultural colleges
ought to earnestly engage in. BY
searching out the best wild specimens,
and growing seedlings from them under
cultivation, crossing with other species,
and following the well-known methods
of tree and plant development, vari-
cites could be soon obtained that would
make northern New England and
Canada second Germany in cherry
culture.
IN thus exploiting the native black
cherry we should not only get most
valuable class of tree fruits, but might
also have trees which, when they had
grown large, would be of even greater
value for fine cabinet work. Taken
together, the cherry tree possesses
more elements of value to the grower
than any other; although both apple
and pear wood are valuable for fine fin
ish and cabinet purposes. How many
of such openings to enterprise and
success this continent has, Yet how
impossible to develop them, so long as
our people are denied that practical
education in rural art and science for
which every state holds grand endow-
ment-made practically useless to the
people by the jealous meanness and
gross rapacity and dishonesty of the
literary colleges which have seized
upon and are misapplying the money
SO set apart. And the farmers, as a
class, care nothing that these great ad-
yantages are so withheld from their
childrenl 1t appears intellectually and
morally, as well as physically, impossible
for a man to " lift himself over fence
by his boot-straps"
OUR farmers are undoubtedly careless
and wasteful in the management of
their woodland, as they are in other
ways. They are blamable for this; but
on the other hand it must be remem-
bered that the price of crude lumber,
like that of all other farm products, is
held down to starvation rates by the
combinations of firms and corporations
and trusts" which make producers
the helpless victims of commercial and