The names of the species were printed plainly on neat board labels ten inches long by five inches broad. The nursery was kept free from weeds, and was watered each evening during a long drought which began about the first of September and continued till the Fair closed.
Thousands of people visited the nursery, attracted to it not only by the beauty of the small green trees arranged in such interesting manner, but also because of the instruction it afforded in the science of forestry. Foresters, botanists, seedsmen, and others interested in trees in a scientific or practical way, many of whom were from abroad, gave the nursery close scrutiny.
The forester in charge who prepared the nursery, Mr. A. Knechtel, B.S.F.E., of Albany, N. Y., was kept constantly busy answering the numerous questions not only concerning the exhibit, but also in regard to the important work being done by the Forestry Department in restoring the forests upon the denuded non-agricultural lands of the State.
In a corner of the nursery stood two interesting cross-sections of white pine and white spruce, twenty-three inches and sixteen inches in diameter respectively, each having forty annual rings plainly visible, showing that in forty years, under favorable conditions, trees of these species can be grown from seed to the given diameters.
FORESTRY TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS
Within the building were exhibited thirty-nine instruments and tools used in forestry practice, a collection of the seeds of eighty-four native forest trees of the State, and the photographs of eighty of our more important trees showing the same in leaf and in winter. In connection with each pair of photographs was a life size illustration of the bark of the tree, together with specimens of the leaf, flower and fruit.
INSECTS AFFECTING FOREST AND SHADE TREES
The exhibit of insects affecting forest and shade trees was prepared by E. P. Felt, D.Sc., New York State Entomologist, and was a small, though representative collection, designed to show the life, history and habits in particular of the more injurious forms of insects affecting shade and forest trees in New York State. A special effort was made to depict, so far as possible, the life, history, habits and methods of work of the forms possessing economic importance and to show whenever possible the natural enemies of value in keeping these species in control. This collection was arranged in a specially designed case having a series of three nearly horizontal trays thirty-seven and one-half inches by eighteen and one-half inches upon each side, and an elevated central portion bearing two nearly perpendicular ones upon each side, the middle being occupied by a glass case containing an attractive natural group. A brief account of the exhibit under appropriate heads is as follows:
Insect galls. This collection, occupying two nearly perpendicular trays and representing the work of fifty-three species, was devoted to the peculiar and varied vegetable deformities produced by insects. These structures are always of great popular interest, and the insects causing the same present biologic problems of unusual attractiveness.
Forest insects. The species affecting forest trees in particular were exhibited in three horizontal trays occupying one side of the case. This section was devoted principally to representing the biology and methods of work of this exceedingly important group.