parent in pure white sand, with very little fertilizers, and they grow very quickly.

A member Is there any plant food in granite?

Prof. Henry There are two or three elements of plant food in

granite.

THE TASK BEFORE THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES OF THE COUNTRY IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

(By PETER T. SCHOтZKA, Esq., Gardener Insane Asylum.)

No one will deny the influence of our agricultural societies in the good results realized from the farms in the country, but we cannot help admitting that one branch necessary to successful farming as well as to the health and prosperity of the country has been so far sadly neglected, and this is

THE FORESTS OF THE COUNTRY.

We are aware that the national agricultural department in Washington has made several efforts to have the government take the preservation and restoration of the forests in hand, and that the secretary of the interior, authorized by congress, has adopted some means to prevent the cutting down of the forests in the territories. But all this is not sufficient for the preservation of that extent of forests which is needed for agricultural as well as manufacturing purposes.

The forests should cover from one-quarter to one-third of the area of a country, if it is to be healthy and fitted to fulfill the conditions under which agriculture may be carried on with success.

And not only is the extent of the forests to be considered. We must also take into account their proper distribution over the face of the country, if we would secure the utmost possible benefit to its inhabitants. The shelter and the humid healthful atmosphere of the forests in the far western territories have no effect upon the inhabitants of Wisconsin or New York.

As the time between the planting and harvest of forest trees is between eighty years for pine and three hundred years for white

oak trees, it is of great importance to select for arboriculture those soils of the country where no other crops could possibly be produced, and limit the cost of the first planting to the lowest possible figures.

When we consider that some soils are in reality not fit for agriculture, and have to be termed on the assessor's list and on the maps as "unculturable land," would it not be a welcome sight to see young forests springing up in such places, and, though growing slowly, benefiting the surrounding agricultural districts with a humid atmosphere, shelter against high winds, and against changes of temperature, frequently so sudden and so disastrous?

In Europe the various governments have found it necessary to make the care of the forests a particular subject of consideration and legislation, and have created special official bureaus under the management of competent men, who had to serve a long apprenticeship, graduate in the science and art of forest culture, and who have made the forests a source of revenue to the governments amounting to millions of dollars, from the poorest soil of that country. While the direct net income of these forests is counted by millions, their influence upon health and agriculture cannot be estimated. And when we consider the rapid increase of population in our own country, the wants already made upon the forests, and the present comparative scarcity of lumber, it is easy to see that here also similar measures will soon have to be adopted.

It will perhaps be objected that in the vast area of these states the millions of acres of woodland still remaining will be sufficient for all the wants of the country for years to come. But it must be remembered

1. That this abundance of wood is found just in those parts of the country where it is least needed, and that in consequence of the expense of bringing so bulky an article as lumber to the centres of demand, it is comparatively valueless where produced, and is for the most part left to fall before the axe of the settler. 2. That two-thirds of the timber left to us is of such quality as to be only fit for fuel.

3. That in the census and tax statements a large area is classed as woods without deserving this classification.

4. That Chicago alone employs a capital of $80,000,000 in the lumber trade, and hundreds of thousands of acres of timber are annually sacrificed.

5. That Michigan and Wisconsin, the main pine timber states, which had ten million acres of the finest timber before settlement began, have only about two million acres left, and this, at the present rate, will be cut down in about five years.

6. That according to the census of 1860 the value of the lumber improvements in the United States was $3,322,522,000. All this had been cut from the soil and most of it within thirty years previous, and nothing has been done to replace it.

7. That there are five hundred thousand artisans in wood in this country, and if we estimate the value of their labor at $1,000 each per annum, we have an aggregate of $500,000,000 of wood per annum consumed as raw material for their use.

8. That it takes one and one-third acres on the average to produce one cord of wood annually.

9. That it takes three hundred acres for the production of wood sufficient to build and keep up one mile of railroad year by year.

10. That the United States sends $11,000,000 per annum to Canada for lumber, while millions of acres of land, capable of producing the finest timber, are lying waste in our own country.

11. That the farmer from year to year cuts down vast forests, to enlarge his fields, and only saves what will suffice for his domestic uses, and seldom that.

12. That the population of the country is daily increasing, the wood consuming industries are developing year by year to larger dimensions, and hundreds of miles of new railroads are added annually to those already in operation; and in general, that while the wood producing area has been greatly reduced, the demands upon the wood have multiplied, and since the larger area has been so greatly reduced in supplying the smaller demands, how will the smaller area supply the larger consumption?

From the above facts it is evident that unless measures are speedily taken to replace by plantation the supplies consumed in the destruction of our old forests, there will be an actual famine for wood in this country within the next thirty years.

Can this matter of forest culture be safely left to private enterprise?

A period of from eighty to two hundred years is required for the growth and maturity of valuable forest trees. Now if so many neglect to plant fruit trees and grape vines, the product of which they can enjoy in a few years, will they plant forest trees, whose completed growth they will never see?

To carry on the culture of forest trees successfully, it is also necessary that extensive regions should be devoted to it, for the trees that from year to year are ready for the woodman's axe are necessarily a considerable distance apart. In small isolated areas there could not be an economical adaptation of the means to the end. Forest culture can only be carried on upon a large scale.

But there is still another reason why the supply of timber cannot be left to private parties. There is needed for the profitable growth of forest trees a scientific and technical knowledge which few farmers have it in their power to acquire. This knowledge, so far as it is not purely scientific, must necessarily be to a great degree traditional. It cannot be acquired by personal experience. The mistakes of one year cannot be discovered, as in the case of ordinary farm crops, by the immediate results, for the forest tree's life outmeasures man's; the cultivator sees his error, if at all, when it is too late to remedy it.

In Germany, therefore, where these facts are fully appreciated, the forester has to undergo a special scientific and technical education. He has to serve a long apprenticeship. The culture of trees and the management of the forests become the business and study of his life.

From all this and numerous other reasons, it is evident that upon the government rests the necessity and duty of providing against the anticipated deficiency in the supply of timber, by initiating and controlling the plantation of new forests, as well as the preservation of the old.

It is not necessary to cite the disastrous consequences which have occurred in those parts of the globe where the destruction of forests has taken place, and which have been described by travel

12-W. S. A. S.

ers in a most alarming manner. others as well as myself.

They are doubtless familiar to

In 1869 I sent a memorial to congress in respect to the destruction of our old forests. I have not changed my opinion on this subject since and believe that it cannot be refuted.

I hope that all far-sighted men will share it with me and assist me in my patriotic recommendation.

DISCUSSION.

Isaac Huyck, Sun Prairie-I have a small piece of timber composed of black oaks, etc., and they are dying. I wish to replace them and keep that grove as it is. What is the best timber that I can put in there to replace those trees that are dying? They are what is commonly called second growth; the older trees are now dead and the younger ones are dying.

Geo. P. Peffer, Pewaukee - Can you tell the cause of their dying? Is it drouth?

Mr. Huyck I think not.

Peter P. Schotzka - Are they dying from the top?

Mr. Huyck-I think they are.

Mr. Schotzka-The tap root is coming to the poor soil, and the very moment that tap root strikes the poor soil the top will die

out.

Mr. Huyck-I guess I was a little misunderstood by the gentleman in regard to the dying out of this timber. I will state that the timber that is dying out is not confined to one kind of a tree. He states that it dies from the effects of the tap root reaching the poor soil. The poplars that are in that space die as readily as the black oak, while the burr oak standing on the same space still lives. If the gentleman can say that poplar has a tap root which reaches down to poor soil I will believe it.

Senator M. Anderson, Cross Plains Huyck if cattle run in that grove.

I would like to ask Mr.

Mr. Huyck-That I do not think will answer, because I can