days' work in spring and autumn would give them deciduous and evergreen trees which would afford a storehouse of lumber, besides great enjoyment to themselves and their families.

John G. Barker spoke of the loss sustained in the death of Elizur Wright, who was one of the most earnest promoters of the Middlesex Fells project, and who had promised to the Garden Committee (of which the speaker is Chairman) a brief history of the Fells. The Committee were surprised at the beauty and variety of scenery in the Fells, and Mr. Barker endorsed all that the essayist had said in commendation of the project. If set apart as a park it would not take many years to produce timber enough to pay all expenses. We are apt to think it takes a longer time to get returns from tree planting than it really does. Mr. Barker spoke of a recent visit to the estate in Lynn planted by the late Hon. Richard S. Fay not a great many years ago; where the larch trees had to be thinned out, and a great number were sold to the telephone company for poles, and smaller cnes were sold for fuel. He was surprised at the returns made in so short a time. He also spoke of a visit to the estate of Major Ben: Perley Poore in West Newbury, by the Garden Committee, who could bear witness to what had been done in restoring a growth of wood to what was once a barren hill. The growth of wood gave evidence that land now unproductive can be made profitable by tree planting. A pond on the top of this hill, which was formerly dry, now always has water in it. In Lynn, where the speaker resides, they have a Forestry Society which was formed with the purpose of purchasing and holding on to natural forests; the society has now not far from a hundred acres, some of which has been donated to it, and in other cases the owners have met the Society generously. These things show that people are becoming aware of the importance of forest planting, and the speaker hoped this society would take part in the movement. In Pine Grove Cemetery, of which he is superintendent, there is a stratum of the best loam under rocks, and it is not much work to remove some of these and plant small trees. Near the cemetery there is a piece of ground producing birches, which if it had been planted fifteen years ago with larches would before now have paid an income over the taxes.

Hon. Marshall P. Wilder commended with all his heart every effort for the planting of forest or other trees. Mr. Strong's essay was a most able and instructive paper, and the speaker approved

of asking for government aid to forest planting. The thought that every farmer could have a little forest of his own, on land now useless, should be impressed on all. He knew a farmer who reserved a portion of his land, which grew up to trees that when of proper age were cut off, and now another growth is coming up. The Hon. William Foster owned a part of the Middlesex Fells, and the project of reserving it as a natural park was a favorite one with him.

H. Weld Fuller said that it is a matter of vital importance that we should have health preserved and homes fit for civilized human beings, and forestry strikes at the very root of the subject. All Europe is alive to the importance of forest planting; in Austria the forest area is increasing. Here, until recently, we have had too many trees, but we are now awakening to the importance of replacing some of those which have been cut off. There is no doubt that some of our waste lands can be made profitable by planting with trees; they are not like annual farm crops, which require continual care. He had himself planted trees which are now six

feet in circumference.

O. B. Hadwen, Chairman of the Committee on Publication and Discussion, said that while the committee had endeavored to give a horticultural phase to the programme of these meetings, he knew that the welfare of the State depended largely on the awakening of public interest in the subject discussed today. He had had an opportunity to learn the importance of forest planting, both from others and from his own experience. Forest fires have been a great hindrance to planting trees, especially in the vicinity of towns and cities. They are caused to a great extent by careless

boys and men. At present you cannot convict unless you can prove malicious intent, and he wanted the law so amended as to include negligence on the part of persons above twelve or fourteen years of age; and he would like a committee to look into the question whether taxation on forests should not be lessened if owned by persons who have little means of support. Taxes should come from other sources.

The most important forest tree is the White Pine, which is adapted to all soils-on hilltops and in valleys. It grows rapidly, especially with a little encouragement; where liberally treated he has seen a growth of four feet in a year. He would transplant seedlings from the nursery; wild pines are not worth a tenth part

as much. They must be judiciously pruned; it will not do to trim up a young tree too closely, but the limbs should be cut off six inches from the trunk. The stump will then die and can be knocked off the next year; and in this way you will get clear pine, worth from four to six times the value of that from knotty trees, where small limbs have been cut close. The Black Walnut, if pruned, will be of great value. The Chestnut grows well all over the State, and always makes good timber. The Larch is a very useful and rapidly growing tree; the speaker planted some for ornament, and twenty-six years after wanted twenty sticks, to square eight inches by ten and thirty feet long. He could not get them without resorting to his ornamental trees, and so he cut out alternate trees; some of which showed annual rings three-quarters of an inch in thickness. The larch holds its size well, and makes stiff timber which cannot be sprung. There are many other trees that will grow on waste land. Farmers say that tree planting does not pay, but they who plant will see their account in it, and they or their heirs will reap great benefit from it.

Francis H. Appleton said that the present laws in regard to forest fires refer only to malicious or wilful injury, and if the law were made to include fires set carelessly or negligently the judges could use their discretion in regard to young persons brought before them for that offence.

E. W. Wood thought that the statements of the essayist in regard to barren lands were perhaps true. Among the early settlers, the farmers had so much land that they could not cultivate it all. Within the last twenty-five years so much land has grown up to wood, that we have more wooded land now than we had before that time. Then the farmers got an income from old wood lots, but now the wood is largely a new growth. There is not one-fourth part as much wood used for fuel now as there was twenty-five years ago. Then there was not a ton of coal used in the native town of the speaker; now the fires are all of coal. The locomotives were all run with wood then. We are likely to have enough firewood to supply the demand, but not enough timber. Much of the land where it has been recommended to plant forest trees is adapted to apple trees; strong land on rough sidehills is the best in the world for them, and they will bear full crops in ten or twelve years, and bring in quicker returns than forest trees.

Mr. Brewer thought we might be in danger of losing sight of the

fact that the argument is not in favor of cherishing the wild growth, or of producing firewood, but of systematic planting of trees for timber.

C. L. Allen of Garden City, Long Island, said that a friend of his who has a farm on Long Island of two hundred and forty acres, one hundred and forty of which is rough land, unfit for agricultural purposes, thirty or forty years ago cut off all the wood except the chestnut from the latter portion and planted locust; and this is now the most profitable part of the farm. He goes to his wood to get money to pay his taxes; in fact the rough portion of the farm brings in more money annually than the arable land, without labor other than cutting and carting the timber, and without manure. The speaker has on his own farm fifty acres of white sand-as poor as any soil can be-where a former owner planted a portion to ailanthus trees, which are nearly as valuable as the locust, and which will make timber fit for mechanical uses in fifte en years from the time of planting, and yield a large revenue on the investment.

William H. Hills of Plaistow, N. H., said that he was a member of a committee to investigate the effect of forests on the rainfall and the tendency of removing them to produce drought in his State, and it was found that cutting off forests did not affect the rainfall, but did produce drought; the snow melting much more quickly, making the floods greater in the spring, and the rivers lower in summer. In regard to reforesting, if he were a young man, he would like no better speculation than growing and planting seedling forest trees. It is easily done. Nature is constantly doing it. He has planted Scotch Larch and Norway Spruce trees which are now two feet in diameter and are stocking up all his neighbors' pastures. Seedlings can be bought of nurserymen at an exceedingly low rate. One can also easily stock his land with oaks and nut-bearing trees. He has white birches which sprang up from seed as thickly as rye, and are now six feet high. The statutes thus far enacted in New Hampshire to prevent forest fires are of very little value; no one has ever been convicted under them. He lives near the line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and many people come over there from the latter State and either wilfully or neligently set fire to the forests, and it is difficult to detect them in the act, but hundreds of acres are burned over. The land is being stripped rapidly by portable saw mills,

and in a few years there will be little heavy timber left. He agreed with Mr. Wood that apple trees are more profitable on sidehills than forest trees, if the soil is suitable.

Professor L. H. Bailey, of the Michigan Agricultural College, said that there is more beauty in the Middlesex Fells than in thousands of acres laid out according to the rules of landscape gardening. People here do not appreciate their good fortune in having such a picturesque place near their own doors. In Michigan, where the land is all arable, less attention has been paid to forest planting than here, and it is almost impossible to make farmers believe in the necessity of preserving trees; but it will be only a few years before timber will be scarce, even there. The sources of rivers and creeks should be protected by preserving the trees and shrubs around them. The land around the Ohio river is flooded every year, and is now not lived on. Dunes and knolls should be planted with trees. The speaker looked to the Eastern States for examples of judicious and beneficial forest planting.

Edmund Hersey said that every one who is in love with Nature will be in love with the subject under discussion. What forests we have may be turned in that direction where they will be of the most value. The object should be, not to raise trees for firewood, but for timber or for ornament, and in both these directions we might make great progress. In cutting wood we often leave the poorest trees, and those of least value for timber, to seed our land; we should pursue the opposite course. We should never cut off all the trees, but should leave enough for seed. If our fathers and grandfathers had done this, we might be reaping the benefit now. Nature grows many trees that are not desirable. If an effort had been made two generations ago to encourage the growth of the chestnut, which is much more desirable than the birch, our woodlands would be much more valuable than they are now. Always save those trees which are most noted for their good qualities.

The subject of the most desirable varieties of fruit was here taken up, and Hon. Marshall P. Wilder spoke in continuation of his remarks on the preceding Saturday. There are many valuable old varieties not now cultivated, and so little known that they might be introduced as new and promising well. He had done well by holding on to a good many old varieties. Among cherries, the Windsor is a new and excellent variety-fully equal in tree