ST. FRANCIS NURSERIES. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 Wholesale Price List 
 
 OF 
 
 NURSERY-GROWN 
 
 EUROPEAN LARCH, 
 
 EVERGREENS, 
 
 Fruit, Omamentul, Shade and Deciduous 
 
 TREE SEEDLINGS. 
 
 CULTIVATED AND FOR SALE BY 
 
 H. M. THOMPSON &SON, 
 
 ST. FRANCIS, MILWAUKEE CO., WISCONSIN. 
 
 For the Fall of 1877 and Spring of 1878. 
 
TO OUR PATRONS AND THE TRADE. 
 
 In presenting our Catalogue for the Fall of 1877 and Spring of 
 1878, we will state that the demand for Evergreens in past years has 
 been mostly for ornamental purposes, and the trade has been prin- 
 cipally confined to cities, towns and villages. The general financial 
 depression has to a large extent led to the stoppage or curtailing of 
 productions by the manufacturers, and has entirely thrown the 
 efficient labor of the country out of steady employment. The demand 
 for ornamental stock in a great measure but the stock on hand in 
 
 the various nurseries which had been planted for the purpose of sup- 
 plying the wants of the cities and villages, continued to grow. The 
 result of this state of affairs has left a large quantity of Evergreens on 
 hand, of so large a size as to be unprofitable to ship, and which must 
 now either be sold to land owners in the immediate vicinity of the 
 nurseries, at prices low enough to induce their planting for screens 
 and windbreaks, or, where the land is not too valuable, they may be 
 allowed to grow on the land they now occupy, for forest and adver- 
 tising purposes. 
 
 In view of the fact that there has been but very limited planting of 
 small sizes of Evergreens for some time past, to meet the usual demand 
 for this class of trees, which will be renewed as speedily as financial 
 affairs are adjusted and labor finds remunerative employment — a result 
 toward which the present good farm crops and fair prices will con- 
 tribute — and in view of the impetus now being given to the planting of 
 Evergreens and Larch, etc., for screens, windbreaks, plantations and 
 timber-belts, it becomes an important question if the nurserymen 
 throughout the country are preparing to meet the probable demand 
 for Evergreens for ornamental and other purposes, of such sizes as are 
 required by planters, and profitable to ship. 
 
 All our seedlings are handled with the le^ast possible exposure, and 
 the packing is done under the personal supervision of the proprietors, 
 who have had many years’ experience in growing Evergreens from 
 seed, and in packing to ship safely over long routes, when no extra- 
 ordinary detention occurs. And we would also call the attention of 
 those nurserymen who design importing Evergreen Seedlings, to the 
 fact that we have had costly experience in importing such stock, and 
 would represent that American nursery-grown Evergreen Seedlings are 
 more sure to live, making a better growth the first season, and in the 
 end give better satisfaction to the nurserymen and to tree-planters. 
 
 Our small sizes (6 inches or less) of seedlings we only recommend 
 to nurserymen, or to those parties who will bestow the same care and 
 attention in handling, planting and shading, as is given by experi- 
 enced gardeners. Our Seedlings, 6 inches and more in height, are safe 
 to plant in nursery row, and will at the end of twm or three years 
 make nice trees, suitable for forest plantation or ornament. Many of 
 our once transplanted Seedlings will make good ornamental trees, and 
 many of them may be at once planted where they are to permanently 
 remain. 
 

 
 
 
 2--’-\'}?'!'2?- ^..:'y. .•• •■'. 
 
 
 yirii.b.pLNfi 
 
 EVEEGEEEN SHELTEE-BELTS, AND OENAMENTAL HEDGES. 
 
«"Tr 
 
 V 
 
TERMS: 
 
 Orders for Seedlings and Seeds are subject to the following 
 
 CONDITIONS : 
 
 Cash or Bank reference to accompany orders from unknown cor- 
 respondents. Known established Nurserymen or Seedsmen’s orders, 
 subject to sight draft 30 days from date of shipment, unless special 
 agreements are otherwise made, 10 per cent, interest charged on all 
 accounts over due. 
 
 C. O. D. orders must be accompanied with cash to half the amount 
 of order. 
 
 5 per cent, discount from price list rates when cash to the full 
 amount accompanies the order. 
 
 Unknown parties ordering seedlings to be sent by freight, 
 may deposit the money to the full amount of the order, with the 
 nearest United States, American, Adams, or Wells & Fargo express 
 agent, the money to be forwarded on arrival of goods, taking the 
 express agent’s receipt therefor, and sending the receipt with the order. 
 
 Expresss charges on all money packages should be prepaid. 
 
 Remittances may be made by draft on New York. Philadelphia, 
 St. Louis, Chicago, or P. O. order on Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 
 small amounts at our risk by registered letter to our P. O. address. 
 
 All seedlings promptly handled, and packed with great care, for 
 which cost of labor and material will be charged. 
 
 No charge is made for delivering packages to any steamer’s dock, 
 R. R. depot or express office in the city of Milwaukee, or express at 
 St. Francis, or express or R. R. depot at Oak Creek, or Bay View 
 stations. 
 
 After delivery to P. O., R. R., steamer dock, or express, our 
 responsibility ceases. When losses occur through detention or neg 
 lect en route, claims should at once be made on the forwarders. 
 
 When plants are ordered to be sent by mail, 50 per cent, should be 
 added to price list rates, for postage and cost of packing. 
 
 Mistakes cheerfully corrected, if notified of the same within ten 
 days after receipt of plants. 
 
 Parties ordering seedlings should specify the route by which they 
 wish them sent, otherwise we shall ship by such route as we consider 
 best. Letters of inquiry or orders should have the P. O. address 
 (^R. R. Station, County and State) plainly written. 
 
 Fifty seedlings of any one sort at 100 rates, 500 do. at 1000 rates. 
 
 Facilities for shipping by mail, express, railroad and steamer, not 
 excelled by any point west of New York. 
 
 Nursery situated two milse south of Milwaukee city limits, and 
 one-third of a mile south of St. Francis station, on the Milwaukee and 
 Chicago division of the C. & N. W. R. R., which passes through 
 the nursery grounds. 
 
 Parties wishing to examine our stock can take the cars on Milwau- 
 kee division of C. & N. W. R. R., at passenger depot, foot of 
 Wisconsin St., or at the Elizabeth street platform on the South Side. 
 
 H. M. THOMPSON & SON, 
 
 St. Francis. Milwaukee Co., Wis. 
 
 Address Telegram Orders to “Thompson,” St. Francis, Milwaukee 
 Co., Wi.s., via Milwaukee. 
 
4 
 
 The Necessity for Forest Planting. 
 
 • 
 
 The necessity for more accurate and extensive information in regard 
 to the cultivation of trees, owing to the great destruction of native 
 timber to supply the increase of population and the ever growing 
 wants of men, have compelled mankind to devote considerable 
 attention to the subject during the last half century, and many 
 facts, interesting and profitable, especially to the farmer, have 
 been established as cardinal truths in the field of investigation. 
 It has been found that in those countries in which the cutting of tim- 
 ber has been left to the interest or caprice of the individual, the 
 destruction of the forests have been followed by such climatic changes 
 as in nearly all cases to make the country barren, and from this cause 
 uninhabitable, and the Governments of a number of European States 
 have, in view of this fact, established Bureaus of Forestry, and pro- 
 hibit the cutting of the trees except under its direction and by its 
 permission. The steppes of Central Asia, once the garden of the 
 world, covered by great forests, and producing support for the vast 
 hords of Aryans, the ancestors of all the Caucasian races has, since 
 the destruction of its trees, become a pathless and almost lifeless 
 waste, producing only the saksaval, a species of bramble. Although 
 this country is in the same latitude as Ohio and Illinois, yet Capt. 
 Burnaby, in his account of his ride to Khiva, in the winter of 1875-6, 
 describes the cold of the Kinghis Desert a thing unknown in the 
 Arctic region. The summers are very short, and the Russian expedi- 
 tion of ’73 suffered intensely from the heated glare of the atmoshpere, 
 and both the men and animals nearly perished from the want of water, 
 the thermometer often standing at upwards 130 degrees Fah. Egypt, 
 once the world’s granary, would now, was it not for the annual over- 
 flow of the Nile, be uninhabitable ; and that this is caused by the loss 
 of its forests is amply proved by the fact that those portions in which 
 the Khedive has begun the planting of trees, are being again visited 
 by rain after the lapse of unknown centuries. The plantation of the 
 Khedive already number over thirty millions of trees. Since the 
 opening of the Suez Canal and the planting of trees on its borders, 
 the adjacent country has improved in a wonderful manner in its fer- 
 tility. Palestine, described in the Bible as a land “ flowing with milk 
 and honey,” now produces less than the scattered population con- 
 sumes. Large portions of Italy, Southern France, and especially 
 Spain, which abounded with forests in former days, have since their 
 loss become untenable for ordinary agricultural purposes. 
 
 It is a proved fact tliat timber protection is absolutely necessary for 
 the successful growing of certain crops and fruits. In the time of 
 Napoleon the First, the woods at Piazzatore having been desolated, 
 maize, the principal crop, could, from the severe change in the 
 climate, no longer be produced, but upon the replanting of the trees, 
 its production was once more easy. Lands adjoining the western 
 shore of Lake Michigan, at an early period in the history of the 
 settlement of the country, produced an annual yield of from 25 to 35 
 bushels of wheat per acre. At this time, when only about one-tenth 
 
5 
 
 ol the original forests remain, winter wheat is a failure, being 
 winter-killed, and its cultivation hai; been abandoned. Spring wheat, 
 that could in early days be relied upon to give an annual yield of 22 
 to 25 bushels per acre, cannot be estimated now at more than from 
 
 10 'to 15. The same state of facts will be found to exist in 
 the Genesee Valley in New York, in Southern Michigan, and 
 in fact all wheat producing districts formerly covered with timber. 
 
 MOUNTAIN ASH. 
 
6 
 
 from which any statistics can be gathered. And though this 
 may in some part be ascribed to the e.Khaustiitg of the nec- 
 essary chemical constituents for the production of wheat by con- 
 stant cropping, yet the results which are found to follow when the 
 forests are again replanted, are such as to force the conclusion that it 
 is in great part, if not wholly, due to their destruction. 
 
 The peach, which was grown in all parts of Southern Michigan, is 
 now confined to a narrow belt along the eastern shore of Lake Mich- 
 igan, where it is protected by the never freezing waters of the lake 
 Portions of France, Italy, Belgium and Holland, which were rendered 
 barren by the cutting of the woods, have again been reclaimed to 
 agriculture by the restoring of the trees. Wherever a country has 
 been denuded of its timber, it is found that the summers are hotter 
 and much more dry, that the winters are colder and more severe, that 
 the changes from hot to cold and from cold to hot are much more 
 sudden, that frosts are more frequent, and that in every way the 
 climate is rendered excessive. It is from this reason that crops and 
 fruits that were once easy to raise, under the protection of the woods, 
 are found to be failures after their destruction. 
 
 I One of the first and soonest noticed results of the loss of timber is 
 the failing of springs and the shrinkage of streams. There is hardly 
 a locality in which any considerable portion of the trees have been 
 cut but what the decreased flow of water in the brooks and rivers is 
 fully apparent, and many of the large streams upon which large mills 
 at great expense have been erected, and upon which the farmers have 
 depended largely for their water, have become in many months of the 
 year totally dry. Such streams are also apt in the rainy months to 
 become torrents, and often work dire distress to those to whom in 
 former days they had proved but constant benefactors. Springs, also, 
 that for years have been never- failing, gradually cease to flow, often 
 causing great expense to farmers in the construction of wells and 
 cisterns. Countries deprived of the production of their forests are 
 visited by frequent and severe hail-storms, doing often times immense 
 damage to growing crops and fruits. Trees also exercise a great in- 
 fluence in the general humidity of the air, protecting by their their 
 shade the quick evaporation of moisture from the earth by the sun, 
 and also shield the soil from the effects of the winds, thus rendering 
 the benefits of rains of a much longer duration, and mitigating the 
 severity of droughts. In fact, the benefits of trees in acting as wind- 
 breaks cannot be overestimated. Dussan maintains that the 
 “Mistral,” the dreaded northwest wind of France, is the result of 
 the devastation of the forests, and that it can only be guarded by the 
 replanting of timber belts. The southwest winds that are frequent in 
 Wisconsin and Iowa, are a great cause of injury to the farmer, and 
 can be neutralized only in a like way. 
 
 Many portions of Wisconsin consist of a light, sandy soil, and 
 when this is denuded of its forests, and the spare undergrowth of 
 grass and small shrubs is exposed to the united influences ot the sun 
 and winds, it may be expected that the adjacent fertile lands will be 
 covered by driftings of light sand, such as will in time render them 
 
7 
 
 not fit for cultivation. In many places in England and Scotland, 
 where the timber has been cut, the sands have encroached on the 
 cultivated fields at the rate of over five miles in a century, and the 
 sites of towns once teeming with busy life, are now but heaps of ever 
 moving sands. That the country in which is situated the Pyramids 
 and the Sphynx was once fertile is known, and Babylon and Palmyra 
 
 WHITE SPRUCE. (ABIES AMERICANA ALBA.) 
 
 are but further examples of what sand may do when released from the 
 useful bondage of the woods. The influence of the trees on the snow 
 is also to be considered. In such places as are not protected by 
 forests of tree-belts, the snow is blown into drifts, leaving the crops 
 unprotected in many places, and the loss of the snow’s protection 
 
8 
 
 during our severe winters is without doubt the principal reason why 
 we are no longer able to raise winter wheat. It is only since the 
 felling of the forests in Asia Minor and Cyrene that the locust has 
 become so fearfully destructive in those countries, and the grasshop- 
 per that threaten to become so great a pest to the agriculture of many of 
 our States, breeds in injurious number only where a wide extent of 
 country is bare of woods, such as the dry, treeless plains of Colorado 
 and Western Kansas, which admit of the full heat of the sun to 
 hasten the hatching of the eggs, which gather no moisture to destroy 
 them, and which harbor no birds to feed upon the larvae. The ad- 
 vantage of trees or plantations of timber in furnishing habitation for 
 birds has been estimated much too low, and at this date, when we are 
 year by year introduced to new insects that prey upon our crops, we 
 cannot do too much to serve the birds, our constant friends. It is 
 also a fact that the chinch bug is not able to traverse a tree-belt of the 
 usual width of planting, the cold, damp soil presenting to them an 
 impassible barrier. If this be true that the destruction of the forests 
 makes the temperature more uneven, the summers more hot and dry, 
 the winters more severe ; that it exposes our crops to the dis- 
 tressful action of the southwest and the northwest winds ; decreases 
 the amount of rainfall ; and dries up our springs and seriously dimin- 
 ishes the flow of our brooks and rivers, going as dry watercourses to- 
 day and raging torrents to-morrow ; if it renders our fertile acres 
 liable to be covered by the constantly drifting sands ; deprives our 
 fields bf the most useful protection of the snow, leaving them open to 
 the rapidly increasing number of crop-destroying insects; that many 
 crops easily raised under the shadow of the woods are no longer 
 profitable, it is quite time that every prudent agriculturist should turn 
 his attention to the subject of tree culture, that he may realize not 
 only the immediate profitable returns in the way of increase of pro- 
 duction, but also defend his fields from the more remote results that 
 have rendered countries quite as fertile as ours, barren wastes, untilla- 
 ble and uninhabited. 
 
 It is estimated that to meet so largely increased needs of the people 
 in the way of timber, that not less than twenty per cent, of our lands 
 must be kept in forests, and as we are each day learning to live more 
 rapidly, this amount will soon be found too small. Lands in Scotland 
 and England, and in nearly all parts of Continental Europe, are now 
 being or have already been planted with the Larch, Pine, and other 
 hardy trees, and in such broken and hilly countries such plantations 
 may prove sufficient. But in our level and flat Western States, the 
 importance of tree-belts cannot be too strongly urged upon the atten- 
 tion of our farmers. Of really waste and non-producing land we have 
 fortunately very little, and our farmers will but slowly give up their 
 annually producing acres in large masses to the much slower, though 
 quite as profitable, crops of timber. But the necessity of shade-tree 
 planting is so pressing that tree-belts around and across the farms are 
 rapidly being pushed, and the testimony of such farmers as have an- 
 
9 
 
 ticipated the need is of such a highly encouraging nature that inform- 
 ation as to the methods and the kind of trees best adapted for such 
 planting is eagerly sought for. 
 
 It has been found that belts of from seven to eight rods in width 
 are, all things taken together, the best. These belts should be planted 
 on the outside with some evergreen, whose roots strike deep into the 
 ground and do not spread near the surface, and whose leaves and 
 branches will afford protection from the winter winds. In the centre 
 can be placed the deciduous trees. If, however, the farmer wishes 
 first to e.xperiment and should think belts of this width entail too 
 much cost and labor, belts of two or three rows will be found to make 
 remunerative returns, and even one row planted, say not more than 
 six feet apart, will give rich returns in increase of crops and add very 
 much to the attractions of the estate. The trees for planting should 
 be those best adapted to the soil and situation, and will vary much 
 with different localities. There are, however, certain trees such as 
 the Larch, Scotch and Pitch Pine, that are so well adapted to dry 
 soils, rich or poor, and the Norway Spruce, Scotch, Austrian, and 
 White Pines, American Arbor Vitae and White Ash, which are the 
 best for moist, rich soils, and which so fully meet the wan ts of the 
 farmer that they should always form a large portion of his planting. 
 Belts composed of Scotch Pine, Norway Spruce, White Ash and Euro- 
 pean Larch, planted from the outside of the belt in the order named, 
 have been found to meet in almost every particular the need for 
 which they are planted, and to afford the farmer every protection in 
 the way of timber that he can want. 
 
 The value of such timber-belt is felt very early, and cuttings for 
 stakes, hoop poles, bean poles, fuel, &c., begin much more early than 
 may be thought ; while the after-products of hop poles, telegraph 
 poles, railroad ties, lumber for general use, follow year by year and 
 are a constant annual source of profit. The advantages to the crops 
 are felt almost immediately, and the return in this way very soon pays 
 for all expenditures. “Judge E. C. Whiting, of Monroe Co., Iowa, 
 who has had as much experience in forestry and especially in plant- 
 ing tree belts, as any other man in the State, assures us that the in- 
 crease in his crops consequent upon the use of shelter-belts has paid, 
 and will fully pay all expenses for the culture of the trees.”* In con- 
 clusion, it may be said that while the planting of shelter belts of trees 
 has become a wide-felt necessity, yet such plantation are not like 
 fences and many other forced improvements, a constant source of 
 expense to the farmer, but are themselves of the greatest advantage 
 and profit, and the increased value of a farm which has a well-planted 
 and well-situated woodland is such as will many times cover the 
 value of all expense in planting. 
 
 * Trans. la. St. Hortl. Scty., 1876. 
 
lO 
 
 European Larch. 
 
 The European Larch belongs to a class of timber that exhibit in its 
 tall, straight form, glossy velvet green foliage, and the desirability 
 and utility of its wood, that combination of stately beauty, grace and 
 usefulness, known to but few if any other kind of forest tree. As the 
 qualities of the Larch become known, it is being adopted as one of 
 the mo^t desirable trees for forest -planting. 
 
 In Europe, the Larch has been demonstrated to be one of the most 
 
 profitable to plant of all forest trees, owing to the special purposes to 
 which the wood is adapted, and the ease with which it can be prop- 
 agated in large quantities, and the rapidity with which it can be 
 grown, and the poor soils upon which it will flourish. 
 
 By reference to the table it will be seen that the wood of the Larch, 
 as compared with the White Oak as to strength, is as 9 to ii, and 
 as to toughness, is as 55 to 61 ; and the weight per cubic foot of 
 Larch is 31 pounds, and that of White Oak is 42 pounds. It is 
 
 EUROPEAN LARCH. 
 
1 1 
 
 readily seen that a wood so light, and at the same time so strong and 
 tough, combined with its durability, must make a most valuable kind 
 of timber for the uses to which it is adapted. When dry, the tenaci- 
 ty of the wood to hold nails is so great it is nearly impossible to ex- 
 tract them, the nails usually breaking before the wood will yield. 
 
 The durability of the wood of the Larch for many purposes is much 
 greater than that of any kind of Pine, Fir or Spruce. Instances of 
 the preservation of the wood of the Larch have been recorded, in 
 which it is stated that logs of wood imbedded in peat to the depth of 
 twelve to fifteen feet have been found to be sound and were sawed 
 into boards. It is stated that the foundations of many of the build- 
 ings in Venice are upon Larch piles, and that after the lapse of cen- 
 
 DWARF ARBORVrr.ti. 
 
 turies the timber is found to be comparatively sound. Experiments 
 to test the durability of the Larch, made at the request of the Duke 
 Athol, show that Oak and Larch piles- diiven down by the side of a 
 sea wall, and subjected to the alternations of wet and dry by the rise 
 and fall of the tide; the Oak piles were twice replaced, and the wood of 
 the Larch piles remained sound. According to Kasthoffer, as stated 
 by Louden, “ the wood of the Larch lasts four times longer than that 
 of Oak.” 
 
 In speaking of the durability of wood, it may be well here to re- 
 member the general fact that the durability of all kinds of wood, 
 when subjected to the alternations of wet and dry, depends on the 
 proportions of heart- wood to sap-wood, and that young timber, mak- 
 
12 
 
 ing a rapid growth, contains more sap-wood in proportion to heart- 
 wood than old, large timber, and hence, in estimating the durability 
 of different kinds of wood, or of the same kind of wood grown in 
 different soils and localities, and under different conditions of culti- 
 vation, regard must be paid to the age of the timber. The durability 
 of the Larch is subject in these respects to the same conditions as ap- 
 ply to the wood of other kinds of trees. 
 
 The sap of the Larch tree being resinous, the durability of the wood 
 is increased by stripping off the bark, and seasoning before subjecting 
 the wood to the conditions of wet and dry. This fact is worthy of 
 special attention when the wood is intended for stakes, hop-poles, 
 telegraph-poles, and fence-posts, the timber for these purposes being 
 usually made from young trees, which contain a large proporfion of 
 sap wood, and is subject to earlier decay if the proper conditions of 
 the preparation of the wood before using are not complied with. 
 
 The growth of the Larch is rapid in all.dry soils, but the rapidity 
 of growth is dependent upon the quality of soil, system of plant- 
 ing, culture, climatic conditions and the system adopted in making 
 the’thinnings necessary to insure a healthful growth and profitable 
 returns, whether the plantations be made in the form of groups or 
 belts. The first year’s growth of the Larch from seed planted in seed- 
 beds varies from two to six inches. At the end of the second year the 
 seedlings in the seed-bed usually attain the height of six to eighteen 
 inches. At the age of two years the seedlings are usually removed from 
 the seed-beds and transplanted into nursery-row, or into permanent 
 plantations. The growth of the trees for one or two seasons after trans- 
 planting is mainly confined to the development and extension of the 
 side branches and roots; after the second season’s growth from the 
 time of transplanting— the trees being now well established— the 
 growth of the trees is very rapid, the upward extension of growth 
 ranging from eigtheen to thirty-six inches a year, for a period of 
 thirty or forty years ; after this time until the tree attains the age of 
 seventy years, the growth is slower, and the accumulation of heart- 
 wood is in larger proportion to the white or sap-wood, than during 
 the first thirty to forty years of growth, at which period of time it is 
 estimated the growth of the Larch has arrived at the maximum of 
 profit for ordinary use, although the growth of the wood does not at- 
 tain the maximum until the trees attain the age of seventy years. 
 The life of the Larch, as stated by Louden, “ in the natural forest, is 
 150 to 200 years.” 
 
 Reference as to the rate of growth of the Larch in Western soils is 
 made to the following data, as stated by the planters of the trees: 
 
 D C. Schofield, of Elgin, 111., “has a plantation of 50,000 trees 
 composed of twenty-five kinds, including the European Larch, nine- 
 teen years planted. The height of the Larch tree is 35 to 40^ feet ; 
 the diameter three feet from the ground is 8 to 14 inches. These 
 trees were planted in dry, rich, prairie soil, underlaid with gravel at 
 the depth of 6 to 8 feet, and have had the best cultivation.” 
 
> 
 
/ 
 
 14 
 
 A. R. Whitney, of Franklin Grove, Lee Co., 111 ., planted Larch 
 seventeen years ago, which have attained the height of 6o feet, and 
 have a diameter of i8 inches. 
 
 Suel Foster, of Mustcatine, Iowa, planted Larch trees nine years 
 ago which now average i8 feet in height, and an average diameter of 
 5 inches three feet from the ground. Soil, clay. Mr. Foster says that 
 in his plantation “the trees were too closely planted ” to attain the 
 most rapid growth. 
 
 Laurie Tatum, of Springdale, Iowa, reports the growth of his Larch, 
 six years planted, average height 19 feet, average diameter three feet 
 from the ground, 3^ inches. 
 
 S. Edwards, of La Moile, Illinois, reports the growth of Larch 
 20 years planted, average height, 50 feet ; average diameter three 
 feet from the ground, 10 inches. 
 
 The statistics of the growth of European Larch in Europe and 
 Massachusetts, where the plantings have been made in lands so broken, 
 rugged and rocky, or in sterile, sandy soils, as to be entirely unfit for 
 ordinary agricultural purposes, show the average annual growth to he 
 ^ inch in diameter, and an upward growth averaging from 18 to 24 
 inches per annum for a series of 20 to 40 years. According to Lou- 
 den the rate of growth in the climate of London is 20 to 25 feet in 
 ten years. In medium to rich soil, in the Western States, the average 
 annual rate of growth in diameter is from inch to 1 inch, and an 
 upright growth of 21 to 36 inches per annum, for a series of 9 to 20 
 years. 
 
 The experiments of Forest Tree planting made by the Messrs. Fay 
 of Massachusetts, showing the rapid growth of the Larch planted in 
 sterile soil, as stated by Prof. Sargent in his Suggestions on Tree 
 Planting, is worthy of attention. Prof. Sargent says: 
 
 “But few experiments in arborioculture except on the most limited scale, have 
 been attempted in Massachusetts, but I will describe the two most important which 
 are of special interest, as sliowing what our unimproved lands are capable of, if 
 judiciously managed. 
 
 Mr. Richard S. Fay commenced, in 1846, planting on his estate near Lynn, in 
 Essex County, and in that and the two succeeding years planted two hundred thou- 
 sand imported trees, to which were afterwards added nearly as many more directly 
 from seed, nearly two hundred acres being covered in all. The sites of these plan- 
 tations were stony hillsides, fully exposed to the wiad, destitute of loam, their only 
 covering a few struggling berberry bushes and jumpers, with an abundant under- 
 growth of wood-wax (Genista tinctoria L), always a certain indication in Essex 
 County of sterile soil. He employed in his plantations. Oaks, Ashes, Maples, Nor- 
 way Spruce, Scotch and Austrian Pines ; but the principal tree planted was Euro- 
 pean Larch. No labor was expended on the land previous to planting the trees, 
 about one foot high, being simply insertod with a spade, and no protection has at 
 any time been given them, save against fire, and browsing animals. I recently 
 visited these plantations, twenty-nine years after their formation, and took occasion 
 to measure several of the trees, but more especially the Larches. Some of these 
 are now over fifty feet in height, and fifteen inches in diameter three feet from the 
 ground, and the average of many of the trees examined is over forty feet in height 
 and twelve inches in diameter. The broad-leaved trees have also made a most 
 satisfactory growth, and many of them, on the margins of the plantation, are fully 
 forty feet high. During the past ten years about seven hundred cords of fire-wood 
 have been cut from the plantations, besides all the fencing for a large estate. Fire- 
 
IS 
 
 wood, fence-posts and railroad sleepers, to the value of thousands of dollars, could 
 be cut to-day, to the great advantage of the remaining trees. The profit of such an 
 operation is apparent, especially when we consider that the land used for these plan- 
 tations did not cost more than ten dollars an acre, and probably not half that 
 amount.” 
 
 SIBERIAN ARBORVIT^E. 
 
 “The second experiment was made by Mr. J. S. Fay, a brother of Mr. Fay of 
 Essex County, on his estate at Wood’s Holl, in Barnstable County, on the extreme 
 southwestern point of Cape Cod. A tract of lancJ one hundred and twenty-five 
 acres in extent, which is now densely covered with Mr. Fay’s plantations, was in 
 1853, seemingly as little fitted for the purpose of tree culture as can well be imag- 
 ined. It was fully exposed to the cold northwest winds of winter sweeping across 
 Buzzard’s Bay, and to no less baneful southwest winds of summer, which came from 
 the Atlantic loaded with saline moisture.” 
 
i6 
 
 In answer to an inquiry as to the nature of the soil on which his plantations are 
 made, Mr. Fay writes me: “ My land is made up mainly of abrupt hills and deep 
 hollows, sprinkled over with bowlders of granite. The soil is dry and worn out, 
 and what there is of it is a gravelly loam. The larger part consisted ot old pastures, 
 and on the one hundred and twenty-five acres, not a tree of any kind, unless an oak 
 that sprang out of the huckelberry bushes here and there, barely lifting its head above 
 them for the wind, and when attempting to grow, browsed down by the cattle rang- 
 ing in the winter, could be called a tree.” 
 
 Thirty-five thousand trees were imported and set out, besides a large number of 
 native trees procured in this country ; but fully three fourths of the whole plantation 
 was made by sowing the seed.directly onuthe ground where the trees were to stand. 
 A large variety of trees, both native ancWoreign, and while few have failed entirely, 
 the foreign species, as was to be expected from the situation, have been the most 
 successful. The Scotch Pine has made the most rapid growth, and then European 
 Larch.” * * * * 
 
 The statement of Emerson in his ” Forest Trees of Massachusetts,” 
 as to the experiments of the Dukes of Athol, in planting European 
 Larch, is so curious and interesting that we note it in his own words, 
 and at some length. 
 
 “ The estates of the Dukes of Athol are in the north of Scotland, and in the lat- 
 itude of nearly 57 degrees north. Between 1740 and I750» James, Duke of Athol, 
 planted more than twelve hundred Larch trees, in various situations, for the purpose 
 of trying a species of tree then new in Scotland. In 1759 planted seven hun- 
 dred Larches over a space of twenty-nine Scotch acres, intermixed with other kinds 
 of forest trees, with the view of trying the value of the Larch as a forest tree. 
 This plantation extended up the face of a hill from two hundred to four hundred 
 feet above the level of the sea. The rocky ground of which it was composed was 
 covered with loose and crumbling masses of mica slate, and was not worth over 
 a year all together. Before he died, in 1764, he was satisfied of the superiority of 
 the Larches as timber, over the other Firs, even in trees of only eighteen or nineteen 
 years old. His successor, John, Duke of Athol, first conceived the idea of planting 
 the Larch by itself as a forest tree, and of planting the sides of the hills about 
 Dunkeld. He planted three acres with Larch alone, at an elevation of five or six 
 hundred feet above the level of the sea, on soil not worth a shilling an acre. He 
 also planted four hundred acres on the sides of the hills before his death, in i774- 
 His son John, continuing the extension of his father’s plans, had planted in 1783, 
 two hundred and seventy-nine thousand trees. 
 
 Observing the rapid growth and hardy nature of the Larch, he determined to 
 cover with it the steep acclivities of mountains of greater altitude than any that had 
 yet been tried. He therefore enclosed a space of twenty*^nine acres, ‘on the rugged 
 summit of Craig-ybarns, and planted a strip entirely with Larches, among the 
 crevices and hollows of the rocks, where the least soil could be found. At this 
 elevation none of the larger kinds of plants grew, so that the grounds required no 
 previous preparation of clearing.’ This plantation wap formed in 17^5 1786. 
 
 Between that year and 1791, he planted six hundred and eighty acres with five 
 hundred thousand Larches, the greater part only sprinkled over the surface, on 
 account of the difficulty of procuring a sufficient number of plants. Besides a planta- 
 tion of seventy acres for the purpose of embellishment, he had, in 1799, extend- 
 ed his plantations of Larches over an additional space of eight hundred acres, six 
 hundred of which were planted entirely, though thinly, with Larch. These took 
 eight hundred thousand plants. 
 
 “Observing with satisfaction and admiration the luxuriant growth of the Larch in 
 all situations, and its hardihood even in the most exposed regions, theA^ake resolved 
 on pushing entire Larch plantations still further to the summit of the highest hills. 
 
 He therefore determined tos cover with Larch, sixteen hundred Scotch acres, 
 ‘ situated from nine to twelve hundred feet above the level of the sea. Its soil, 
 presenting the most barren aspect, was strewn over thickly with fragments of rock, 
 
17 
 
 and vegetation of any kind scarcely existed upon it.’ ‘ To endeavor to grow ship 
 timber/ writes the Duke, ‘ among rocks and fragments of schist such as I have de- 
 scribed, would have appeared to a stranger extreme folly, and money thrown 
 away; but in the year 1800 I had for more than twenty-five years so watched and 
 admired the hardihood and the strong vegetative powers of the Larch, in many sit- 
 uations as barren and rugged as any part of this range, though not so elevated, as 
 quite satisfied me that I ought, having so fair an opportunity, to seize it.’ 
 
 These, with four hundred acres more, occupied from 1800 to 1815- ‘ Having now 
 
 no doubt whatever of the successful growth of the Larch in very elevated situations, 
 the Duke still further pursued his object of covering all his mountainous regions 
 with that valuable wood. Accordingly, a space to the northward of the one last 
 
 WEEPING MOUNTAIN ASH. 
 
 described, containing two thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine Scotch acres, was 
 immediately inclosed and planted entirely with Larch. This tract, lying generally 
 above the region of broom, furze, juniper, and long heath, required no artificial clear- 
 ing. An improved mode of planting was employed here, and that of using young 
 plants only, two or th^ee years’ seedlings put in the ground by means of an instru- 
 ment invented by the Duke, instead of the common spade.’ In 1824, the growth of 
 the Larch in this last tract, called ‘ Loch Ordie Forest,’ having greatly exceeded 
 the sanguine hopes and expectations of the Duke, he determiiied on adding to it an 
 extensive adjoining tract, consisting of two thousand two hundred and thirty-one 
 
i8 
 
 Scotch acres, denominated Loch Horshnic. The preparations of fencing, clearing 
 (where that was necessary), making roads and procuring plants from different 
 nurserymen occupied the time till October, when the planting was commenced and 
 carried on in such good earnest that the whole was finished by December, 1826. 
 
 The planting of this forest appears to have terminated the labors of the Duke in 
 planting. He and his predecessors had planted more than fourteen millions Larch 
 plants, occupying more than ten thousand English acres. It has been estimated 
 that the whole forest on mountain ground, planted entirely with Larch, about six 
 thousand five hundred Scotch acres will, in seventy-two years from the time of 
 planting, be a forest of timber fit for building the largest .ships. Before being cut 
 for this purpose, it will have been thinned to about four hundred trees to the acre. 
 Supposing each tree to yield fifty cubic feet of timber, its value, at one shilling a 
 foot (one half its present value) will give ;^i,ooo an acre, or in all the sum of 
 ;f6, 500,000 sterling. Besides this there will have been the value of the thinnings, 
 and the increased value of the whole ground for pasturage.” 
 
 Before referring to the most important uses of the wood of the Larch, 
 it may be of value to observe, that in view of the enormous consump- 
 tion of Hemlock bark, by the leather manufacturers in this country, 
 and the wanton destruction of young trees by the farmers who are 
 clearing lands for agricultural purposes, and who consider the wood 
 of the Hemlock of no present or prospective value, may result in 
 causing a demand for other vegetable substances to be used as a sub- 
 stitute for tanning purposes. One of the vegetable productions 
 which may be required as a substitute for Hemlock bark, is the bark 
 and twigs of the Larch, which, according to Louden, contain tannin, 
 and is used in Europe in the process of manufacturing leather. 
 
 The same authority also says, “ Venice turpentine is produced from 
 the sap, and Manna de Brancon is a product of the young twigs and 
 flowers of the Larch,” and that although “ the wood for fuel ignites 
 with difficulty, but when dry, if properly managed, the wood of old 
 trees produces intense heat, and that the charcoal weighs i6}4 pounds 
 per cubic foot.” 
 
 The principal uses of the wood of the Larch, as stated by various 
 authorities, is for grape stakes, bean poles, hop and telegraph poles, 
 ship knfees,' beams and top timbers, all kinds of dimension timber, 
 fence posts and railway ties. 
 
 On account of the tenacity of the fibres of the wood of the Larch, 
 and its power of resistance to the weight of passing trains, and its 
 durability, the wood of the European Larch is preferred in Europe 
 to all other wood when it can be procured, and such has been the 
 extiaordinary demand for Larch ties, for use in the construction and 
 repairs of railways in Europe and India, that the supply of Larch has 
 not been equal to the demand, and Scotch Pine has been substituted 
 to supply the deficiency. 
 
 The wood of the White Oak, when it can be procured, is used for ties 
 in this country in preference to any other kind of native timber. It is 
 a question as to the length of time the native forest will continue to 
 yield a supply of White Oak. When the facts of the yearly devasta- 
 tion of the forests by means of fire, the destructive agency of the 
 uncaring for future generations, the Anglo-Saxon race, and the con- 
 sumption by the various industries, in their constant demands, keep- 
 
'9 
 
 ing pace with the increase of population, upon the natural forest 
 supply, are significant facts, which when collated and published will 
 no doubt fully justify the supposition that, considering the losses, the 
 demand, the supply and the distribution of the forests, and the avail- 
 ability for general use, that the available supply of White Oak must 
 become exhausted at no distant period, and that as the White Oak is 
 
 MOUNTAIN PINE (PINUS MONTANA). 
 
 a tree of slow growth, and can not be now plantedjand grown in time 
 to replace the exhaustion of the available natural forest supply, it is 
 evident that in this country as in Europe, resort must be had” to the 
 wood of the European Larch. There can be no question, therefore, 
 that if Larch plantations be made now, that there will be a profitable 
 demand for their products long before the timber will have grown to 
 be of sufficient size for railway ties and other uses. 
 
20 
 
 The consuvnption of wood for’ railway ties alone is by no means 
 inconsiderable. The total number of miles of railways in the United 
 States, exclusive of switches and side tracks, as stated in Pool’s Table, 
 in the Wisconsin Railroad Commissioner’s Report, 1875, ^^te 72,623 
 miles, and taking the estimate of Mr. D. J. Whittemore, Chief Engineer 
 of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, that the number of ties, 
 facing six to eight inches, required per mile is 3,000, and the average 
 durability of ties to be seven years, it would require an aggregate of 
 217,869,000 ties once in seven years to supply the railways in opera- 
 tion at the date of the Railroad Commissioner’s Report, or an average 
 
 annual consumption of 31,124,142. 
 
 In estimating the area of land necessary to be planted to Larch 
 trees, to meet the requirements of railways in operation in i 875 > 
 ties, it is assumed that 3,000 plants per acre are needed to make the 
 planting, and that a series of systematic thinnings of the trees is 
 adopted, for stakes, hop poles, fence posts telegraph poles and fuel, 
 reduces the number of trees to 800 per acre, and the expiration of 35 
 years from the date of planting, and that 400 of these trees can be cut 
 for ties without detriment to the remaining trees— which may be left 
 to grow for piles, dimension timbers and ship building— and estimat- 
 ing the trees which are to cut for ties, to average two ties per tree, it 
 would require a series of seven years’ planting of 272,336;^; acres, 
 or without allowances for casualties, an aggregate planting of 
 1,906,353 acres in a period of 35 years. 
 
 The number of posts required to fence the railways and the im- 
 proved farms, supposing the latter are subdivided into farms of forty 
 acres — offsetting the posts used for fencing city and village lots against 
 the hedge and stone fences, and improved lands not fenced — and the 
 poles for telegraph lines and hop yards in the United States, based, 
 upon the census returns of 1870, and the estimates of Chas. H. Has 
 kins. General Superintendent Northwestern Telegraph Company, and 
 hop dealers, may be seen at a glance, by referring to the following 
 table : 
 
 Railways, No. of Ties 217,869,000 at 80.50 Value, 8108,934,500 00 
 
 II “ Posts 87,728,540 at 20 “ 17,545,708 00 
 
 Farms, “ “ 3°>227.37i.36o at 20 “ 6,045,474,272 00 
 
 Telegraph Lines, No. of Poles,.. 2,725,000 at 1.50 “ 5,087,500 00 
 
 Hop Yards, “ “ •. 6,400,000 at 25 “ 1,600,00000 
 
 If the life of the ties is seven years, and the posts and the polp 
 i6 years, the yearly consumption of wood for the uses specified in 
 the table amounts to 8379,556,71 7-5°- The foregoing estimate does 
 not include the total consumption of wood for other purposes to 
 which the wood of the Larch is suited, but enough facts are shown 
 upon which to base estimates to show that plantations of the Larch, 
 if made now, will prove much more remunerative for a series of years 
 than ordinary farm crops. 
 
 If the thinnings of a Larch plantation be commenced at seven to 
 ten years from the date of planting, and are continued in a systematic 
 manner for thirty-five years, and the number of trees are reduced to 
 800 per acre, there can be no question but what the yield of wood 
 
/ 
 
 f 
 
 2 I 
 
 for use as stakes, hop poles, fence posts, telegraph posts and fuel, will 
 reimburse the cost of plants, planting, culture, care, taxes and inter- 
 est upon the investment, the remaining trees would represent the 
 remote net profit, allowing for casualties. 
 
 The more immediate profit of such an investment would be repre- 
 sented in the advantage of having timber at hand on which drafts 
 
 AMERICAN WHITE ELM. 
 
 could be maile to meet the emergency of the unforeseen wants of the 
 farm'er and the community, the enhanced value of the udiole estate 
 in consequence of a portion of the estate being forest, the en- 
 hanced value of the estate owing to its more attractive appearance. 
 
22 
 
 aside from the intrinsic value of the plantation or timber-belt. The 
 increased fertility of the soil consequent upon the action of the roots 
 of the trees, in permeating and disintegrating the soil, and thereby in- 
 creasing the available chemical constituents necessary for plant 
 growth ; the acretion of vegetable mould upon the surface of the soil, 
 caused by th^ droppings and decay of the foliage from the trees, and 
 the influence that groups, plantations and belts of trees exert in arrest- 
 ing the force of the wind, modifying the temperature, lessening the 
 evaporation of moisture and radiation, and absorption of heat and 
 the action of the foliage of the trees in cooling the atmosphere and 
 condensing its moisture, and such other meteorological conditions as 
 tend to ameliorate climatic extremes and prove to growing 
 
 crops. In view of the rapidity of the growth of the Larch, and the 
 benefits and profits which may be reaped in the course of one gene- 
 ration from the time of planting, from plantations composed wholly 
 or partially of this tree, it may be said that there are few other kinds 
 of trees that compare in value to the European I.arch, more particu- 
 larly in regard to the uses for which the wood is adapted. 
 
 In conclusion, the following suggestions relating to the handling 
 and planting of the I,arch, may be of value to the inexperienced 
 planter : 
 
 In making a plantation or belt of European Larch, it should be 
 borne in mind that the quality of soil is immaterial, so long as it is 
 d)y. It may be found profitable to use an admixture of Scotch Pine 
 and such other valuable trees as will flourish in soils suited to the 
 Larch. If the planting be in the form of belts for the purpose of 
 shelter and timber, the principal portion of the Scotch Pine may be 
 advantageously planted upon the margin. • 
 
 As the European Larch commences growth at a low temperature, 
 and as there is greater liability of loss of plants when planted after 
 the commencement of growth, it is advisable to plant in the Fall of 
 the year, or procure the plants in Autumn for the purpose of having 
 them on hand for planting as early in the Spring as the ground is in 
 proper condition for working. When the Larch is planted in the 
 Fall, the ground should be mulched with straw, wild hay, or some 
 other coarse material, or the earth ridged up to the plants with a 
 shovel-plow to prevent injury to the roots, or the plants from being 
 drawn out of the soil, by the alternation of freezing and thawing. 
 
 The sap of the Larch being of a similar nature to the sap of other 
 coniferous (Evergreen) trees, but more volatile, and therefore more 
 liable to evaporation, it is strictly necessary in handling to observe 
 the same conditions of non-exposure of the roots to the rays of the 
 sun, or to drying winds, and in planting to firmly press the soil on 
 the roots and to disturb the soil immediately in contact with the 
 roots as little as possible during the first season of cultivation after 
 planting. When these precautions are observed, the Larch can be 
 transplanted, subject to as little loss, as results in the planting of other 
 valuable kinds of deciduous trees. 
 
I 
 
24 
 
 White Ash. 
 
 (FRAXINUS AMERICANA.) 
 
 The American White Ash, when planted in cool, deep, rich, and 
 moist soils, is a tree of rapid growth. If planted singly so as to 
 have room for the development of its branches, the head assumes a 
 spreading and rounded form, and closeness in the growth and dispo- 
 sition of its branches, and mellow green color and density of foliage, 
 so different from its usual slender stem, and open branches as seen in 
 the natural forest, that it frequently causes surprise and admiration 
 on the part of those observers of the works of nature, who delight 
 in viewing the varying forms of growth, and the contrast in the size, 
 shape, and color of the foliage, that occurs in the same or different 
 species of plants and trees. For ornamental purposes, and for shade 
 and roadside planting, the White Ash is indispensable. Its rate of 
 growth in rich Western soils, is i8 to 24 inches per year.| 
 
 The weight of the wood per cubic foot is 43 to 52 lbs., its specific 
 gravity is 600 to 845 lbs.; its strength per cubic inch is as follows : 
 Tensile, 14,000 lbs.; transverse, 1^8 lbs.; crushing, 6,663 lbs.; in- 
 crease of strength by seasoning, 44. 7 per cent.; proportion of char- 
 coal to 100 parts of wood, 25.74; value of wood for fuel as com- 
 pared with Hickory at 100, is 81. 
 
 In the ordinary out-door process of seasoning the wood dries fit 
 for use in one-fourth of the time required for Oak. 
 
 The toughness, strength and elasticity of the wood of the Ash 
 renders it the most valuable of all of our native woods for some of 
 the most important uses required by man. There is scarcely an 
 agricultural implement of any kind from a hoe-handle to a threshing- 
 machine, which does not contain in whole or in part the wood of 
 the Ash. The wood is used tor hoops, spade, hoe, rake and pitch- 
 fork handles, bodies, brackets, sills, pillars, shafts and springs of 
 wagons and carriages, oars, ship-blocks, hand-spikes, pump boxes, 
 sofa and chair frames, bowls, cask staves, flour purifiers, fanning and 
 smut mill frames, kitchen tables, steps of stairs, floors, and is coming 
 into considerable demand for the interior finishing of omnibusses, 
 cars, fine residences and churches. 
 
 The invention and introduction of improvements in machinery, 
 tools and appliances for the purpose of cheapening and expediting 
 the processes of the cultivation of crops and preparing for market, 
 has resulted in an enormous demand for Ash lumber, and which, in 
 combination with the demand for export to foreign countries, in the 
 form of the raw or .manufactured material, has resulted in a large 
 diminution of the forest supply and an advance of prices within a 
 few years in the Eastern States to the present price of $70 to J885 
 per thousand, and in consequence some of “the manufacturers who 
 use Ash largely in the construction of implements have moved their 
 establishments to Ohio and other interior States.” 
 
 The forest supply of Ash in that portion of Wisconsin bordering 
 upon Lake Michigan is practically exhausted. In the northern por- 
 
25 
 
 tion of the lower Michigan peninsula, the supply is diminishing to 
 such an extent that there is already a keen competition on the part 
 of the Western manufacturers of agricultural implements, resulting in 
 an advance in price of from $12 per thousand a few years since to , 
 $34 per thousand feet in the Milwaukee and Chicago markets, with 
 the prospect of a speedy advance to near or quite the present value 
 in Eastern markets. 
 
 The leaves of the Ash make their appearance later in Spring than 
 many other valuable kinds of deciduous trees, and therefore prolongs 
 the planting season, and as the plants when handled and transplanted 
 with ordinary care are subject to little or no danger of loss, and as 
 the wood can be used of smaller size for many purposes, and as the 
 plants may be set much closer than many other kinds of trees, ren- 
 ders the Ash valuable and indispensable for such plantations and 
 belts as are planted in soils suited to its growth. 
 
 According to Sargent’s estimate, if the trees are planted in 
 “ rows three feet wide and two feet apart in the row, it will 
 require 7','26o plants to the acre, and the first thfnnings at the end of 
 ten years will yield 4,000 hoop poles, which at present prices will 
 yield §400 per acre. The subsequent thinnings made at different 
 periods for twenty-five or thirty years — reducing the number of trees 
 to 108 per acre — would be worth at least three times as much more, 
 a sum amply sufficient to reimburse all expenditures in making and 
 careing for the plantation, taxes and interest upon the investment.” 
 
 The absolute certainty of a demand for Ash wood, at a much larger 
 average annual profit than results from any farm product, should induce 
 the planting of the Ash upon hundreds of thousandsof the many millions 
 of acres of deep, moist and rich lands in the States of the Valley of the 
 Mississippi River and its tributaries, containing all the elements neces- 
 sary for the best growth and quality of wood. These States, by virtue 
 of their location in the geographical center of the nation and of the 
 North American continent, are — if land owners will grasp the 
 opportunity — not only able to grow sufficient Ash to supply the con- 
 tinental demand at a profit to the individual producer, but also to 
 centralize the location of the manufacturing establishments that use 
 the wood of the Ash largely in the construction of implements and 
 machines. 
 
 Black Walnut and Hickory. 
 
 In planting tree-belts of considerable width, or plantations of con- 
 siderable extent, a suitable admixture of these valuable kinds of trees, 
 in soils suited to the growth of the White Ash, will materially reduce 
 • the cost of the plantation, and should not be omitted. The nuts are 
 usually at hand in the forest in most localities, or may be purchased 
 at a small cost, and are easily germinated by planting as soon as gath- 
 ered in the fall, or packed in moist earth or sand for spring planting. 
 The seed may be sown at intervals, at the time of setting the White 
 Ash plants, in furrows 4 or 5 inches deep. 
 
26 
 
 Use and Value of Evergreens for Ornament, 
 and Timber. 
 
 The Norway Spruce is not only effective in ornamenting grounds, 
 but is also “ useful for screens, hedges, and for timber.” For all these 
 purposes, and for general adaptation to different soils and climates, 
 it may be said to be universally recognized as superior to any other 
 evergreen tree that has been as generally distributed. 
 
 In Europe, the Scotch Pine is considered valuable on account of 
 the rapidity of its growth and its adaptation to different soils, and 
 “ the facility with wjiich the wood is worked occasions its employ- 
 ment in house carpentry to the exclusion of every other timber, when 
 it can be procured.” Loudon says : “Asa timber tree, for planting 
 in poor, dry soils, and in exposed situations, none can excel the Scotch 
 Pine, and it is only equaled by the Larch.” For screens and wind- 
 breaks it is particularly valuable, when “ not too closely planted, so 
 as to allow the limbs to grow close to the ground.” Belts of Scotch 
 Pine will be more efficacious in breaking the force of strong winds, 
 when Norway Spruce or Larch are intermixed in the plantation, on 
 account of their pyramidal tendency of growth, which fills the gaps 
 occasioned by the upward and more open growth of the Scotch 
 Pine. For ornamental purposes the Scotch Pine should be sparing- 
 ly used, except when allowed plenty of room, or in the centre of 
 groups, or for the purpose of contrast in colors and form of growth. 
 When the Scotch Pine is planted for any or all of these purposes in 
 any dry soil, from the i^oorest to the richest, its rapid growth will 
 produce satisfactory results, in a less number of years, than any 
 other Evergreen ; hence the Scotch Pine deserves a place in every 
 collection, and forest tree plantation. 
 
 The Austrian Pine may be con.sidered as valuable for ornamental 
 purposes on account of the dark green color of the foliage, and its 
 stiff outline of symmetrical rounded form of growth, peculiarly adapt- 
 ing it to plats of ground that permit of its having ample space. “In 
 Austria the wood of this Pine is much valued when kept di’y ; and 
 t is said to surpass even the Larch in resisting the injurious effects of 
 water, or of alternate moisture and dryness.” 
 
 The Mountain Pine (P. Montana) is similar in general appearance 
 to the Austrian Pine, but dwarfish and more compact in its habit of 
 growth, hence adapted for planting in smaller spaces near walks and 
 drives, and can be planted with effect on the margin of ornamental 
 groups with the faster growing Evergreens occupying the centre or 
 back ground, and is useful as a covering for naked hill sides, and 
 embankments. 
 
27 
 
 The American Arborvitae is deservedly a favorite evergreen for 
 ornamental hedges, which are designed to be confined to a limited 
 space in width, or height. Its vitality is but little impared when sub- 
 jected to annual, or semi-annual shearing, and may be pruned into 
 any desired form. It may also be advantageously planted singly, or 
 grouped with other Evergreens, and is valuable in timber plantations 
 where any portion of the ground is too wet for European Larch, or 
 other Evergreens. The durability of the wood for posts and stakes 
 is not exceeded by any other Evergreen, except the Red Cedar. 
 
 Handling, Planting and Care of One, Two and 
 Three year old Seedlings. 
 
 Evergreens and Larch should be unpacked as soon as received, 
 and have their roots puddled in a thin mud mortar made of loam or 
 other rich soil, and be placed in a cool shady situation, (roots damp, 
 tops dry,) and keeping from exposure to the sun and drying winds 
 before and while planting. In planting, the earth should be firmly 
 packed about the roots. Seedlings less than six inches in height may 
 be planted in beds four feet wide, the rows six or eight inches in 
 width, and two or three inches apart in the row, and protected by a 
 screen the first season. The second season the slow growing sorts 
 may be exposed to the sun, provided the plants are mulched with 
 straw, wild hay or saw dust. European Larch, Scotch and Austrian 
 Pines at the end of one year may be transplanted into nursery rows 
 or forest plantation. The climate of the U. S., and more especially 
 in nearly all that section of country lying between a line running 
 southeast from head of Lake Michigan and the summit of the Rocky 
 Mountains, is so liable to drouth, that Nurserymen and Tree Planters 
 will find it profitable to mulch all transplanted trees, or seedlings, 
 the first season. The slow growing sorts of evergreens may remain 
 in the beds two years before planting in nursery row. 
 
 All nursery grown Evergreen and Larch seedlings six inches or 
 more in height may be planted in nursery rows two feet in width 
 and six to ten inches apart in the row. Mulch the first season and in 
 autumn draw earth to the plants with the hoe, or with a small sized 
 shovel plow, in order to prevent the plants being thrown out of the 
 ground by alternate freezing and thawing. At the end of two years 
 the plants may be thinned by taking up every alternate row, and 
 every other plant in the remaining rows, and replanting into rows 
 four feet wide, or into permanent plantations. Seedling Evergreens 
 treated in this manner will be stocky, and well furnished with side 
 branches and fibrous roots, essential requisites for trees designed for 
 ornamental planting. 
 
 All the nut bearing and other fast growing deciduous tree seedlings 
 should be transplanted at one year old. 
 
28 
 
 Fall Planting and Winter Protection of 
 Evergreen Seedlings. 
 
 In our practice we have been very successful in transplanting and 
 heehng-in Evergreen Seedlings, in the months of August 'and Septem- 
 ber, by mulching or shading the plants in the dry and hot months. 
 In heeling-m plants for the winter the plants should be in thin layers 
 (to prevent heating and thereby injuring the foliage) with very fine 
 earth closely packed on the roots, and tops of each of the layers of 
 plants are lapped over the earth covered roots of the previous layer. 
 The beds of plants, thus heeled-in, are then lightly covered with wild 
 hay (thin enough to exclude sunlight, but not thick enough to ex- 
 clude access of air) thus preventing injury to the foliage, and protect- 
 ing the new root formation from the disastrous effects that would 
 otherwise result froni the too sudden withdrawal of frost in winter or 
 spring. In practicing each of these methods we find the plants <^ain 
 nearly one season of root growth. South of this latitude fall planting 
 or heeling-in may be delayed from two to six weeks later in the sea- 
 son, according to the locality. 
 
 All plants in seed beds, and all beds of transplanted Evergreens 
 and Larch, go through the winter in better condition if covered with 
 wild hay and not uncovered until the withdrawal of frost in the spring. 
 
 Shearing Ornamental Evergreens, 
 
 As ^e beauty of hedges, and Evergreens planted singly in lawns, is 
 dependent upon their symetry of form and compactness of growth as 
 well as to such peculiarities in color, length of foliage, and forms of 
 cones, as are incident to the species ; hence gardeners have practiced 
 shearing Arborvitaes, Junipers, Norway Spruce, etc. Many, if not all 
 of the the Pines may be sheared at the time the trees are making their 
 annual growth, by having the current seasons growth shortened. The 
 cutting may be made while the new growth is in a succulent state, at 
 the time when it can be broken off, without peeling the bark, 'the 
 proper season for shearing usually lasting ten to fourteen days When 
 the shearing is done at the right period of growth, terminal buds will 
 be formed at the point of cutting, and frequently side-bud formation 
 will also take place on the current season’s growth of wood. The 
 Scotch Pine, which is not only a fast, but sometimes a stragling as 
 well as an open grower, may be, by means of shearing, formed into a 
 very compact, bushy and highly ornamental tree, and worthy of oc- 
 cupying small spaces in grounds to which it would not be adapted 
 Without shearing. ^ 
 
29 
 
 The Scotch Pine, Its Value for Economic Use, and for Timber-Belt 
 
 Planting. 
 
 The Scotch Pine is adapted to all dry soils, rich or poor; it endures 
 great extremes of drought, heat and cold ; and in rapidity of growth it 
 is only exceeded by the European Larch. The value of the timber 
 for economic use ranks next to the wood of the White Pine. On ac- 
 count of these qualities, and the small per centage of loss in trans- 
 planting, the Scotch Pine ranks as one of the most valuable EVer- 
 greens for planting, for wind-breaks, screens, and timber-belts, for 
 shelter for live stock, farm crops, hot-beds, gardens, and orcliards. 
 
 Sargent, in referring to the growth of the different species of trees, 
 in his statement of J. S. Fay’s experiments in forest-tree planting, 
 says : 
 
 “ Scotch Pines transplanted from the Nursery in 1853, are now forty feet high, 
 and from ten to twelve inches in diameter at one foot from the ground. Trees of 
 the Scotch Pino raised from the seed planted in 186 1, where the trees have grown, 
 but in favorable situations, and which have been properly thinned, have been cut this 
 winter, and measure thirty feet in height and ten inches in diameter, one foot from 
 the ground, while the average of the trees in a large plantation of Scotch Pine, made 
 in the same manner in 1862, and which received no spocial care, K twenty feet 
 high, and six inches in diameter.” 
 
 After referring to the value of the wood of the Scotch Pine for fuel 
 the same author says : 
 
 “ But fuel is the least valuable use to which the wood of the Scotch Pine ca-n be 
 turned. In Plurope the lymber of this pine is considered more valuable than that ol 
 any other coniferous tree, the Larch excepted, and for all economic purposes it is 
 rated far above American White Pine. 
 
 “The nature of these two woods and the uses to which they are each especially 
 adapted, are so dissimilar that any comparison is not particularly interesting. A 
 number of experiments made at the Royal Woolwich Dock Yard have shown that 
 the wood of the Scotch Pine will resist a traverse strain, 1 1 times greater than that 
 of the White Pine ; that its resistance to a tensile strain is about twice as great, and 
 its resistance to a vertical strain is ,56 greater ; while its specific gravity is $41 to 
 5*3 fot *1*6 White Pine. All European writers — Duhamal to Laslet — agree that 
 the wood of the Scotch Pine is the most durable pine wood.” 
 
 The same writer quotes Newland’s as saying: 
 
 " The lightness and stiffness of the Scotch Pine render it superior to any other 
 kinds of timber for beams, girders, joists, rafters, and indeed for framing in general.” 
 
 ^Sargent further says : 
 
 " From its greater strength, spars, top-masts, and the masts of small vessels 
 which are often subjected to violent and sudden shocks, are made from the Scotch 
 Pine in preference to any other wood, although on account of its greater lightness 
 the White Pine is preferred for heavy masts and large spars. Since the supply of 
 Larch has become entirely inadequate to the demand, the Scotch Pine is used in 
 Europe for railroad sleepers more generally than any other tree, enormous quantities 
 even being shipped froih the northern ports to India for this purpose ; although 
 the wood of the White Pine is undoubtedly superior to the Scotch Pine for all pur- 
 poses where a soft, light, easily worked, clear wood is demanded, the latter has quali- 
 ties so desirable that its cultivation lor economic purposes would be of great value — 
 especially when it is remembered that it will grow in situations where the White 
 Pine will not flourish.” 
 
30 
 
 Loudon says -of the Scotch Pine : 
 
 “ The wood is valued like that of every other pine, in proportion to its fi eeness 
 from knots; and ,it is foundithat the knots of this species are more easily worked, 
 and much less liable to drop out of flooring boards, than is the case with knotty 
 boards of the Spruce or Silver Fir. The facility with which the wood of the Scotch 
 Pine is worked occasions its employment in joining and house-carpentry, almost 
 to the exclusion of every other kind of timber, wherever it can be produced. In 
 point of durability, if it is kept dry, it equals the Oak,— more especially if it has been 
 of slow growth, and is resinous. As a timber tree, for planting in poor, dry soils, 
 in exposed situations, none can excel the Scotch Pine, and it is only equalled by the 
 Larch.” 
 
 In regard to the adaptation of the Scotch Pine to various soils, 
 Mathews, as quoted by the same author, says — 
 
 ‘•That the natural location of the Scotch Pine in poor, sandy soils does not result 
 from these soils being best adapted for it, but from the seeds which are blown about 
 by the winds, rising (germinating) readily in such soils, and the plants growing 
 more vitjorously than any other tree. Should any one doubt this, he observes, let him 
 make an excursion into Mar Forest, and there he will find the Scotch Pine in every 
 description of soil and situation, but always thriving best in good timber soil ; and, 
 in short, not differing very materially in respect to soil from the Sycamore, the Elm, 
 the Oak, or the Ash.” 
 
 In addition to the value of the wood of the Scotch Pine for 
 economic use, its adaptation to all dry soils, and its vigorous growth 
 in sheltered or exposed situations, it is believed that in this country, 
 as in Europe, that the Scotch Pine has a greater geographical range 
 than any other pine, and that in view of the probable exhaustion of 
 the White Pine forests within the lifetime of the present generation, it 
 is particularly desirable that a tree possessing such good qualities as 
 the Scotch Pine, and which is susceptible of successful and profitable 
 cultivation in a diversity of soils and situations, and in a wider range 
 of climate, perhaps, than any other pine, should have its qualities 
 more fully made known, so that it may become introduced into more 
 
 general cultivation. . 
 
 As the result of a number of years of observation, we are satisfied 
 that there is no one species of Evergreen with which we are familiar 
 that so perfectly possesses the qualities requisite to ensure its general 
 success over a wide range of country, and prove as satisfactory to 
 planters as the Scotch Pine, more especially for the purposes recom- 
 mended by Sargent, who says : 
 
 “The rapidity of its growth in all situations, and its economic value, make the 
 Scotch Pine the most valuable tree farmers can plant for screens and wind breaTcs 
 about their fields and buildings.” 
 
 In localities where the Norway Spruce and European Larch are 
 known to thrive, and where the timber-belts are designed to occupy 
 considerable breadth of land, we would advise an intermixture of 
 these two species of trees with the Scotch Pine in the plantation. 
 
 Hints as to the Nature of Evergreens. 
 
 The sap of coniferous Evergeen trees is resinous; the resin of com- 
 merce is the product of Evergreen trees ; resin is insoluble in water 
 
31 
 
 at an ordinary temperature, — hence if by ex))osure of the roots of 
 Evergreen trees to drying winds, or to the sun, the sap hardens and 
 the circulation of the sap is arrested and cannot be revived. 
 
 i 
 
 Evergreen Timber-Belts, for Sheltering Orchards, Farm Crops, Live 
 Stock, and Hot Beds. 
 
 The importance of planting Timber-Belts for the purpose of shel' 
 tering small fruit plants and fruit trees in the winter, and as a preventa- 
 tive against the fruit from being blown off the trees in summer is so 
 apparent, that we urge fruit-growers to fully investigate the subject, 
 and to take action in the direction of planting trees for shelter, the 
 beneficial results of which will enure to their individual benefit, to 
 the community at large, and to posterity. 
 
 The injuries to fruit-trees resulting from the extraction of heat 
 and excessive evaporation of moisture from the soil, and the stems 
 and branches of fruit-trees, caused by the cold and dry northerly and 
 westerly winds, ir manifested in the injury or destruction of many 
 kinds of small fruit plants and fruit-trees supposed to be hardy. — es- 
 pecially in all those orenards that are not protected by bodies of 
 water that do not freeze in winter, or by natural forests, or some 
 artificial barrier that have a tendency to modify the temperature, or 
 break or impair the force of the wind. 
 
 Aside from any considerations in relation to the influence that 
 forests exert upon the amount of raijifall, extreihes of heat, drought, 
 volume of moisture in the atmosphere, electrical and such other me- 
 teorological phenomena as have an influence upon the growth of 
 vegetation in summer, there exists an abundance of facts which tend 
 to show the deleterious effects which the absence or destruction of for- 
 ests exert in the shortening of the length of the summer and the pro- 
 longation of the winter season, and the injury resulting to dormant 
 vegetation in the winter. 
 
 The County of Milwaukee in this State was originally covered 
 with a dense growth of natural forest. In the early settlement of the 
 county when clearings of only a few acres in extent had been made 
 in different localities, winter wheat, peaches, and many other tender 
 fruits were successfully grown. Since the destruction of the jirincipal 
 portion of the forest, winter wheat, peaches, and other tender fruits 
 are no longer successfully grown. 
 
 The advantages to be derived from the planting of Evergreen tree 
 belts would be the lessening the force of the wind in winter, and 
 thereby modifying the relative temperature by lessening the exteaction 
 of heat and evaporation of moisture from the soil, and the sap of fruit 
 trees, the lengthening of sjiring and autumn, the greater certainty 
 of a larger average yearly yield of farm, garden and fruit crops, the 
 enhanced value of real estate, and when the timber-belt plantations 
 are made of considerable breadth, and closely planted, thinnings of 
 the timber might be made, which would be of value for fuel and other 
 economic uses. 
 
t 
 
 \ 
 
 32 
 
 As to the protection afforded by Evergreen tree-belts, Mr. J. J. 
 Thomas says : ' 
 
 “ Isaac Pullen, a well-known nursery man of Hightown, N. J., showed me 
 last summer ( 1864) several bells of Evergreen trees which had sprung up from his 
 nursery rows to a height of twenty-five to thirty feet in 10 years, and he stated that 
 within the shelter of these screens his nursery trees, as well as farm crops, aver- 
 aged fifty ]ier cent, more than in bleak or exposed places.” 
 
 Mr. A. R. Whitney, of Franklin Grove, Illinois, who has an orch- 
 ard of many thousand trees, and who is considered to be one of the 
 most successful grower of apples in the Northwest, states that he has 
 at different times in the past thirty'odd years planted different kinds 
 of Evergreen trees in and around various parts of his orchard, and 
 that these trees have attained a height of thirty to forty feet, and that 
 any person who had any doubt about the beneficial results supposed to 
 be derived from the protection afforded by belts and groups of 
 Evergreen trees, are cordially invited to make a personal inspection 
 of his orchard. 
 
 Sargent says : 
 
 “ The influence of trees especially of spiked-leaved species, on local climate is 
 important. Such plantations serve as a material check to the natural force of cold 
 winds from the north, which rapidly lower the temperature, hasten evaporation, 
 and blow into drifts the snow which would otherwise protect the ground with an 
 even covering. There is probably no way in which the farmers of this State could 
 more easily or more rapidly increase its agricultural product than by planting such 
 screens from the northeast to the northwest of their farms, and their attention is 
 particularly directed to the importance of this subject, * * * a means of di- 
 
 rect profit, it does not seem unreasonable to predict that such protection to our 
 fields would increase the profits of their cultivation fully twenty per cent. Orchards 
 thus protected are still productive, and all gardeners know that plants generally 
 supposed too tender to support our climate will thrive when planted under the pro- 
 tection of a garden wall, or among Evergreen trees. What garden walls are to the 
 horticulturist, these broad Evergreen plantations should be to the farmer.” 
 
 Becquerel, as quoted by the same author, says ; 
 
 “ In the Valley of the Rhone a simple hedge two metres in height is sufficient 
 protection for a distance of twenty two metres.” 
 
 “ The mechanical shelter,” says Mr. Marsh, “ acts no doubt chiefly as a defense 
 against the mechanical force of the wind ; but its uses are by no means limited to 
 that effect. If the current of air moves horizontally, it would prevent the access of 
 cohl or parching blasts to the ground for a great distance.” 
 
 Mr. Marsh says Becquerel’s views — 
 
 “Have been amply confirmed by recent extensive experiments on the bleak, 
 stony and desolate plain of the Crau in the department of the bouches du Rhone, 
 which had remained a naked waste from the earliest ages of history. Bells of trees 
 prove a secure protection even against the piercing and chilly blasts of the Mistral, 
 and in their shelter plantations of fruit-trees and vegetables thrive with the greatest 
 luxuriance. 
 
 Sargent says : 
 
 “ Experiments of a similar nature on a large scale have been made in Holland, 
 and lands which were formerly considered unimprovable, such was the force of the 
 winds blowing from the North Sea, have been rendered almost the most pro- 
 ductive in Europe, simply by sheltering them with rows of trees placed at regular 
 intervals and .it right angles to the direction of the wind.” 
 
33 
 
 Dr. E. G. Mygatt, of Kenosha County, Wis., in a letter dated Dec. 
 
 *®7S> stating his views in regard to the beneficial results derived 
 from the planting of timber-belts, says : 
 
 “ It would pay you to see the protection to my orchard during the past seven- 
 teen years. Only one tree has died behind my wind-break out of one hundred 
 and twenty trees, now about twenty years old, and some of them of tender kinds.” 
 
 Gardeners who have their hot-beds sheltered with post and board 
 fence^ will find it advantageous to closely plant one or two rows of 
 Scotch Pine and Norway Spruce at a distance of about four or five feet 
 from, and on the East, North and West sides of their fences. If the 
 Evergreens are planted at, or soon after the time of the building of 
 the fences, the growth of the Evergreens, after becoming established, 
 IS SO rapid that they will afford an excellent protection by the time 
 ^e post and board fences would require renewal. The cost of the 
 Evergre^ shelter would not only be less, but would be more perma- 
 nent, and more ornamental than the board fences usually constructed 
 for the purpose of shelter. 
 
 Two or three rows of closely planted Evergreens will be more ef- 
 fective in breaking or impairing the force of cold winter winds than 
 twenty roAvs of deciduous trees which have only their naked stems 
 and branches to offer as a resistance. The plants- for the Evergreen 
 timber-belts will cost less in the price of plants, cost of boxes, pack- 
 ing, and freight charges, occupy less breadth of land, and cost less 
 labor in planting ; besides being more ornamental than the deciduous: 
 trees from the fact that the Evergreens retain their foliage throughout, 
 the whole year. 
 
 ARBOKVITiE HEDGE. 
 
34 
 
 When Evergreen trees are out of the ground, the roots should be 
 kept constantly moist and the tops dry until planted. In planting, the 
 earth should be fitmly packed on the roots with loose soil on the sur- 
 face, and mulched with some coaise litter immediately after planting. 
 By the adoption of these simple precautions, our loss of plants in our 
 annual transplanting of one to one and a half millions of plants is so 
 trifling as not to be worth an estimate. 
 
 On receipt of plants, if the ground is not in condition for imme- 
 diate planting, the packages should be opened, and the roots of the 
 plants puddled in a thin mud mortar, made of any good soil, and of 
 the consistency of thick paint. Trenches should be opened in some 
 soil where the water will not accumulate, in some cool, shady place. 
 The plants should be spread out thinly, and fine earth sprinkled 
 among and firmly packed on the roots. If the plants are procured in 
 the fall, and the plants are to remain thus heeled-in until spring, the 
 plants should be lightly covered with wild hay, after the ground has 
 been frozen to the depth of two inches. This covering should not 
 be removed until a few days before the commencement of planting, 
 care being used not to take up the plants until the frost is entirely 
 withdrawn from the roots. European Larch may be heeled-in in the 
 same manner. In this instance, two thirds, or even all the bodies and 
 tops of the Larch may be entirely covered with earth. When plant- 
 ings we usually place a quantity of the plants in a bucket of water 
 and take out a few ]>lants from time to time as they are wanted. If 
 treated in this manner, there is no danger of loss, as the roots are thus 
 kept constantly moist . Small sizes of Evergreens and Larch, if not 
 protected in some manner, for one or two years after planting are apt 
 to have the roots drawn out of the soil by the alternation of freezing 
 and thawing. Mulch is a good preventative. When planted in nur- 
 sery row, the earth should be drawn up to the plants in autumn with a 
 hoe, or shovel plow. 
 
 Number of Plants or Trees Required to Plant an Acre at a given 
 
 Distance. 
 
 DIST. APART. 
 
 NO. OF PLANTS. 
 
 DIST. APART. 
 
 NO. OF PLANTS. 
 
 1 by 1 foot 
 
 43.560 
 
 6 by 6 feet 
 
 
 2 by 1 foot 
 
 21,780 
 
 6 by 5 feet 
 
 1.452 
 
 2 by 2 feet 
 
 
 6 by 4 feet 
 
 1,815 
 
 3 by 1 foot 
 
 <4.523 
 
 6 by 3 feet 
 
 
 3 by 2 feet 
 
 
 6 by 2 feet 
 
 3.630 
 
 3 by 3 feet 
 
 
 6 by I feet 
 
 
 4- by I foot 
 
 
 7 by 7 feet 
 
 889 
 
 4 by 2 feet 
 
 5.442 
 
 8 by 8 feet 
 
 
 4 by 3 feet 
 
 3.630 
 
 10 by 10 feet 
 
 435 
 
 4 by 4 feet 
 
 
 12 by 12 feet 
 
 302 
 
 5 by I feet 
 
 
 15 by 15 feet 
 
 <94 
 
 5 by 2 feet 
 
 4.356 
 
 18 by 18 feet 
 
 <35 
 
 5 by 3 feet 
 
 2,904 
 
 20 by 20 feet 
 
 <09 
 
 5 by 4 feet 
 
 
 25 by 25 feet 
 
 69 
 
 5 by 5 feet 
 
 
 33 6y 33 feet 
 
 
.^5 
 
 Suggestions as to the Management of Small Sizes of Evergreens 
 and European Larch, previous to the final Planting. 
 
 When the ground wnich is designed for a Timber-Belt plantation 
 is not in a suitable condition for immediate planting, it is advisable 
 to plant the small sizes of Evergreens and Larch, into nursery rows, 
 where they may be cultivated and cared for, until the ground for the 
 final planting can be prepared. The planting in nursery row can be 
 quickly and cheaply done, by plowing furrows five or six inches in 
 depth, at a distance of two or more feet apart, and planting the 
 trees at a distance of eight to twelve inches apart in the furrows, the 
 distance to be regulated by the size of the plants. The trees may re- 
 main in the nursery rows for two years, when they will have become, 
 nice, well-rooted trees, suitable for the final ttansplanting into 
 screens, wind-breaks, timber-belts, ornamental grounds, or forest-tree 
 plantation. By the adoption of this plan, the final cost of the trees 
 will be somewhat increased, but there will be a gain in their value, 
 resulting from their growth, during the time they are standing in nur- 
 sery rows, and as the growth of some of the trees will be greater than 
 others, it will be advisable, at the final transplanting to assort them 
 into two or more sizes, although this is not essential, when the trees 
 are designed for forest-tree plantation, but it will add very much to 
 the symmetry and general appearance of screens, wind-breaks, and 
 timber-belts, to have the trees carefully assorted so that the trees of 
 each size may be planted separately. 
 
 IT 
 
 Table 
 
 Showing estimate of cost of a Timber-belt of three rows for Shelter. Rows 4 feet 
 wide. Plants 4 feet apart in the row. Outside rows Scotch Pine, middle row Nor- 
 way Spruce. The Tree belt to enclose four sides of the farm. 
 
 SIZE OF FARM. 
 
 Length of Bell in 
 Rods. j ! 
 
 1 ! 
 
 |No. of Plants re- 
 quired for three 
 I Rows - j 
 
 rt 1 
 
 ^ 5 
 
 Q. 
 
 ' *! ^ 
 
 0 
 
 r 
 
 Expense of Pre- 
 paring Ground '• 
 and Planting j 
 
 1 1 
 Expense of three 
 
 1 years’ cultiv'n.j 
 
 TOTAL 
 
 COST. 
 
 160 Acres 
 
 640 
 
 7,020 
 
 $55 44 
 
 S27 92 
 
 $60 00 
 
 S143 36 
 
 80 “ 
 
 480 
 
 S.940 
 
 41 58 
 
 20 94 
 
 45 0° 
 
 I16 $2 
 
 40 “ 
 
 320 
 
 3.960 
 
 27 72 
 
 13 96 
 
 30 00 
 
 71 68 
 
 10 “ 
 
 160 
 
 1,980 
 
 13 86 
 
 6 98 
 
 15 00 
 
 35 84 
 
36 
 
 Per 10. Per lOo. Per 1,000. Per 10,000. 
 
 Price List of Assorted Evergreen Seedlings. 
 
 NOT TRANSPLANTED. 
 
 Price List of European Larcl^ Evergreen, and other kinds of Tree Seeds, mailed on application. 
 Price List of Choice Garden Seeds ready in January, 1878. 
 
 We usually commence shipping Evergreens about the ist of September, and continue until the 
 15th of November, and are generally able to ship South during mild weather in the winter. Spring 
 shipments usually commence April 10th, and continue until the 25th of May. The European Larch 
 commences growth at a low temperature, and should be planted in the fall, or the plants procured 
 and heeled in, so as to be at hand for early Spring planting. 
 
 Seedlings marked with an * arc in cellar, and can be shipped by express or sent by mail (the 
 smallest sizes are most suitable for mailing) at any time in winter, and for the purpose of late Spring 
 planting, we can usually hold Evergreens back until June isi. 
 
 20,000 or more at Special Rates. 
 
 ^NORWAY SPRUCE, 10 to 15 inch 
 
 * “ “ 6 to 9 “ 
 
 * “ » 4 to 6 “ 
 
 ^SCOTCH PINE, 9 to 12 inch 
 
 * “ “ 7 to 9 “ 
 
 * “ “I year 
 
 ^AUSTRIAN PINE, 6 to 8 inch 
 
 * “ “ 3 to 6 “ 
 
 “ I year 
 
 ^MOUNTAIN PINE, (dwarf) 9 to 12 inch.. 
 
 ^ 6 to 9 “ .. 
 
 * “ “ 4 to 6 
 
 * 2 to 4 “ .. 
 
 WHITE PINE, I year 
 
 ARBORVIT.^, Am., 2 years 
 
 *WH 1 TE SPRUCE, 8 to to inch 
 
 * “ “ 6 to 8 inch 
 
 * “ “ 3 to 6 inch 
 
 SILVER EIR, 2 to s inch 
 
 BALSAM FIR, 2 to 4 inch 
 
 ^JUNIPER, English, 10 to 15 inch 
 
 “ 6 to 10 “ 
 
 Excelsa, 8 to 12 “ 
 
 * “ “ 4 to 8 “ 
 
 * “ Swedish, 8 to 12 “ 
 
 “ 4 to 8 “ 
 
 75 
 
 60 
 
 00 
 
 80 
 
 00 
 
 80 
 
 gl 50 
 
 jjiio 00 
 
 $90 00 
 
 1 10 
 
 7 00 
 
 60 00 
 
 90 
 
 5 00 
 
 45 00 
 
 1 20 
 
 8 00 
 
 
 I 10 
 
 7 00 
 
 
 90 
 
 5 00 
 
 
 1 20 
 
 9 00 
 
 
 1 10 
 
 7 50 
 
 70 00 
 
 90 
 
 5 00 
 
 
 2 00 
 
 
 
 I 5 ° 
 
 10 00 
 
 
 I 20 
 
 9 00 
 
 80 00 
 
 I 10 
 
 7 00 
 
 65 00 
 
 90 
 
 5 00 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 90 
 
 13 00 
 
 
 I 60 
 
 1 1 00 
 
 
 I 20 
 
 9 00 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 00 
 
 
 
 7 00 
 
 
 
 S 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Price List of Evergreen Seedlings. 
 
 ONCE TRANSPLANTED. 
 
 Per xoo. 
 
 JV'ORWAY SPRUCE, Slender, suitable for Screens and Timber-belts. 
 
 15 to 18 inch 
 
 12 to 15 “ $i 50 
 
 9 to 12 “ I 20 
 
 NORWAY SPRUCE. Many of these trees, with one or two or 
 more transplantings, will make nice Orna- 
 mental Trees, and are all suited for imme- 
 diate planting for Screens and Timber-belts. 
 
 9 to 12 inch 2 00 
 
 6 to 9 “ I 80 
 
 4 to 6 “ I 20 
 
 Per 1 , 000 . 
 
 glO 00 
 9 00 
 
 15 00 
 12 00 
 8 00 
 
r 
 
 1 
 
 37 
 
 SCOTCH PINE, Suited for immediate' planting for Screens and 
 Timber-belts. 
 
 “ “ 9 to 12 inch 
 
 “ “ 6 to 9 “ 
 
 “ “ 4 to 6 “ 
 
 SCOTCH PINE, Stocky, twice sheared, well furnished, nice for 
 ornamental planting, or suitable for immedi- 
 ate planting for Screens and Timber-belts. 
 
 “ “ 9 to 12 inch 
 
 “ “ 6 to 9 “ 
 
 “ “ 4 to 6 “ 
 
 MOUNTAIN PINE, beautiful bardy dwarf, 4 to 8 inch 
 
 AUSTRIAN PINE, 9 to 12 inch, not bushy 
 
 n n 6 to 9 “ “ 
 
 “ “ 2 to 6 " 
 
 WHI'PE PINE, 6 to 8 inch 
 
 “ “ 3 to 6 “ 
 
 PITCH PINE, 4 to 6 “ 
 
 “ “ 2 to 4 “ 
 
 Per 10. 
 
 Per 
 
 100. 
 
 Per I, 
 
 ,oco 
 
 1 
 
 80 
 
 12 
 
 00 
 
 I 
 
 so 
 
 10 
 
 00 
 
 I 
 
 20 
 
 9 
 
 00 
 
 3 
 
 5 ° 
 
 25 
 
 00 
 
 2 
 
 75 
 
 18 
 
 00 
 
 2 
 
 00 
 
 •5 
 
 00 
 
 2 
 
 5° 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 50 
 
 10 
 
 00 
 
 2 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 00 
 
 •5 
 
 00 
 
 2 
 
 00 
 
 15 
 
 00 
 
 I 
 
 80 
 
 12 
 
 00 
 
 Per 
 
 too. 
 
 Per 1,000. 
 
 ARBORVIT.(E, Chinese, 9 to 12 inch. 
 “ “ “ 6 to 9 “ 
 
 “ “ American, 18 to 24 “ .. 
 
 “ “ “ 24 to 36 “ ., 
 
 “ “ 18 to 24 
 
 “ “ 10 to 15 
 
 LAWSON’S CYPRESS, i t 
 RED CEDAR, 6 to 9 inch. 
 
 $2 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 00 
 
 15 
 
 00 
 
 3 
 
 00 
 
 20 
 
 00 
 
 3 
 
 00 
 
 20 
 
 00 
 
 2 
 
 00 
 
 IS 
 
 00 
 
 I 
 
 5° 
 
 10 
 
 00 
 
 2 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 4 
 
 00 
 
 Hardy Defensive Hedge Plants. 
 
 Per 1,000. 
 
 Grown from American. Seed 
 
 *HONEY LOCUST (does not sprout from the roots), 2 year $ 6 00 
 
 ^BERBERRY, 8 to 10 inch 10 00 
 
 * “ 6 tc 8 inch g qq 
 
 * “ 4 to 6 inch 6 00 
 
 The Berberry is perfectly hardy, brapehes out from the collar, does not sprout from the roots, and 
 being a thorny bush, and growing 6 to 9 feet in height, requires no shearing, and will make a per- 
 fectly defensive hedge in 5 to 6 years with the same care and cultivation for the first a or 3 years 
 after planting that is given to corn or potatoes. Louden in his Arboretum et Fruticetum Britanec- 
 um says: “I he common Berberry will live for two or three centuries without increasing much in 
 size. The rate of growth when the plant is young is rapid ; and, in consequence, in five or six years 
 will attain the height of 7 or 8 feet ; but it grows slowly afterwards.** The plant makes an excel- 
 lent ‘'hedge ”** 
 
 European Larch. 
 
 Once 
 
 18 to 24 inch... 
 
 /t~o 
 
 Per 100. 
 
 Per 1,000.- 
 
 10 to 15 “ ... 
 
 
 
 
 S80 00 
 
 6 to 8 “ ... 
 
 
 
 7 00 
 
 65 00 
 
 I year, 
 
 
 
 
 30 00 
 
 10 to 15 , .. 
 
 10 00 
 
 95 00 
 
 8 to 10 “ ... 
 
 ■/■■xhiS"- 
 
 9 00 
 
 85 00 
 
 6 to 8 “ ... 
 
 •/•/•« 
 
 8 00 
 
 75 ou 
 
 { 
 
38 
 
 White Ash. 
 
 (NURSERY GROWN SEEDLINGS.) 
 
 Per 1 ,000. Per 10,000. 
 
 *ASH, I year, 6 to 12 inch $6 00 J55 00 
 
 * “ I year, 4 to 6 “ 4 00 30 00 
 
 Fruit Stocks. 
 
 (No Discount.) 
 
 Per 1,000. Per 10,000. 
 
 *APPLE SEEDLINGS, No. i jS4 00 ^35 00 
 
 * “ “ No. 2 2 00 18 00 
 
 * “ “ No. 3, Mailing and budding size i 00 
 
 *PLUM, Native, i year 15 00 
 
 *PEAR SEEDLINGS, i year. No. i iia 
 
 * “ “ “ No. 2 5 00 
 
 * “ “ “ No. 3 3 50 
 
 “ . “ Budded in Seed Bed, Bartlett, 
 
 Flemish Beauty, Winter Nellis, etc. 40 00 
 
 Miscellaneous Seedlings and Stock. 
 
 Per 10. Per 100. Per 1000, 
 
 *WHTE ELM, I year $3 S° 
 
 SCOTCH ELM, trans., 15 to 36 inch )?4 00 
 
 ♦ENGLISH ALDER, 2 year seedlings 2 00 ...i.. 
 
 “ “ I “ 6 00 
 
 ♦RED-BUD, I “ 4 00 
 
 ♦FLORIDA DOGV,'OOD, i year seedlings 2 00 
 
 ♦MULBERRY, BLACK, 2 “ 3 00 
 
 “ RED, I “ 2 50 20 00 
 
 ♦KENTUCKY COFFEE, i “ 4 00 
 
 ♦PERSIMMON, I “ 2 00 15 00 
 
 “ trans. seedlings, 6 to 10 inch 2 50 
 
 ♦CALYCANTHUS, i year seedlings 2 00 
 
 ♦HONEY LOCUST, 2 year seedlings 90 6 00 
 
 * “ “ I “ 4 00 
 
 SYCAMORE, 13^ to 4 feet, trans 400 
 
 HORSE CHESTNUT, 10 to 15 inch, trans 3 00 
 
 “ “ 18 to 24 inch, trans .*. 5 00 
 
 “ “ 24 to 36 inch, trans 10 00 
 
 “ “ 3 to 4 feet, trans $2 50 
 
 SWEET “ 10 to 15 inch, trans 3 00 
 
 “ “ 18 to 24 inch, trans 5 00 
 
 “ “ 2 to 3 feet, trans 7 00 
 
 CATALPA, 134 to 3 feet, trans 4 00 
 
 f BIRCPI, Eu. common weeping, 2 to 3 feet, trans 4 00 
 
 “ “ “ “ 3 to 4 feet, trans 6 00 
 
 “ “ “ “ 4 to 5 feet, trans i 10 8 00 
 
 WHITE MULBERRY, 5 to 6 feet, trans i 00 7 00 
 
 “ “ “ • 6 to 7 feet, trans i to 8 00 
 
 “ “ “ 7 to 9 feet, trans i 35 to 00 
 
 HONEY LOCUST, to to 20 inch, trans 4 00 
 
 BLUE ASH, 5 to 7 feet, trans i 35 to 00 
 
 AILANTUS, 4 to 5 feet, trans i 20 ..; 
 
 “ 6 to 7 feet, trans i 50 
 
 LILAC SEEDLINGS, 6 to 15 inch, trans 3 00 
 
39 
 
 Per 10 Per loo. Per 1,000. 
 
 *BERBERIS DULCIS. 6 to 12 inch, trans i 00 
 
 “ VULGARIS — (see Hedge Plants) 
 
 LABURNUM, 6 to I ■; inch 7 ° 
 
 COLUTEA ARBOR'ESCENS, 6 to 15 inch 80 
 
 MAPLE, NORWAY, 6 to 12 inch 60 4 00 
 
 * - OREGON, 4 to 8 inch i 00 7 00 
 
 * “ SILVER, seedlings, i year..., 60 4 00 
 
 “ “ 7 to 8 feet to 00 60 00 
 
 “ “ 8 to 9 feet 1 2 00 70 00 
 
 “ 9 to to feet 15 oc 80 00 
 
 “ “ to to 12 feet 20 00 
 
 “ ASH-LEAVED (Box Elder) 6 to 7 feet to 00 65 00 
 
 <• “ “ “ 7 to 8 feet 12 00 75 00 
 
 “ SUGAR, I to 2 feet, trans 3 00 25 00 
 
 UPRIGHT HONEYSUCKLE, 4 to 5 feet i 30 to 00 
 
 AMORPHA. 12 to 18 inch 80 
 
 YELLOW FLOWERING CURRANT, 4 to 5 feet i 00 
 
 WIGELIA ROSEA, 2 to 3 feet 1 50 
 
 DICENTRA SPECTABILIS i 00 8 00 
 
 SPIREA CRENATA, 12 to 18 inch i 50 
 
 WEEPING MOUNTAIN ASH, 5 to 6 feet 6 00 
 
 LOMBARDY POPLAR, 8 to 9 feet i 50 to 00 
 
 GOL’N WILLOW, to to 12 feet 400 
 
 WIS. WEEPING WILLOW, 9 to to feet 10 00 
 
 “ “ “ 6 to 7 feet 2 50 
 
 COTTONWOOD, 10 to 12 feet 2 00 15 00 
 
 “ CUTTINGS 3 5 ° 
 
 MOUNTAIN ASH, 6 to 7 feet 2 00 i6 00 
 
 Fruit Trees, Etc. 
 
 For the purpose of closing out our stock of Apple Trees, we offer them at less than the cost 
 of production tn Wisconsin. The selection of varieties must be left to us The varieties 5 7 
 
 feet arc principally Haas, Ben Davis, Perry and Gol’n Russets, Walbridge, Fall Stripe and Plumb’s 
 Cider. Varieties 4 to 5 and 5 to 6 feel include the above kinds, and some Romanitc, Talman 
 Sweet, Sops of Wine, Red Astrachan, Oldenburg, Stark, Tetofski, Fameusc, Utter Pewaukee, En- 
 
 glish Russet, Bethlcmitc and Northern Spy, etc. 
 
 Per 10. Per 100. Per 1,000 
 
 APPLE TREES, 5 to 7 feet, $10 00 860 00 
 
 “ “ 5 to 6 “ 9 00 SS 00 
 
 « ’<* 4 to 5 “ 6 00 40 00 
 
 “ “ Walbridge, Wealthy, G'ol’n Russett, 
 
 Fameuse, 2 to 3 feet 3 ° °° 
 
 Hislop, Transcendent and Yellow Crabs, 5 to 6 ft 1000 
 
 Byer’s Beauty Crab, New, Red, said to be large and 
 fine, originated in Berien Co., Mich., 
 
 4 to 5 feet, $ 1.00 each 7 50 
 
 PEAR, P'lemish Beauty, Bartlett, 4 to 6 feet 3 50 ‘ 32 00 
 
 PLUM, 4 to 6 feet 84 00 35 00 
 
 CHERRY, Kentish, 4 to 5 feet i 75 >5 °o 
 
 “ “ 3 to 4 feet I 3 ° °° 
 
 “ Early Richmond, 5 to 6 feet 83 °° ^5 °o 
 
 “ ** “ 4 to 5 feet 2 50 18 00 
 
 CONCORD GRAPE, 3 years i 3 ° 10 00 
 
 TURNER RASPBERRY, best hardy red for market 
 
 and family use 1 00 6 00 
 
 WILSON STRAWBERRY 5 °o 
 
 DOWNING “ 6 00 
 
 CURRANTS, Black Naples,Victoria,White Grape, Cherry 400 
 
I