New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-11-21
TO RECLAIM THE DESERTS.
PLANTS ADAPTED TO THE ARID ZONE.
From The Boston Transcript.

From The Boston Transcript.
"A systematic canvass Of the world will be
made in the next four years to determine what
tree trees can best be made to grow in our
arid and sub-arid regions said Professor Il
r. Furnow. chief Of the Division of Forestry OF
the Agricultural Department. to your CORE
spondent to-day. while this Is the particular
object in view it Is likely that the search will
lead to systematic attempt by this Department
to introduce here and accmatize from all
parts Of the world the economically valuable
plants. In the past. to be sure, a good many
such attempts have been made but in a sporadic
and unsystematic way. For instance, thirty or
more years ago cork oak acorns were intro
duced from Spain and distributed by the De-
partment, but no effort made to keep track
Of them or see what became Of the trees. and.
as result, no one knows why the experiment
was not a success. | know Of one If these trees
growing in the United States. and that Is in
Georgia; some have also been found I'm Louis
lana. and. of course. in California. But eX-
perience proves that the Department needs
to do more than scatter about the seeds and
seedlings of some new plant. and take no
further oversight In the matter Such plants
are lost and forgotten and. without paying
more attention To the selection of similar
climatic and other conditions than has been
customary in the past. large percentage Of
such inroductions are bound to be failures.
About ten years ago some waffle trees. fur
nishing tan bark. were introduced from Aus
traa and distributed through Texas and other
Southern States But nothing IL known by the
Department as to whether they succeeded or
not. or il not. why. These are typical of many
instances. Through consular reports the at
tention Of the Department is frequently called
To some economically valuable plant which Is
unknown here. and "A half hearted attempt at
its Introduction IS made.
The United States contains more valuable
species Of trees now than almost any other part
of the world II is hardly likely. for instance.
that any Introduction from foreign countries
could very much improve the forestry Of Massa-
chusetts. but In the arid regions Of our country
the number OF species that can be- grown Is very
limited, and 1t IS entirely possible that n study
II the other arid regions Of the world will pro-
ducc something better than we now have. our
agents will make n special study II climatic con-
ditions in tn" dry regions. here and abroad. for
experience has proved. what was long matter
OF theory. that seeds do not flourish in a lati-
tudc greatly different from that in which they
were grown, even though the species To which
they belong might flourish over "A much wider
area. At Grand Rapids. Mich. last year. we
made an experiment with box elder. grown from
seeds collected In various parts II the country.
After the first frost. the elder from the seed
grown In oklahoma was frost killed. while "A tree
Of the same species grown from an Ontario seed
was in very healthy condition. After gather
Ing the necessary Information as to comparative
climates. We shall collect the plant material In
special stations under the control 81 the Depart
ment At first, We may cooperate with the cx-
listing State experiment stations but that will
not suffice. because these stations are naturally
located in specially selected soils. and so the
most untoward conditions are not met there
From our present knowledge there IL no tree
better for the sub-arid regions OF Texas and the
Southwest than the mesquite. IL provides shell
ter from the wind. furnishes fairly good fire
wood. and its pods are capable Of being used as
food for domestic animals. The mesquite does not