Box 22, Folder 8: Trees of Wisconsin 1859, 1867

Index. To Communication on Forest Trees of Wisconsin. [A-K].

12. Index. To Communication on Forest Trees of Wisconsin. [L-Z].

902 L312 Trans Ag. Soc. 1859.

Communications. 195.

it is then removed, placed in a dry cloth, and returned to the press. It should not remain in press longer than eight to ten hours, at any time without turning. Avoid a strong current of air, as cracking will be rendered more liable thereby; nevertheless, proper ventilation is rather important. A weight of 100 to 125 pounds is sufficient pressure, and twenty-four to thirty six hours are required to complete the operation. After being removed from the press, daily turning and rubbing with melted butter is necessary.

To Make Cream Cheese.

Take one quart of very rich cream, a little soured; put it into a linen cloth and tie as closely as you can; then hang it up to drain, for two days. Take it down and carefully turn it into a clean cloth, and repeat the draining. Now spread a clean linen cloth upon a deep soup plate, and place the contents thereon, and cover over with another cloth. Continue the process of turning the cheese, each day into a clean cloth and dish, until it ripens, which will be in ten to fourteen days, depending on the heat of the weather.

The Forest Trees Of Wisconsin. By I.A. Lapham.

That the great Forest, and the Forest Trees of our country, are worthy of much more attention, not only from the cultivator, but also from the artisan, and even the statesman, is evident to every one who bestows upon them a thought; and it is gratifying to every true and intelligent lover of his country, to know that the recent efforts made to direct public attention to their importance, to the importance of their preservation, and to the ne

196. Wisconsin Agriculture.

-cessity of providing for their restoration where they are already destroyed, have been, to a considerable degree, successful. We may hope to see the time when many of our farmers and land holders will deem it a part of their duty to plant trees. Should this be done to any considerable extent, their successors, at least, will have cause to honor and respect the forethought that preserved and handed down to them, their full share of this great source of national wealth.

The dense forests have a marked effect upon the climate of the country in several ways. They protect our houses and our cattle from the rigors of the north winds of winter, and from the fierceness of the burning sun in summer. They preserve the moisture of the ground, and of the air; and render permanent and uniform the flow of water in springs, brooks, and rivers. By the fall of their leaves, branches, and trunks, they restore to the soil those elements of vegetable life and growth, that would without this natural process, soon become exhausted, leaving the soil barren and unproductive. Their leaves absorb the carbonic acid from the atmosphere and restore to it the oxygen; thus rendering it more pure and better suited for respiration by man and animals. Without this restorative agency, all animal life would long since have ceased to exist.

The uses to which wood and other products of the forest are applied, are very numerous and various; but so well known to everybody that it would be useless to enumerate them here. With us, wood is consumed largely for fuel, for building houses and other structures, for ship building, fencing, furniture; and for the construction and repairs of Railroads and Plank roads. It is used for many implements of husbandry and of the household; for making barrels, wagons, carriages, and for charcoal. Large quantities are annually consumed in the smelting of iron, lead, and copper. The working of wood gives employment for numerous artisans, tradesmen, and laborers. The quantity of wood annually consumed in the United States must be enormous. Few persons can realize its extent, or the amount we owe to the native forests of our country for the capital and wealth our people are now enjoying. Without the fuel, the buildings,

197. Communications.

the fences, furniture, and thousand utensils, and machines of every kind, the principal materials for which are taken directly from the forests, we should be reduced to a condition of destitution and barbarism.

Trees, besides being useful, are ornamental-they enter largely into the material of the landscape gardener. Desolate indeed would be our dwellings were their environs entirely treeless. They are associated with our early recollections-they become in a great degree companions of our lives; and we unconsciously form strong attachments for such as grow near our homes-thus increasing our love of home, and improving our hearts.

It therefore becomes a duty to study these noble specimens of vegetable growth; we should know what trees we already have in Wisconsin, and what kinds it would be advisable to introduce. Every farmer at least should be familiar with the trees that grow in his woods; and know enough of botany and vegetable physiology to be able to preserve them from harm or injury. He should study to keep up a supply that shall always be equal to the demand-as the intelligent farmer strives to supply annually to the soil (by manures or otherwise), the exhausted elements, so he should provide for an annual growth of wood that shall be at least equal to the amount consumed.

We propose in the following pages to give so much of the botanical characters of the sixty trees indigenous to our State, as will enable any one by the aid of the illustrations to distinguish them with certainty; and also such general information in regard to their several uses, as will tend to call attention to the importance of the subject. A large volume would be required to contain all that could be desired in regard to these trees.

Though we have at present in almost every part of Wisconsin an abundant supply of wood for all our present purposes, the time is not far distant when, owing to the increase of population, and the increased demands from the neighboring States of Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota, a scarcity will begin to be felt. This scarcity may be considered as already begun in several of the counties along our southern border, where there was originally much prairie and open land. In these counties, the annual fires