The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-03-15

should is that others advise choosing a
specially, and sticking to it, as the best
plan. The extent to which dairying is
carried on in Vermont makes it look as
though this is the Vermont theory and
practice. We are inclined to favor it,.
Diversity our farming If you will, but
not on the same farm,-or at any rate
do not diversity it very much. To be
a Jack of all trades" means, gener-
ally, to be master of none; and to make
money these days, man must be an
expert at something. AS for ourself,
we are trying to combine dairying and
orcharding, relying upon our dairy
stock to enrich our orchard ground
And to that, some reader will say,
Yes; and trying to be an editor, too"
We confess that this is rather too much
for one man. -
FORESTRY, or rather Dendrology-
the science of trees-is one of our hob
bies; but we are so unfortunate as to
be unable to agree with the leading
forestry authorities in New England as
to the present and prospective state of
our forests. We fully agree with them
that there should be some regular sys-
tenn in the management of our timber
woods; but we think that with some
help from legislation this will soon
come of itself. Hap-hazard timber
cutting must go, along with hap-hazard
farming, as our population thickens
and our cities increase. But, though
the demand for timber will always be
great, it will not now be long before the
price of it will so advance as to make
the owners of forests more careful, and
also to make builders adopt other ma
terials for building. The general
abandonment of wood as fuel for steam
making and electric power has greatly
lessened the draft upon our forests.
Trees grow much faster than writers
on forestry seem to think. Altogether,
therefore, while the continued agita-
ton of the subject will spread informa-
ton, and do good by interesting every
body in a most interesting subject,
there is not the least occasion for a
scare" even if scares were likely to
do good-which we doubt. AS the Man
Wactwers' Gazette observes There
10 NJ irY, in, ha &c
New England, as compared with fifty
years ago. 1t is true there may not be
so much so full-grown timber as there
was half century ago, but there is a
greater number of trees now growing
in New England than there were in
the early part of the century. This
arises largely from the fact that very
much of the pasture area and rough
land formerly used in cultivation has
been allowed to grow up, first to bushes,
then to shrubs, and finally to trees.
There never was time in New Eng
land for many years when firewood
could be purchased SO cheap on the
stump as at present. One concern in
the vicinity of Boston which buys
$4,000 cords per annum is paying be-
tween So and 81 per cord less for wood
to-day than the same parties paid in
1865. One reason of the diminution
in the use of cord wood throughout
New England is the fact that almost
all the railways in early times burned
cord wood for fuel, instead of the al
most universal material of coal now
used for the same purpose. This per-
mits the growing up of vast areas of
woodland throughout New England.
Again, as the value of woodland be-
comes better appreciated, and the hold
ings are concentrated into the hands of
those people to own and control who
will cut judiciously and cut only the
ripe trees, less of the growth will be
wasted and frittered away. The saliva
ton of the forests in New England lies
in the hope that they may be owned by
| thOoO VIII dpplCCldlO thCli WOiIh3 anu
who are able to secure proper return
for investment in this class of prop.
erty."
THE same publication remarks: As
to the forest area of the United States
it is computed to be about twenty-foul
per cent of the entire area. Germany
though more thickly populated than the
United States, has percentage Of
about twenty.six in wood. Switzerland
has only nineteen per cent Of forest
France has but seventeen per cent
Great Britain three and one-half pei
cent, Sweden has thirty-nine per CEN
of its area in wood, and Norway twenty
one per cent. Nearly one-sixth of the
area of the forests in Sweden, or up
ward of 100000 acres, is owned by
the Swedish government, which only
permits cutting under a wise and com
prehensive plan of government super
vision"