Publications of Professors at the University of Munich-Continued. Forestry associations thrive better in Germany than in the United States and are of a different character; they are associations of foresters, who practice what they preach. There is no more need of a propaganda for forestry than there would be here for agriculture, and the discussions, therefore, are moving in technical, scientific, and economic directions. Besides some thirty or forty larger and smaller local associations there is held every year a forestry congress, at which the leading foresters discuss important questions of the day. FOREST EXPERIMENT STATIONS. In addition to all these means of education and of advancement of forestry science, there has been developed in the last twenty years a new and most important factor in the shape of forest experiment stations, which are mostly connected with the forestry schools. If forestry had a strong and well-supported constituency before, this additional force has imparted new impulses in every direction. The first incentive for the establishment of these stations came from the recognition that the study of forest influences upon climate could be carried on only with the aid of long-continued observations at certain stations. Accordingly, during the years 1862 to 1867, forest meteorological stations were instituted in Bavaria, which, under the efficient direction of the well-known and eminent Dr. Ebermayer, for the first time attempted to solve these and other climatic questions on a scientific basis. The results of these and other observations have been fully discussed in Bulletin 7 of this division, published during this year. We were privileged to exhibit some of the apparatus devised by Dr. Ebermayer, and some of his results, namely: Set of soil thermometers, Rain gauge combined with evaporimeter, Two charts showing relation of rainfall and evaporation within and without forests. While these stations were continued and others added in all parts of the country, an enlargement of the programme was soon discussed with great vigor, leading (between the years 1870-'76) to the institution of fully organized experiment stations in Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, Wurtemberg, Baden; Switzerland and Austria following in the same direction; all of these finally combining into an "association of German forest experiment stations," similar to the association of agricultural experiment stations in our country. Thus the science of forestry, which hitherto had been developed empirically, has been placed upon the basis of exact scientific investigation, the fruit of which is just beginning to ripen in many branches. We, in the United States, are fortunate in that we can learn from the experience and profit from the assiduous work of these careful investigators. While we may never adopt the admirable administrative methods that fit the economic, social, and political conditions of Germany, we shall ever follow them where the recognition and utilization of natural laws lead to the practical acknowledgment of general principles and to desired economic results in forest culture. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 FIG. 4.-Tree classes: Classification according to crown development. Schematic (see p. 355). Class 1 (predominant): Nos. 1, 3, 6, 11, 16, 20; class 2 (codominant): Nos. 8, 13, 18; class 3 (subdomi nant): Nos. 9, 14, 17; class 4 (oppressed): Nos. 5, 7, 12; class 5 (suppressed, a): Nos. 2, 19; class 5 (suppressed, b): Nos. 4, 10, 15. REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GARDENS AND GROUNDS. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report for the year 1893 on matters pertaining to the objects and operations of this division. Very respectfully, Hon. J. STERLING MORTON, WILLIAM SAUNDERS, Secretary. WORK OF THE YEAR. The work of maintaining, with ordinary care, the structures and grounds of the Department has been duly performed. The propagation of various economic plants for distribution has been assiduously prosecuted, and many thousands of healthy young plants have been produced and sent into localities suited to their growth. The work of overhauling glass structures is continued, also of repairing woodwork, and reglazing roofs where defective. Much of this repairing remains to be done. NOTES ON MISCELLANEOUS PLANTS. The following notes on miscellaneous plants have been prepared for the information of correspondents, and in answer to repeated inquiries by different individuals on the same subjects. These inquiries are submitted to this division, and the answers are directly practical in their nature and applicable to all who desire suggestions for practical purposes. WILLOWS. The willow family is one of the most extensive among trees. Under this species, their general economic characteristics may be noted. A few species of special importance will be further mentioned. Willow timber is light, smooth, soft, extremely tough, and not easily splintered. It is used in shipbuilding, for making ball bats, floats of water wheels, and handles for various agricultural tools, for which its lightness renders it very well fitted. When sawn into boards it is well adapted for lining carts and wagons, as it stands great concussion and pressure without fracture. It is also used for brakes for wagons and railway carriages, as it does not readily ignite by friction. When kept dry it is lasting, roof rafters of the wood having remained sound for a century. Its charcoal is esteemed for the manufacture of powder, and for cray ons for sketching and drawing. The young shoots are used for plaiting. Willow bark has a feebly aromatic odor, and a peculiar bitter astringent taste. It yields its active properties to water, with which it forms a reddish-brown decoction which has been found beneficial as an external application to ulcers and old sores. An alkaloid called salicin has been obtained from it in the form of grayish crystals, and has been employed as a substitute for quinine in intermittent fever. The bark and leaves are used for tanning leather, and in Norway and Lapland green willow shoots and leaves are collected, dried, and stored for the use of cattle. In Egypt a medicinal water, called Calaf, is distilled from willow blossoms; it is used to promote perspiration, and is cooling and cordial. The white willow (Salix alba) is a native of Europe, from Norway to the Mediterranean Sea and Northern Asia. It is always very plentiful throughout various parts of the United States, having been long introduced. It grows to a height of 50 or 70 feet, and sometimes higher in favorable situations. The white willow is a very rapid-growing tree, and on this account is well adapted for forest planting as a shelter and "nurse" to hard-wooded, slow-growing, but more permanently valuable trees. Even on poor soils it will grow well where most other trees will make poor progress. It is sometimes called the Huntingdon willow. The common osier (Salix viminalis) is a slender branched tree, a native of Europe, where it is very extensively cultivated for basket-making. There are several varieties of this species, all of which yield tough and pliant shoots well fitted for weaving and making hoops; it is one of the best basket willows in this country. The red osier (Salix rubra), a native of Northern Europe, is highly esteemed for its tough shoots for basket work. When well grown the shoots are from 7 to 10 feet long, and of proportionate thickness; therefore it is much cultivated for the manufacture of crates, heavy baskets, and for barrel hoops. Salix purpurea is a species frequently employed in Great Britain for making fences, the shoots and leaves being so bitter that rabbits and other animals will not eat them. It is one of the most popular kinds for basket work, its shoot being long, clean, and pliable when grown for this purpose. In rich damp soils it will produce shoots 10 feet in length, but it is not well adapted to boggy lands which are constantly wet. It is sometimes called the whipcord or swallowtail willow. The species Salix triandra is of low growth and is considered one of the best for basket-making. Its rods are very white when peeled, and they can be split up very finely, so as to be used in the finer kinds of basket and wickerwork. Many of the willows which are esteemed in Europe for their pliant, smooth, and clean-splitting shoots are found not to be so well adapted to the warmer and drier climates of the United States. The young growths are frequently checked about midsummer and become partially ripened; then a rainy period follows, and the shoots branch out into many small side twigs which render them comparatively worthless for weaving purposes. This species (as also the preceding one) proves to be well adapted to our climates. It succeeds well on wet low lands; also in rich dry uplands. It ripens its shoots to the extreme points, and is therefore very hardy and not liable to be winterkilled in northern localities. The British species Salix forbyana is considered one of the best for the finer kind of willow manufacture. The stems grow erect, are slender, very flexible, and tough; they grow from 5 to 7 feet in length, and are covered with a grayish-yellow bark. The rods of this willow do not whiten well when peeled, but it is highly esteemed for purposes for which unpeeled rods are used. This willow adapts itself well to warm climates. The goat willow, or sallow (Salix caprea), is a native of Europe, where it is esteemed as a rapid-growing tree, and frequently attains a height of 40 or 50 feet. The wood is white, tough, and smooth in grain. The flowering branches are very ornamental, and are gathered in some places, as is palm, for the decoration of churches. Its hardness and rapid growth combine to make it of much value as a shelter tree for exposed situations; it is also esteemed above most willows for the amount and value of its timber. The Bedford willow (Salix russelliana) is a native of Great Britain, where it frequently reaches to a height of 70 or 80 feet. The wood produced by this species is said to be the most valuable of any of the willow family. The bark contains a large amount of tannin, and is said to yield a larger quantity of the principle, salicin, than any other of the species. It has a European reputation as a valuable basket willow, but it is branchy and somewhat brittle when grown in some parts of this country. In cultivating willows for the manufacture of the various articles called willow ware, it is generally presumed that they will succeed on wet lands where no other plant will grow. They survive in very wet places, but they can not be grown profitably on lands constantly saturated with water. Low meadows, where the soil is deep and moist, but where saturation is obviated by surface or underground drainage, are best adapted to willow culture. The ground should be prepared by plowing, harrowing, and replowing, in order to secure a deeply loosened stratum in which to easily insert the cuttings, which are usually made from shoots of the growth of the previous year; these are cut in lengths of from 10 to 12 inches and inserted in a slanting position and deep enough to be entirely covered with the soil. The usual method is to set the cuttings 2 or 3 feet apart, in rows which are 4 feet distant from each other, and allow the shoots to proceed from stools or stumpy stocks above the surface. The spaces between the plants are plowed so that the surface soil is kept loosened and clear of weedy vegetation until the stools occupy the whole surface, which they soon. will by the annual removal of the shoots, and then further culture is abandoned. Another method, which is considered preferable, is to set the cuttings 12 inches apart in rows which are 3 feet distant from each other; the cutting is pressed down so that the top bud will be at least one inch beneath the surface; in all subsequent removals of the young willows they are cut very closely down, at or even below the surface, so that no external stumps or stools are formed. Following this method the ground can be plowed annually after the crop is gathered, and the whole field afterwards well harrowed with a blunt-toothed harrow, so as to not tear or split the plants. By this culture the soil can be cleaned effectually at little cost, and the thorough culture will add to the vigor of the plants. Manure can also be readily applied, as the tops of the plants are so low that hauling wagons over the field does not injure them. It is further claimed that by this method the shoots grow straight upward from the ground. When grown from high stumps a small portion of the lower end of the willow rod is bent or crooked, which impairs its value to that extent. The crop can be harvested at any time after the leaves fall. Some |