I would respectfully report that the contract of R. Douglas & Sons for planting and cultivating the tree section at Farlington, Kansas, is now completed.

Below is the height of the trees and circumference of the stem near the ground.

The above is the general height, but there are spots of " gumbs " or alkali soil, where, apparently, the surface soil had been removed at some previous time, on which the trees make a stunted growth. Fortunately, there is very little of this in the land we have planted, so that there is not an acre planted by us that will fall short of the number of trees required to fill the contract, and probably not five acres on which there are not from twenty-five to twenty-six hundred. Our contract calls for two thousand to the acre. The forest is in a very healthy and thrifty condition, and in every way very promising for the future.

As forestry in this country is yet in its infancy, and nearly everyone who has given it but a passing thought has a theory of his own, and looks more to present appearances than to ultimate results, and as one or more of these theorists have recommended the pruning of these trees, I would here urgently caution the company so that they will not be led into this great mistake and very expensive experiment.

They were planted closely to avoid the necessity of pruning. The trees will prune each other, even the six-year-old trees are now twenty feet high and have their side branches already smothered and dead up to over one-half their height, so that it would be a great waste of time, if nothing worse, to prune them the first ten feet from the ground; and it must be apparent to any one that it would be very costly to prune them up the next ten feet, but in three more years the next ten feet will be pruned by the same process as the first. The living side branches are a great advantage to the trees, support the trunk, fill up and shade the spaces between the trees, shading out the weeds, and retaining the moisture. The branches already dead, and they are the only ones that could be removed without actual damage to the trees, would cost as much for pruning and removing as the full cost of furnishing the trees, planting and cultivating them till the pfesent time, viz., one and one-half cents per tree.

These dead branches will fall off gradually, so that when the trees are sixty feet high they will show a trunk of forty feet without a limb, and, as may be seen in the native forest, the branches will have decayed gradually and assisted in furnishing nutriment for the living trees.

These trees are making height so fast that, on measurement, we found leading shoots of this season's growth on three-year-old trees over 6 feet long, and on four-year-old 7 feet long, showing that they need all the living side branches to support the stem.

It is true that, to an ordinary observer looking in among these trees, the dead lower branches will have a ragged appearance, and aside from these there are misshapen and crooked trees, but even these are better left standing than if removed, as they afford shade for the trunks of adjoining trees.

There will always be "cull" trees in the nursery, and such trees, even with the best of pruning, will still be culls.

I would not be understood as offering the foregoing remarks as an apology; very far from it, as the plantation is a surprising success. This plantation is on a larger scale than any other in the country (unless it be the one nearly adjoining, that we have recently planted for Mr. H. H. Hunnewell); and I would urgently recommend that the trees be allowed to stand undisturbed - except to remove the branches that reach out into the forest roads - till the first planting is at least ten or twelve years old; but in the meantime if fence posts be required within that time, they can be thinned out as wanted, without damage to the plantation.

If trees are required for planting at any of the stations of the company's road, or for parks or other purposes, thousands can be taken out of the three-year-old trees, near the section house, without injury to the plantation, and they are of the very best size and condition for that purpose. I would suggest that if they are required for any such purpose, an experienced man should be employed to see to the proper digging and planting, as this would not only be the most successful but the most economical way that the work could be done. Waukegan, III.

[These are extracts from R. Douglas & Sons' Forestry Report to the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad Company, and are facts worth whole volumes of speculative treatises made up from European experiences. There is one point suggested by Mr. Douglas' report that yet requires exact figures to properly settle, namely, the most profitable distances to set forest trees. It is too wide a subject just here, and we mention it only that our readers may remember that it is something the future will be interested in. - Ed. G. M].