373 14 »y 1 THE FORES mm m < FF P mm MA]SrUAL. o^ledo TEINTH EDITION. ISO^:. NO OUL-TURE WI-TMOU-T p-ORESXS, NO F-O RESTS WITHOUT OUl_TURE= H1 1672 BY J. O. BAEHETT Secretary of the State Forestry Association. MINNEAPOLIS. MINN. Published by The Progr^ssivb Age Publishing Co., MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. THE nm m m < I EE nmm MANUAL. '^^i^^^^^ TENTH EDITION l^O^b. y^. NO CULTURE WITHOUT I=-ORESTS, NO RORESTS WITHOUT CULTURE. BY J. O. BAEBETT, Secretary of the State Forestry Association. MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. Published by The Progressive Age Publishing Co., MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. (^ ^?^ ^y ^^^ OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR 1894. John H. Stevens, J. 0. Barrett, President. Treasurer and Secretary. VICE-PRE SIDE NT S. First Congressional District, Wm. Somerville, Viola, Minn. Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Alfred Terry, - - - Slayton, Minn. N. F. Brand, - - Faribault, Minn. R. S. Macintosh, - - Langdon, Minn. S. M. Owen, - Minneapolis, Minn. Chas. E. Holt, - - Duluth, Minn. 0. A. Th. Solem, - Halstad, Minn. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. S. M. Owen, Minneapolis, Minn. S. B. Green, . . . . St. Anthony Park, Minn. Wm. E. Dobbyn, - Minneapolis, Minn. 0. F. Brand, Faribault, Minn. J. S. Harris, La Crescei. Minn. L. H. Wilcox, Hastings, Minn. C. L. Smith, -..-.- Minneapolis, Minn. AUDITING AND PRINTING COMMITTEE. L. A. Wilcox. S. M. Owen. S. B. Green. LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR. To His Excellency, Hon. Knute Nelson, Governor of Minnesota: Dear Sir:— The legislative act of 1893, basing support for the State For- estry Association, requires an annual report of its doings, together with such other information as it may deem necessary to further advance the interests of forestry. The Minnesota Board of World's Fair Commissioners liberally provided for an exhibit of our woods at the Columbian Exposition of 1893, in Chicago, Til., and allowed the Association the honor of official representation. The exhibit ranked with the first class, and awarded accordingly. Great interest was manifested in our woods by citizens of other states and nationalities, and earnest inquiries made as to their extensiveness for commercial uses. Soon after the close of the exposition, the commissioners tendered the en- tire exhibit to the Forestry Association, as state property in trust, and re-erected it in the Main Building on the State Fair Grounds, preserving its original form greatly improved. During the fiscal year the Association published and distributed 35,000 copies of the Tree Planter's Manual and other forestry pamphlets, besides the ninth edition in the report of the State Agricultural Society. The sec- retary also prepared the forestry department in the report of the State Horticultural Society, and President Stevens, in the annual of the Farmers' Institute. Under the direction of the World's Fair commissioners, the secretary edited another 32-page pamphlet on forestry, entitled "Minne- sota and Its Flora," and distributed the 10,000 copies at the Columbian Exposition. The aggregate of these several pamphlets is 70,000, added to which should be mentioned our other forestry literature issued in 27te Progressive Age, Farm, Stock and Home and other journals, reaching weekly and semi-monthly hundreds of thousands of readers. The association expended $94.70, of which $47.75 were new membership funds, for forest seedlings and seeds, and distributed the same among peo- ple calling for them. Most of these plants were evergreens. The association has now arranged to distribute mail packages of the Jack Oak Acorns to be planted this fall as tests for wind-breaks. An effort was made to raise evergreens for next year's free distribution, but the dryness of the -purchased seeds and the severe drouth brought only failure. In presenting this summary of work, we respectfully call the attention of your excellency to this report, especially to what relates to the needs of legislation on irrigation, forest reservation, forest zoology, forest fires and forest education in our common schools. 4 LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR. EXPENSE ACCOUNT. . • 1893 . . August 1 — By Appropriations $1,500.00 " 7 — Cooperation Printing Co., prtg. Manual.. $ 2.5.50 " 7 — The Progressive Age, pamphlets 22.00 '* 19 — TTieProgfresswe^ge, printing and postage. 63.60 " 22 — J. O. Barrett, postage and express 14.75 October 28— Wm. R. Dobbyn, printing 25.00 November 13 — Wm. L. Peck, services 30.00 " 25 — Wm. R. Dobbyn, serv. and seed expenses.. 113.00 " 28 — J. O. Barrett, express and postage 4.85 December 15 — Wm. R. Dobbyn, publication and distribu- tion forestry literature 25.00 . . 1894 . . January 30 — J. O. Barrett, labor services and postage. 65.50 February 24 — J. O. Barrett, services, ninth edition Man- ual and expenses 50.64 " 27 — Wm. R. Dobbyn, pub. forestry literature. 25.00 March 5 — J. O. Barrett, paid for pub. pamphlet.... 30.00 " 24 — J. O. Barrett, seed dist. misc. expenses.. 55.15 '♦ 30 — Wm. R. Dobbyn, pub. forestry literature. 25.00 May 7 — Wm. R. Dobbyn, pub. forestry literature. 25.00 *' 12 — Wm. R. Dobbyn, pub. forestry literature. 8.58 •' 21— J. O. Barrett, preparing and dist. lit 75.45 " 31— Wm. R. Dobbyn, prtg. and dist. lit 25.00 June 23— Wm. R. Dobbyn, prtg. and dist. lit 25.00 July 14 — J. O. Barrett, preparing and distributing forestry literature, and postage 79.01 " 25 — L. H. Wilcox, expenses as member of Finance Committee 12.50 " 30— Wm. R. Dobbyn, pub. and dist. literature. 25.00 August 4 — J. O. Barrett, stock for tenth edition of Tree Planter's Manual 119.39 " 14 — J. O. Barrett, v^^ork on tenth edition of Manual, and stationery 75.75 " 14 — J. O. Barrett, publishing 10,000 copies tenth edition Manual 1894 275.00 *' 14 — J. O. Barrett, binding 500 copies tenth edition Manual 1894 60.00 $1,380.67 " 14 — To balance 119.33 1894 $1, .^00.00 $1,500.00 " 16— By balance in State Treasury $119.33 J. 0. Barrett, Secretary. John H. Stevens, President. Indigenous Trees and Shrubs. CAPULIFER/E.-OAK FAMILY. The oak is one of the most useful trees in the world. Having greater tenacity of fiber, solidity and durability, it is first sought in the construc- tion of bridges, cars, sea vessers, implements of industry and husbandry of every description. It does not produce good seed until it is about six years old, and seldom fruits two successive years. It increases in pro- ductiveness with age. It takes five or six years to get a good foothold in the soil, and then it grows rapidly till it has attained the age of thirty or forty years. Some of the oaks have great longevity, extending to upwards of a thousand years. Prof. Asa Gray classifies thirty-two species of the oak family in the United States. Prof. Warren Upham, in his catalogue of the Flora of Minnesota, mentions fourteen, eight of which are classed as oaks real — quercus. THE WHITE OAK, QucTCus alba. The white or American oak is common over the middle states, also the Canadas and as far north as Lake Winnipeg where it is rarely over ten or twenty feet. It used to be abundant in our state, and still remains with us, scattered over woodlands, more especially where the transportation does not warrant cutting. The size varies with the soil and climate. An idea obtains that where it naturally grows the soil is strong. It does not follow, for it plants itself on gravelly and sterile soils, and wherever its acorns can get a foothold. The larger in size and better in fiber are found In deep, rich soils. It can be readily distinguished from other oak by its leaves which are regular and oblique, divided into oblong, rounded lobes, destitute of points. "Soon after unfolding," says Nuttall, "they are reddish above and white and downy beneath; when fully grown, they are smooth and of a light green on the upper surface and glaucous underneath. In the fall they change to a bright violet color, and form an agreeable contrast with the surrounding foliage which has not yet suffered from the frost." It can also be distinguished by the whiteness of Its bark, frequently variegated 6 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. with large black spots; useful for tanning purposes. The acorns of this tree, and nothing is more interesting to inspect, are oval in form, large, sweet, contained in rough, shallow, grayish cups, single or in pairs. The wood is reddish. It is manufactured into wheels, furniture, car frames, plow beams and handles, bridges, steamers and sail vessels, dock yards, and multitudes of other things that require solidity and durability. The demand for the wood is so great that ere a quarter of a century has passed, the American oak for commercial purposes will be the same as extinct. How few give the least thought of the oak famine just ahead! SCARLET OAK, Quevcus coccinia. The scarlet oak is quite common on tKe Upper Mississippi, interspersed with other oaks. In favorable localities it is known to grow from three to four feet in diameter and eighty feet in height. Gray bark, its interior reddish; wood also reddish, coarse-grained, open p©res, poor timber com- pared with white or red oak; makes good staves. Its leaves have long foot- stalks, beautiful green, smooth, shiny on both sides, deep, narrow lobes, which in perspective look like green-bordered bays. After successive frosts in the fall, they turn to a bright red. Acorns large and somewhat elongated; cups coarse-scaly, covering half or more of the rounded acorns. This tree does well in dry soil, and may be considered as hardy for the prairie. THE POST OAK, Qu&Tcus obtusUoba. The Post Oak, known elsewhere as the Box-white Oak and sometimes Iron Oak, is, as a rule, but thinly disseminated over the country. Either by birds or some other method of transportation, its acorns have lodged in the soil regions of the Upper Mississippi, but is infrequent. Its fructification seldom fails. "The acorns are small, oval and covered for a third of their length with a slightly rugged grayish cup. They are very sweet, and form a delicious food for squirrels and wild turkeys (farther south), hence the tree is sometimes called the Turkey Tree." It rarely exceeds fifteen inches in diameter and forty to fifty feet in height. It has elbow-like branches, disproportionately large summit and thick, grayish white bark. Its leaves are thick, grayish, downy beneath, pale and rough above. The wood is yellowish. For staves and posts it takes the lead of all the oaks. Its timber is sometimes confounded with the white oak, which it resembles. Probably has never been well tested on the prairies of Minnesota. Being so tough every way, with judicious treatment it would, no doubt, prove invaluable. YELLOW CHESTNUT OAK, Quercus prinus acuminata . This tree is rare in comparison with, many others. It has been found in the southeastern part of Minnesota. Its special retreat is in valleys where the soil is loose, deep and fertile; and there it may attain a height of seventy or eighty feet, and two feet in diameter; the branches trying to hug the trunk as if to protect it from the cold, a habit that perhaps would commend it for the prairie where it can be rightly protected by other INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 7 Its leaves are oblong or lance-like. The acorns are small, set prettily in slightly scaly cups, and are sweeter than those of any other species in the United States. The bark is whitish, sometimes plated. The wood is yel- lowish. Its pores are irregularly disposed, quite numerous, hence not equal in strength and durability with some of the other oaks. THE BUR OAK, Quevcus Tnacrocapa. The Bur Oak, known also as the Over-cup or Mossy-cup White Oak, is common throughout the state and country at large. It is found growing in all kinds of soil. According to Bell, its northern limit north of Lake Superior is near the international boundary. The leaves are larger than any other oak in the United States, some- times fifteen inches long and eight inches broad, notched near the summit and lance shape; "obovate" (broad end upward), or oblong lyrately pin- natifid (lobed like a lyre) of various shapes, pale or downy beneath, smooth above. Its oval-shaped acorns are larger than those of any other American species. The cup is thick and rugged, covering about two-thirds of the acorn, hard pointed scales, the upper ones, tapering into bristly points, making a mossy fringed border. Sometimes, however, more especially in compact forests, these flexible filaments are absent, the edge smooth and bent inward. The fructification of the Bur Oak is not abundant. On sterile soil it is small. On the alluvial bottoms or any other deep, rich soil, it towers up majestic, sound and full-meated, like the white oak which it there resem- bles. In such localities its timber is by no means second-handed. In its best estate it grows sixty or more feet high, having tall and far-reach- ing limbs, laden with dark tufted foliage. Its bark resembles the Cork- bark Elm. This hardy oak deserves more credit than it receives, and should be planted more extensively. JACK OR BEAR OAK, Quevcus Banistcri. Nuttall. The Jack, or Bear Oak, known also as Black Jack, is indigenous to Minnesota, and is very prolific where it gets a foothold, especially in the more barren and sandy sections. It is bushy, often not more than three to four feet high, but sometimes, in favorable localities, will tower up from 15 to 20 or more feet. It grows in clusters, sometimes literally covering acres, forming so dense thickets as to prevent the passage of cattle; would, therefore, make a superior wind break, and in winter, is equal to, if not better than, evergreen hedges, for its leaves hang on the limbs, and no wind seems strong enough to remove them until the buds of spring push them out of the way. No tree in Minnesota; is more hardy. "It is an excellent tree to plant for shelter belts," says Mr. Hodges, "serv- ing the same purpose in this regard as the evergreens to screen the farms from the cold blasts of winter." It also makes an excellent fuel. GRAY OAK, Quercus borealis. It is located on Prairie River, attaining a height of fifty feet and a diameter of ten inches. It bears a close resemblance in foliage to the red 8 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. oak and in its fruit to the scarlet oak. Leaf large and smooth. Acorns middle size, the ends round, cups scaly. Wood, coarse and open, fit only for dry wares, but is strong and durable, employed for the knees of vessels and wheelwright's work. Otherwise it has no special interest to commend it. SWAMP, SPANISH OR PIN OAK, Quevcus palustris. A tall tree, found in moist places; hugs to the swamps to find protection of other trees; and on the upper Mississippi, in rich soil, towers eighty feet or more with a base of three or four feet in diameter. Its secondary branches are numerous, slender and quite closely intermingled. Leaves similar to those of the scarlet oak, differing principally in propor- tions. Acorns, small, round and contained in flat saucer-shaped cups that have short scales. The bark is adhesive, scarcely cracked; cellular tissue very thick. Wood, coarse; pores, open. When young, its pyramidal shape and elegant foliage recommend it for parks. RED OAK, Quercus rubra. The habitat of the Red Oak is in the north where it is cool. If so un- lucky as to get into poor soil, it b> no means is diminutive, compared with Its congeners like situated. Prof. Gray speaks in its praise, so does every other botanist. Large tree ; dark gray, smoothish bark ; coarse, reddish wood. The pores are often large enough to pass a hair; strong, used for staves and furniture; excellent for dry wares. Leaves smooth, shiny on both sides, large, deeply laciniated (slashed), roundish at the base, of a dull red in autumn, turning yellow before they fall. Acorns, abundant and large, voraciously devoured by bears and other wild animals; even horses and cows like them, and hogs fatten on them. "Cups, saucer-shape, on a narrow neck, of fine, close scales, very much shorter than the nearly oblong acorn." It is the first of American oaks introduced into Europe. It is found as far north as Saskatchewan and the rocks of Lake Namakeen. Its beauty is unsurpassed. The author has thus described the native oaks of Minnesota, as reported by Prof. Warren Upham. There are others introduced into some of our parks and lawns, some of these from the eastern continent, and when fully tested as to hardiness, will be sought more extensively ; but the mania to look abroad for our trees is not recommendable. We are amply supplied with what are already acclimated^ being indigenous. HOP-HORNBEAN, Ostrya Virrjinica. The American, or Hop-Hornbean, is known also as Iron wood. Lever wood, without other distinctions; common in Minnesota, except close to Lake Superior. It is usually found in cool, shaded, fertile localities. Farther south it sometimes grows twelve or fifteen inches in diameter, and from thirty to forty feet in height, but commonly half that size in our state. Its leaves are alternate, oval-shaped, taper-pointed, fine-toothed. They are quite birch-like. The flowers appearing with them in the spring, are borne at the extremities of the branches, and the fruit is in clusters like INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 9 hops. The seeds are small, hard, triangular, contained in oval, reddish, inflated bladders, covered with an irritating fine down. The bark in win- ter is smooth and grayish, detached in strips, finely divided. The wood is purely white, fine grained, heavy, compact. The tree Is a very slow grower. It is used mainly for levers by the woodsmen; it can be put to many mechanical uses, such as blocks, mill-cogs, mallets, etc. Carpinus Americana is th« true American Hornbean, also called the blue or water beech. This is a low tree; its trunk furrowed; very hard wood; close gray bark; small leaves, resembling those of the beech; flowers with the leaves in the spring. Quite common in our native woods, grow- ing indifferently as to soil. There is a unique beauty about it. Its white, tough wood recommends it. THE BEECH, Fagus ferruginea. Probably not a native beech tree grows in the woods of Minnesota, but it abounds in Eastern Wisconsin under the salutary influence of Lake Michigan. Though not suitable for a pioneer tree, yet it is so valuable and susceptible of surviving in special localities under right treatment, it is worthy of consideration. It must have moist soil and cool atmosphere. It is not well adapted to our dry prairies, but is to the drained alluvial soils of our river valleys, where they can be insulated by protecting forests. Seed will have to be procured outside of the state. Be sure and have the northern grown, such as Eastern Wisconsin furnishes. It ripens in Octo- ber. Soon as possible plant under tree shade, where there is light enough, however, to sprout them healthfully. Thin out the old shading trees gradually, for the young beeches must be acclimated. In three or four years you should have all the near supports removed for the reception of ample light and ventilation. URTICACE/E.-ELM FAMILY. The Elm belongs to the Nettle Family, which, according to Gray,includes thirty-eight or more species and varieties in the United States. Upham mentions thirteen for Minnesota. But we have to deal with trees, not shrubs and grasses. He recognizes but three of the elms, the white, the red, the cork, as indigenous. WHITE ELM, Ulmus Americana. The White or American Elm is magnificent. It ranges over a vast area from New Foundland to Florida and as far west as the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It adapts itself to different kinds of soil, thriving, with proper treatment, on the prairies central on the continent. It leads all the other elms in hardiness, size, foliage and beauty. It is a fast grow- er; in deep, rich soil and favorable environment, known to attain from two to three feet or more diameter in half a century. Evidently there are different types of this tree, two especially marked. In the alluvial soil of the Mississippi and other river valleys of Minnesota, 10 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. some of these species branch out from near the ground, towering up in grand balance, forming large, round heads, the tips of the branches droop- ing somewhat like the weeping willow. The shade of this species, when the tree is matured, covers a large area, the branches being so freely yet connectedly spread out umbrella shape. Another conspicuous type is characterized by a single straight trunk, crowned with a smaller and flatter head, and with less shade. It branches higher up from the ground than the former, self-pruned, leaving a long solid trunk, thirty, forty,and even fifty feet, in some cases, free from limbs save now and then abortive branchlets, which in time scale of. As a rule this tree seldom needs any pruning. Leaves short-stalked, oval, taper pointed. Flowers in April, purplish, clustered. Fruit flat, fringed with a dense down. Easily grown. Matures in June. Then plant it in thin light loam. No tree should be planted more extensively. It belongs to the centuries. Generally, this elm is hard to split; hence its wood is very useful for wheels, saddle-trees, special kinds of coopering, for keels to small boats, and some other mechanical structures. Quite substantial rope can be made from its macerated bark. When sawed quartering, polished and varnished, it is, in some instances, as beautiful as the black walnut or bird's-eye maple. SLIPPERY ELM, Ulmus fulva. Also known as the Red and Moose Elm, and by the American French as the Arme gras. This tree does not grow to the size of the White Elm, nor is it as common. It thrives in a well drained soil, while that variety of the white called the water elm, prefers a low, alluvial soil. In favorable localities of our state it attains fifteen to twenty inches in diameter and from fifty to sixty feet in height. It can be readily distinguished in winter from the white by the buds, which are rounder and larger, and in their early development by being covered by a russet down. Its leaves are also larger, thicker and rougher. "These and the flowers," says Gray, "are sweet scented in drying." The flowers are grouped at the extremity of the young shoots. "Seed in the middle of the orbicular or round oval fruit, far away from the shallow notch." The trunk-bark is brown, htart of a dull red tinge. The wood appears a perfect make-up and very beautiful when well polished and varnished. When exposed to the weather it is of a better quality and more durable than the White Elm. It is valuable for blocks, ox-yokes, etc. "Well known for its mucilaginous, medicinal inner bark." As an ornamental tree it is not as gracefully balanced as the white elm, but for utility it should be extensively planted and carefully preserved in our woodlands and cultivated groves. CORK ELM, Ulmus racemosa. The other names for this tree are the White Corky and Rock Elm. For wheelwright, furniture, and oth«r purposes, it is the most valuable of all the elms; its wood is drier, whiter, cleaner rifted, and finer in constituency. It extends north on the higher shores of the upper Mississippi and its INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. H tributaries; is' common in nearly all tke woodland counties; but the tree is fast going. In some particulars it resembles the White Elm, but is easily distinguished by its peculiar color and clefts of bark. The lower branches have corky excrescences; young branchlets downy-haired. The bud-scales are fringed with hairs. The leaves have straighter veins than those of the White. Flowers are clustered; two to four together, the stalk of each particular flower in the cluster being arranged along the sides of a general peduncle (flower-stalk). The winged fruit is elliptical and the margin deep- ly fringed. This elm is deserving of special attention. TILIACE^.— LINDEN FAHILY. Tilia Americana is known as Basswood, Linden, Lime Tree, Whitewood. Naturally abundant in the big woods, but largely consumed now; common throughout the native woodlands of the state, "extending north to Bass- wood Lake on the international boundary," says Winchell. "Its northern limit is just south of Thunder Bay, from which it nearly follows the inter- national line to the Lake of the Woods, and thence extends nearly to Lake Winnipeg and northwest to Fort Ellice." Being found so far north is proof of the hardiness and adaptability to planting in any part of the state. Its best condition obtains in loose, deep and fertile soil, growing there from 70 to 80 feet high and 3 to 4 feet in diameter. It generally has a straight and uniform trunk and a broad, tufted summit. No tree is better balanced nor more beautiful. When but a few years old the leaves are remarkably large, sometimes growing fourteen to fifteen inches long and a foot wide, suspended down a petiole (footstalk) about three inches long. On mature trees they are smaller. They are attached alternate, nearly round, heart-shaped at the base Both sides are quite smooth. The flowers have numerous stamens or fertilizing organs. "Their filaments," says Gray, "cohering in five clusters, sometimes with a petal-like body in each cluster; others two-celled pistil with a five-celled ovary, having two ovals in each cell, iu fruit be- coming rather woody globular, one-seeded little nut. * * * Dull, cream-colored, honey-bearing flowers formed in early summer on a nodding axillary peduncle (flower-stalk) which is united to a long and narrow leaf- like bract." Blossoms in June. The seeds are round, like a pea, grayish, ripening in October. When ready to fall they can be beaten down with a pole. After drying a few days, they should be planted in rich soil. They can also be propagated from shoots that spring up around the trunks of the forest tree, by shovel- ing soil upon them, and in two years they are well rooted. Layering is a successful method. ,, u j a The wood is white and tender, clean and beautiful when polished and varnished. It is used for boxes, carriage bodies, chair-seats, and is grow- ing popular even for floors. 13 TPvEE PLANTER'S MANUAL. The flowers of the lindens are special favorites for bees, and the honey thence extracted Is classed as of the best quality. It pays to raise them for honey alone; but other commercial values are so great we cannot af- ford to neglect planting extensively our basswood in every part of the state OLEACE/E.— ASH FAMILY. WHITE ASH, Fraxinus Americana. Common over the state. Frequent on the banks of our rivers and lakes, and on the edges and acclivities of swamps, scattered also on high drained grounds. A fine tree, straight trunk, often undivided to a height of forty feet or more. Bark is deeply furrowed on large stalks, checked into small squares, one to three inches in diameter. Leaves, opposite on their stalks, the green color on their upper surfaces, finely contrasting with the white underneath. The cylindrical seeds are about an inch long, gradually flattening into wings slightly notched on the ends. They grow in bunches four or five inches long. Ripe in October. In common with all the other ashes, its thriftiness and value are affected by the soil in which it is planted to a remarkable degree. In rich soil its wood is apt to be brittle; is tough and reedy in sandy soil, greatly enhanc- ing its value. When the wood is perfected, it is reddish; sap-wood is white. It is used for carriage shafts, wheel fellies, sledges, wheelbarrows, scythes, and other tool handles, butter boxes and firkins, sieves, wooden bowls, oars, barrels, etc. Prof. F. L. Budd, of Ames, Iowa, says : " A grove of ten acres thinned to six feet apart, containing 12,000 trees, at twelve years were eight inches in diameter, and thirty-five feet high, the previous thinning paying all expenses of planting and cultivation. Ten feet of the bodies of these trees were worth, for making bent stuff, etc., forty cents each, and the re- maining top ten cents, making a total of $6,000 as the profit of ten acres in twelve years, or a yearly profit of $50 per acre." J. Jay Smith reports that the leaves and branches of the white ash "are said to be poisonous to serpents and the leaf to cure their bite. An ash leaf rubbed upon the swellings caused by mosquitoes removes the itching and soreness immediately." RED ASH, F. pubescens. In the woodland regions it is quite extensive; "velvety shoots and leaf stalks; fruit flattish, two-edged seed-bearing body acute at the base, the edges gradually dilated into lance-linear or oblanceolate wing." Leaves twelve to fifteen inches long. Wood esteemed equal that of the White Ash. INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. IS BLACK ASH, F. sambucifolia. •' Occasionally plentiful throughout the state, excepting, perhaps, south- westward."— Z7p?iam. "Its northwestern limit reaches the southern part of Lake Winnipeg, and thence extends southward along the east side of the-Red River."— Betl. "Will develop magnificently on ground too wet for most any other timber, except it may be tamarac' --L. B. Hodges. Buds of a deep blue; young shoots a bright green in early spring. No calyx in the fertile flowers. Leaves have peculiar appendages on each side of their base, when first unfolding, but dropping off in a few weeks. In their full estate, they are twelve to fifteen inches long, "composed of three or four pairs of leaflets with an odd one." When bruised they emit an odor like the Elder. Seeds are flat, bunched and winged. Ripen In the fall. Bark a duller hue than that of the White Ash, and less deeply furrowed. Ripe wood of a fine texture and brown complexion; tougher and more elastic than the White Ash, but less durable. Growing more and more popular . for strong structures and furniture. More than any other species it devel- ops gnarls attached to the body of the tree. These excrescenses have sin- gular undulations, looking sometimes like clusters of little vines arranged in bowers. The wood of such is very beautiful when polished and var- nished. The ashes of this tree are rich in potash. Take it all in all it la deserving of special attention. BLUE ASH, F. qiiadrangulata. Rather a rare tree in our state, is found on the upper Mississippi, at Rainy Lake and other northern localities favorable to iis growth, and there often becomes one of the largest trees of the forest. The leaves are from twelve to fifteen inches long. "Square branchlets. * * Ovate veiny leaflets on short stalks, and narrowly oblong fruits." Its wood is the most highly esteemed of all the ash family, and most extensively used where toughness and beauty are required. A blue color, it is said, is extracted from its inner bark; and it is claimed that the milk of its boiled leaves is an unfailing remedy /or the bite of the rattlesnake. GREEN ASH, F. viHdis. The most frequent of all our ashes. Has the properties of the Red Ash, but is a smoother and smaller tree. Leaves vary from six to fifteen inches long. "The seeds of the green ash are frequently mistaken for those of the white ash, and sold as such by dealers. They can be readily distin- guished apart, however. The seed of the white ash has a long wing, and the seed pod itself is elongated. The green ash seed has a much shorter wing and the seed pod is not more than half as long as that of the white ash"— Hodges. Ripens in the fall. Though not a large tree, it will double its natural size by cultivation. "A true pioneer of the forests," says Dr. Warner, of Ohio, "soon to be planted on the plains, it spreads naturally into the native grass, and struggles through the prairie herbage that would destroy other trees." »4 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. BETULACE/E.— BIRCH FAniLY. The natural climate of the birches is in the northern parts of the east- ern and western continents. The cold is as natural to them as to the white bear of the Frigid Zone. Below the 43rd degree, north latitude, they dwindle into mediocrity. Michaux avers that there are as many species of the birch found in the United States as in Europe; "and, from my own observations on the comparative properties of their wood, the advantage appears to lie wholly on the side of the American species." J. Jay Smith, translator of Michaux, says the Earl of Huntington calls the birch an amphibious plant, "as it grows on rich or poor, wet or dry, sandy or rocky situations, nor refuses any soil or climate whatever." Most of the birches ripen their seeds in September or October. The birches follow in the wake of the forest fire, springing up as If by enchant- ment. In the woodlands of Europe, fifteen pounds of seed is sown upon an • acre. A common method there, has been to harrow up the ground fine and mellow, in the late fall, and cover by dragging over it a brushwood drag. Like all other forest seeds and plants, the birches at first need a shading against hot and dry suns. If the design is to sow in an open field, a good way is to mix it with winter rye, and treat as described, making the cereal crop pay on the forest expenses. This method would do on our woodland territory, but is questionable as to success on the wind-swept prairie. In the extreme northern part of Europe, the wood is used for the man- ufacture of almost all the implements of husbandry — wheels, bowls, plates, spoons, chairs, etc. In our country it is beginning to be better appreciat- ed than to use it up for fuel. Some of its species, the Canoe Birch es- pecially, has a wavy grain, beautiful for furniture. In Sweden, Norway and Finland much importance is attached to the bark from which is made pans, baskets, sandals and the like. The rustic people there make soles of it, and fix it in the crown of their hats for protection against dampness. The Laplanders use it in making the reindeer skin water-proof. In Rus- sia the bark of large trees Is burned in kilns or furnaces and thence an empyreumatic oil is obtained with which a leather is prepared which is highly esteemed for durability. When young and tender the leaves are given to domestic stock, and families use them as a substitute for tea, and dyers employ them in dyeing wool to a yellow luster. In the spring the sap of the birch is copious and is often boiled down to a delicious syrup. Susceptible to so many practical uses, and being so hardy and pretty, the birch deserves special attention. Speaking of its beauty, "Emerson re- marks." says J.Jay Smith," 'that no trees are more distinguished for their light and feathery foliage, and the graceful sweep of their limbs, than the birches; no family affords such a variety of aspect.' " Certainly no tree on our lawns is more attractive than the Weeping Cut-Leaved Birch — a Eu- ropean hybrid. BLACK BIRCH, Betula cuta. This is known as "Mountain Mahogany" in Virginia, and Sweet and Cherry Birch in New England and Canada It is not very plentiful with INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 15 us. Dr. Bell says Minnesota is its northwestern limit. It is at its best in deep, loose, cool soil, and there will grow 60 to 70 feet In height and from two to three feet in diameter. It is one of the earliest trees to un- fold its buds. The flowers appear along with its leaves which resemble those of the cherry. "The leaves," says Dr. Gray, "are oblong ovate and somewhat heart-shaped, sharply doubly serrate all around." They are dotted with white and so are the smooth young shoots. Bruise them and they emit a sweet odor, and will retain this quality when dried and pre- served. It matures its seed about the first of November. The bark is smooth and grayish, much resembling that of the cherry tree. "When freshly cut, the wood," says Michaux, "is of a rosy hue which deepens by exposure to the light. Its grain is fine and close, whence it is susceptible of a brilliant polish; it possesses a considerable share of strength." It is sought for tables, bedsteads, panels, arm chairs, etc; It is a rapid grower. Its mahogany-like wood, its beauty of foliage, its odor of flower and leaf recommend it as a central figure in the park and lawn. YELLOW OR GRAY BIRCH, B. CUtca. Prof. Upham, quoting Prof. Winchell, says it is "common in the north half of the state and south of Sherburne county, reaching a height of seventy-five feet and diameter of three or four feet; rare in the big woods and southeast of Houston county." Dr. Gray reports the bark of the trunk as "yellowish gray and sornewhat silvery, separating in filmy layers." Sometimes the epidermis is rolled backward at the ends, attached only in the middle. Its golden yellow and graceful foliage render it very con- spicuous in the woods. Its fruiting catkins are short-oblong, the scales visibly downy under the lens. The seeds beneath the scales are small- winged, ripening about the first of October. The wood is not as deep shaded as the black birch, but is strong and handsome; makes good ox- yokes and frames of sledges. The bark is used in tanning. Take it all in all this tree possesses many merits and is deserving of special favor. RIVER OR RED BIRCH, B. rubra. This species is rarely found away from limpid streams and rivers. In middle age, when about ten inches in diameter, its epidermis is reddish or cinnamon colored. Like that of the Canoe Birch it can be divided into sheets. Ample in summit, thick branches, twigs long, flexible and pen- dulous. Leaves about three inches long, two broad; whitish beneath, green on the upper surface; edges deeply denticulated, pointed at summit. Seed ripens in June. The wood is nearly white, both in the sap and heart. Like that of the Juneberry it is marked longitudinally by red vessels intersecting each other in the different directions. Makes good trays. From its twigs stable and street brooms are manufactured. Its saplings are used for hoops to a good advantage. Unlike other birches it enjoys intense heat, but while it adapts itself to sunny elements it thrives in the north when protectingly environed. 15 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. PAPER OR CANOE BIRCH, B. papyracia. Often abundant in the north half of the state; is plentiful in Renville county, especially in Birch Coolie; "is found," says Prof. Bell, "along the Assiniboine valley as far west as Qu' Appelle lakes." It likes the decliv:- ty of hills and does not refuse the bottoms of alluvial soil. Its limbs are slender and flexible, or a shiny brown and white dotted, while the body of the tree, especially when young, is as white as the wintry snow which it delights in. It is more papery than the so-called White Birch of less size. The leaves are of middle size, unequally denticulated, ovate, heart-shaped, dull beneath, dark green above; oblong, downy, short- stalked catkins; wings of fruit broad, ripening toward the middle of July. The sap-wood is perfectly white. When first laid open its heart is a reddish blue, glossy grained; speedily decays when subject to the extremes of dryness and moisture. It makes superior tables. Some sections of it are as beautiful as mahogany, and is much sought for special embellish- ment. Like its kin, the White Birch of Europe, its bark is used for various purposes. Before we had tarred paper, it was laid immediately beneath the shingles to the roofs of our houses. Pretty baskets are made of it, and fancy boxes and portfolios. From it the Indians construct berry boxes and sap buckets, and canoes, so light that they are easily transported on the shoulders from one lake or river to another. A most valuable tree this. Under the order of Betulaceae, we have the Low Birch or Tag Alder, common in the north half of the state; the Dwarf Birch, on the northern shore of Lake Superior, on the ridge east of the Red river, often compan- ionated with the Green or Mountain Alder. Under this head also is our Black Alder, quite extensive in the wooded north, and the rare Smooth Alder in the southeast. SAPINDACE>e.— HAPLE FAniLY. STRIPED MAPLE OR MOOSEWOOD, Acer Pcnnsylvaniana. "Common northeastward, extending south to the upper Mississippi and to southwestern Pine county." — Upham. "Rare and local farther south to Lake Pepin." — Miss Manning. It Is a small, pretty tree, having, as Prof. Gray describes, "light green bark,striped with dark lines, large thin leaves finely sharply serrate (toothed) all around, and at the end three sharp and very taper-pointed lobes, slender hanging racemes (flower clustered) of rather large green flowers, and fruit with diverging wings." At- tractive at all seasons. "One of the earliest trees to feel the approach of spring." Ripens its seed about the first of October. MOUNTAIN MAPLE, A. Spicatum. "Common north of Lake Superior and along the international boundary; extends south to Mille Lacs." — Upham. It is also found elsewhere par- INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 17 ticularly southward on the Mississippi bluffs. Grows from twenty to thirty feet high. Has "slightly three-lobed and coarsely toothed leaves, downy beneath, and upright dense racemes of small flowers, followed by small fruits with diverging narrow wings." Its beauty is most conspicuous in autumn when its leaves have "various rich shades of red, with seeds yel- lowish," then ripening and ready to fall. Growing naturally on high- lands, delighting in the cold, it must be hardy enough for our prairies, mixed with large trees for wind-breaks. SUGAK MAPLE, A. saccharinum. Known also as Hard and Rock Maple. Not indigenous in the western prairie part of the state, but common in oiir native woods, except near the shore of Lake Superior. "According to Bell," says Prof. Upham, "the northern limit of this tree extends from the lower part of the valley of the Krfministiquia river westward a little to the north of the boundary line to the Lake of the Woods, where it turns south." It is a tree of the north, mostly abounding in the states and Canada between the 43d and 49th parallel. It likes to live on the mountain sides, on the crest of hills, in cold, humid valleys, but everywhere demands fertile soiL Will attain seventy to eighty feet and proportional diameter. Its bark is grayish white. Leaves about five inches broad, varying in length according to age and vigor. They are attached opposite each other on long stalks, palmated (like the hand with outstretched fingers), five-lobed, bright green above, whitish underneath. The first touches of autumnal frost turns them red. "Calyx bell-shaped and hairy-fringed."— Gray. "Flowers small, yellowish, suspended by slender, drooping peduncles. Seeds contained in two cap- sules united at the base and terminated by a membranous wing " — Mich- aux. Seeds ripen in October, but mature only once in two or three years. When first cut, the wood Is white, but when long exposed to the light assumes a rosy tinge. Grain is close and fine; sllken-lustered; strong and heavy: is not durable as the oak; quickly decays in moisture. It makes good axle trees, wheel-spokes, sled runners, chairs, desks, etc. bird's-eye maple. This also is the Hard or Sugar Maple — not common. Its undulations are like those of the Curly Maple; has spots — "bird's eyes" — about half a line in diameter; sometimes contiguous and then apart. Very much esteemed by cabinet makers. The more numerous the spots, the more beautiful and valuable is the wood. TAPPING TO DEATH. The treatment the sugar maples are receiving from resident whites and Indians is unpardonable. Having ax-stabbed them for sugar for the last quarter of a century, the large trees are rotting out, and such may as well be used for fuel. But spare the young growth by keeping out the fires and imprisoning the men and boys who cut them for camp fires. The Sugar Maple resists the wind well. It can be raised on the prairie from seed planting, especially when amply protected by the ash, willow, 18 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. elm, and box-elder trees. The Black Sugar Maple is a very pretty variety. It prevails more in the southern than the northern part of the state. Its bark is black, specked with white, contrasting prettily with its densely green and tufted foliage. WHITE MAPLE, A. dasycarpum. Also called the Soft Silver and River Maple. Indigenous to nearly every part of the state, but rare in the northwestern portion; abundant on the alluvial bottoms of the upper Mississippi and its tributaries, and on other northeastern waters. It blooms early; flowers greenish ; destitute of petals; fruit woolly when young, soon smooth, developing to oval-shaped seeds with great diverging wings. Ripen in June. Trunk low and stalky; many limbed; divergent, spacious head, opening well to the sun- light. Its foliage is magnificent. Leaves deeply five-lobed; silvery white and downy beneath; densely green above. Note them as they tremble in the wind, aflame with their brilliant white and green — a life-moving pict- ure of light and shade. Its sap is saccharine, yielding but half the sugar product of the Hard Maple — measure for measure as it flows from the trees. The wood is white and fine-grained, soft and light; serves well in cabinet making, and is growing more and more in favor; makes the best of charcoal. Rightly managed is a success on our prairies, but needs the protection of other trees, for its limbs are apt to split down in our heavy winds. Pruning of this tree should be on its laterals, carefully preserving the central stem. RED FLOWERING OR SWAMP MAPLE, A. ruhrum. Abounding through the east part of the state, about Redwood Falls, in Winona county and White Earth reservation; extends west to Mead-Port- age on the Dawson route, north of Lake Superior. It clings to the borders of running streams and not infrequently to the miry swamps, and yet grows on the elevated ground with the oaks and butternuts. It is the earliest to blossom, unfolding about a fortnight before the leaves. The blossoms are a deep red and so are the twigs. Unlike the other maples, they are with- out stalks to divide from at the extremity of the branches. The eaves are three to five-lobed, whitish underneath, irregular-toothed. Fruit also reddish, slightly spreading wings. When young the bark is smooth, marked with white blotches; when it has attained twenty-five or thirty feet high, the bark becomes brown and chapped. Sugar is manufactured from its sap. The heart of the wood projects into the sappy portions in the form of an irregular star, making it very pretty. The wood in general is harder than that of the White Maple, is finer and closer grained, sus- ceptible of a glossy surface. Nothing is more beautiful when polished and varnished. It is used in manufacturing the staves and spokes of spinning wheels, saddle-trees, yokes, shovels, domestic wooden ware. In some very old trees the grain is undulated, known as Curly Maple, often having vary- ing shades that are very beautiful. The cellular tissue of this maple is a dull red. When boiled it turns to a purplish color; then apply a solution of sulphate of iron, and it is a dark blue. With alum it is used in dyeing INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 19 black. Its peculiarities command attention, and its augmenting utilities in the manufacturing and chemical arts entitle it to special planting and protection. ^ ASH-LEAVED MAPLE OR BOX ELDER, Neguudo aceroides. This is one of our reliable pioneer trees. Indigenous to the whole state where our native woods abound, except at the extreme north, but can be propagated there, for it is a success across the boundary line in Manitoba In the alluvial soils of the upper Mississippi, Otter Tail and some of the other northern rivers, it sometimes attains two to three feet in diameter It IS characterized with green twigs, drooping clusters of small greenish flowers coming out earlier than the leaves. Even when growing in our native woods it tends to a broad head with dense foliage; hence one of our best shade-needing trees. It sprouts largely from the crown of its roots interlacing among its companions, climbing to the light, and therefore forms a very compact and solid wind-break. This and the ashes and elms belong in the list of the reliable trees of the prairied West. As yet it is not much used in the manufacturing arts. The seeds are encased in long shells protruding into rudder-like wings. Sugar and syrup of excellent quality can be made from its sap. JUQLANDACE/E.-WALNUT FAHILY. BUTTERNUT, J. ciueHa. otherwise called the Oil Nut and White Walnut. Once common south- ward; mostly cut off there for lumber, yet quite extensive on the Snake and upper Mississippi rivers and their tributaries. It is a national tree belonging mainly in the north. It generally branches out at a small height, mostly horizontal, forming a large tufted head in fine balance When young it resembles the Black Walnut, but they are unlike in maturi- ty-especially in the woods-the Butternut being light in weight; of little strength and reddish in color, while the Black Walnut is heavier, stronger and of a dark color. No panels are prettier than the butternut It is a very popular wood for furniture and house finishing. Vegetates early in the springy Each leaf has seven to eight pairs of leaflets with a terminal odd one. They are lance-like, toothed and slightly downy. The barren flowers in single catkins are attached to the shoots of the preceding year- the fertile flowers on shoots of the same spring, and at their extremes' The fruit IS commonly single, oily and palatable. The nut itself is hard* oblong, ronnd at the base, pointed at summit; the surface furrowed ir- regular y and rough. The bark possesses medical properties, regarded as the best of cathartics. The tree is hardy; will do well even on the pralHe 20 TESE PLANTER'S MANUAL. under protection of other trees. Is a rapid grower. Ripens its seeds in the early fall; should be planted just before the ground freezes up for winter. BLACK WALNUT, J. nigra. Indigenous in the southern half of the state. But few timber slzod trees now left; young trees springing up where they can; some of our south- ern farmers are wisely planting large orchards of them on the prairie. With protective environments can be made a fair success between the 45th and 47th parallel. Leaves about eighteen inches long; number of leaflets about same as the butternut. The set relation of the flowers are the same. Fruit is rounder than that of the butternut; odoriferous, uneven on surface, appears at the extremity of the branches sometimes seven to eight inches in circumference. Husk is thick. Nut is hard, compressed at sides, grooved into deep furrows. Pith is in plates, sweet, agreeable, but not equal to that of the European Walnut. In other respects our American Black Walnut is superior to the European. Seed ripens in the fall. The bark on old trees is deeply furrowed, thick and blackish. "The duramen of the wood is compact and heavy, of a deep violet color surround- ed with a white alburnum." — Wood. On exposure to the air the duramen (ripe wood) becomes nearly black, and the alburnum (sap) speedily decays. Very strong and tenacious; does not warp or split v/hen thoroughly season- ed. Admits of a fine polish. The curly walnut is incomparably beautiful. The ripe wood is not liable to be attacked by worms; is used in naval architecture in cabinet work, in musket stocks, etc. The husks of the fruit make a good dye for woolen stuffs. All things considered it is one of our most valuable trees and should be extensively planted. HICKORIES. These belong with the Walnut family. The Shell-bark or Shag-bark Hick- ory, Caya alba, is indigenous to Houston, Winona, Filmore, Mower, Free- born, Oimstead and some other southern counties; seldom found north of these counties, except where specially planted. The bark on mature trunks is very shaggy, having rough strips. Like that of the Yellow Birch the narrow plates bend outward at the ends, and adhere in the middle. Amid the shade of other trees the trunk is des- titute of branches for three-quarters of its length, and nearly uniform in size. Will grow eighty to ninety feet high and yet be not over two feet in diameter. The fruit ripens in the early part of October. Late fall planting is the more successful way of management. It is round, divided into four seams which readily open at maturity. The nut in this quarto- divisional epicarp is comparatively small, having four angles corresponding with the divisions of the thick husk. The kernel is sweeter than any of the American Walnuts except the Pecan-nut. The Shell-bark hickory nuts bring a good price in the market. Like that of all the other hickories, the wood is elastic, strong and tenacious. Has fine rift. It is used for the keels of vessels, hoops, whip-stalks, ax-handles, etx:. The tree endures the most intense cold. Why is it not more largely planted? INDIGENOUS TREES AND SERUBS. 21 OUR OTHER lIICKdRIES. In our Big Woods, extending north to Snake river, is the Pig-nut or Broom Hickory, C. porce?ia. (Niitt.) Juglans OLabra. {Willd.) It grows to a magnificent tree. Its wood is reputed to be the strongest and most tenacious of all our hickories. We have also the Bitter-nut, C. amara, more extensive than the former; found on the tributaries of the St. Croix, St. Louis and along the water courses of the upper Mississippi. The woodmen work up its wood into various tools for lumbering and farming operations. Their nuts are inferior to the Shell-bark. Though all our hickories are liable to be worm-eaten and easily decay, they are valuable trees, hardy, and should have a deserving place in our forestry work. SALICACE/E.— WILLOW FAHILY. Prof. J. H. Winchell in his Geological report of 1883, as compiled by Prof. Warren Uphara, enumerates fifteen species of native willows regis- tered for Minnesota. Since then others have doubtless been discovered. We have four as here given that grow to trees. Nearly all our willows naturally grow In humid situations, along our water shores where they serve the useful purpose of preventing the erosion and waste of the soil. The bark of most of them contains a medical property about as efifectual in intermittent fevers as the Peruvian bark. Botanists find the willow family as among the most difficult to discriminate. The distinction obtains principally in the variability of their stamens, leaf appearances and seed vessels. Their flowers are generally dioecious, that is, a class of plants whose sex-flowers are on two different: individuals, as opposed to monascia, with two sorts of flowers on different parts of the same plant. Their seeds, developed in catkins, are very numerous; hence the willows multiply very rapidly. BLACK WILLOW, SuUx nigra. A river tree, growing thirty or more feet high; usually divides into large limbs »t a short distance up the trunk. Leaves long and narrow, A decoction of the roots is pronounced a good purifier of the blood. The Myrtle Willow myrtiliodes, has its merits, rare southward, frequent northward, even north of Lake Superior. A good protection against Polar winds. Long-Leaved Willow, S. longifolio. There seems to be some confusion among botanists as to the identity of this willow. Gray mentions it as "a low shrub or a low tree." Nuttall, dating from his observations in Oregon, speaks of it as a large tree: "No willow on the American continent present? remarkable and splendid an appearance." It has a very different aspect from this in Minnesota, if indeed it is the same species. It is our Sand-bar willow, common throughout the state. 22 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. ALMOND-LKAVED WILLOW, iS. amygloides. Abounds in the Red River Valley and thence eastward. It attains a tree-like size, peculiarly attractive. Prof. M. B. Webb, in Wheeler's re- ports of surveys west of One Hundredth Meridian, thus credits it: "The broad leaves, being supported by long and slender petioles, are moved by the slightest breeze, displaying in rapid, fluttering succession their con- spicuous white under surfaces, thus producing an effect in striking con- trast with the changeless, soft light reflected from masses of the foliage of the S. nigra when swayed gently by the wind." WHITE WILLOW, S. alba. Originally from Europe; much cultivated; is very valuable on the prairie for shade and protection from the wind; hardy and reliable; grows rapidly; yields good fuel; pays well to raise it. Propagated from seeds or cuttings. OTHER VALUABLE SORTS. Among our weeping willows recommended for ornamental purposes, are the Kilmarnock and American. Willows from Russia and other parts of Europe are introduced, some of them really valuable. J. L. Budd, L. R. Moyer, Dewain Cook, G. W. Fuller, S. B. Green, and other foresters speak in high praise of the Laurel-Leaved (Salix laiiri- folia)., The sOjUx fragilis, a cutifolia &nd rosmarinifolia &iso have special merits. POPLARS. The name Poplar to this tribe of trees was suggested from the historic fact that, "in ancient times, the public places of Rome were decorated with rows of Poplar; whence it came to be called arbor populU as to being a tree peculiarly appropriated to the people. AMERICAN POPLAR OR ASPEN, Populus tremulotdes. Abounds especially northward. This small tree blossoms the latter part of April, appearing ten to twelve days before the leaves. The catkins, springing from the extremity of the branches, have silky plumes on them. Leaves are about two inches broad, narrow at the summit, dark green in color; in the spring red-veined; on young shoots large, heart- shaped and pointed; on older stocks becomes round, irregular toothed. Having such shapes, and suspended on long petioles, they tremble in the gentlest breeze. INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 23 LARGE ASPEN, P. gvandidentata. Less common than the preceding, but a larger tree. Has a straight trunk, smooth greenish bark, rarely cracked: branches scattered and few, foliaged at their extremities. Leaves nearly round, smooth on both sides and bordered with large teeth. Catkins about six inches long, appearing in the infancy of the leaves, then thickly coated with down. The two aspens here mentioned, vast in quantity in the northern wood- lands are not utilized with the spruces for wood pulp for paper-making, etc., and with the other poplars are manufactured into boxes. BALSAMIC POPLAR, TACAMAHAC, P. balsamifera. Common in the northern woods. A middle sized tree; "has round or scarcely angled branchlets, very glutinous and pleasantly balsamic strong scented bud-scales, and ovate, or lanceolate gradually tapering leaves." — Gray. • ' The hardiest of the poplars; not so pretty as the other species. It extends far into the north. The greater part of the drift-wood is this poplar found on the shores of the Arctic ocean. 'Tallas states," says the trans- lator of Michaux, "that the grouse and other birds of that family that feed on the buds of this Poplar during winter, have their flesh imbued with a grateful balsamic flavor." BALM OF GiLEAD, P. bolsamifera, var. caiidicans. Frequent northward, sometimes scattered but oftener in groups. Among the environs of the upper Mississippi, it becomes a magnificent tree. One such was found on the St. Louis waters,so stated to the writer by a reliable explorer, growing six feet in diameter and not less than a hundred feet high. It is very hardy, adapting itself to any soil. Trunk smooth-rifted, greenish bark, dark green foliage, tufted; branches irregular. Leaves three times larger than the preceding, and heart-shaped. The tree is literally saturated with water; wood requires a long time to season. Roots spread inveterately. Agreeable when budding, but when the sticky buds fall off, the tree is a nuisance in a lawn. The balsamic property is healthy. LOMBARDY POPLAR, P. dUatata. "Stiff wiry tree, with closely oppressed branches, and small broadly triangular pointed leaves formerly much planted from the Old World." Not reliable. WHITE OR SILVER LEAF POPLAR, P. albci. European originally, now growing spontaneous. Is a fast grower and massive. "Spreading branches, roundish, slightly heart-shaped, wavy- toothed or lobed leaves, soon green above, very cottony beneath." — Oray. One of our best Is the Norway Poplar. Laurel-Leaved and other European species, are valuable. 24 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. COTTONWOOD, P. monUifera. We have two varieties of the cottoiiwood, the White and the Yellow, the latter having the better gift; both equally hardy. A very rapid grower to massive size and shade, it formerly ranked as first choice for prairie plant' ing, but it is classed now on the descending scale, for our rainfall and moisture are not equal to its monopolistic demand. On alluvial and other moist soils it is a fine success. Catkins or tassels are long, flexible, pendulous. Seeds enveloped in white plumy cotton; buds resinous, aromatic and agreeable. When the seeds are ripe, in June, the winds bear their cottony down in all direc- tions, lodging where they can. M. De Foucault, a French botanist, cor- rectly says: "The leaves are deltoid, or trowel-shaped, approaching to cardiform (heart-shaped), always longer than they are broad, glabrous, smooth, having no hairs and unequally toothed; the petioles are compressed and of a yellowish green, and two glands of the same color as the base; the branches are angular, and the angles form whitish lines which persist even in the adult age of the tree." Like the other leading poplars the wood of the cottonwood is growing in demand, and as a tree will never cease to be in public favor. Propagat- ed from cuttings, and so with t^ll the poplars. CONIFER/E.— PINE FAMILY. What distinguishes the pines from other families is the homogeneity of their fibres (no ducts), their needle or awl-shaped leaves, their scaly cat- kins or woody cones, their resinous juices. They will grow on most of our drained soils. Not being tap-rooted, strictly speaking, they do not neces- sarily require deep soil. As their leaves are small, they do not evaporate moisture very rapidly, as do some of the deciduous trees; hence will sur- vive on dry soils where some other trees will perish. They need to be in masses for mutual protection, where exposed to high winds. Propagated from seeds, maturing in autumn. The pine families excel all others in practical values. JACK PINE, Pinus Danksiana. Known also as Black, Gray and Norway Scrub Pine. Extends farther north than any other American Pine, even to Hudson Bay, where it grows but about three feet high. It abounds in the sandy and barren regions of northern Minnesota. In some localities they form very thick woods, un- supported by other trees, save here and there a red pine. A coarse-grained tree, very resinous, excellent fuel; seldom cut for lumber; makes second- tlass railroad ties. Ordinarily not a large tree. Flowers in April and May. Branches long, flexible and spreading. Leaves an inch long; cones INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 25 In pairs usually, adhering closely to the branches, like so many horns. Seeds remain in their scaly covers two or three years before dropping out. NORWAY OR RED PINE, P. resinosa. Specially northern, sometimes scattered, but mostly in groaps. A spir- ing tree, straight trunk, towering up 40 to 50 feet or more to where the limbs ramify. Excellent for piles, wharves, bridge piers, masts, etc. Our lumbermen distinguish two varieties— the Hard, or Pig-iron Nor- way, of thick sap and often so hard as to turn the edges of an ax, and the Red-Barked or Timber Norway, with less sap and softer ripewood, and its bark more in plates. Valuable as a lumber tree for special purposes. Leaves a dark green, five or six Inches long, united in pairs at the extrem- ity of the branches. Female flowers bluish, cones thornless, about two inches long, round at base, pointed at summit. Sheds the seeds the first year. This beautiful tree is hardy and vigorous. Recommendable for farm and lawn. WHITE PINE, P. strobus. The white pines are our principal lumbering trees, the largest and most useful, growing often from 80 to 125, and, rarely, 150 feet high, and from three to six feet in diameter. The elevated and broken region north of latitude 46 degrees, and east of the meridian of the outlet of Red Lake, including an area of 21,000 square miles, is the pine lumber territory of Minnesota. The principal pine forests stretch in a broad belt in this great district, nearly north of said parallel. Lumbermen mention two varieties of this species, the Pumpkin Pine, more yellow in ripewood, and the Sap- ling pine, of thicker sap and whiter ripewood. The saplings are far the more numerous. Leaves five-fold, four inches long, slender, of a bluish green, delicate and beautiful. Cones long, cylindrical, pendant longer than the leaves. Seeds thin shelled and, winged, usually dropping out in October. The preservation of this and the Red Pine species from the hands of the spoiler, is a matter of practical consideration. It is indeed sad to contemplate its extinction from our native woodlands, a fatality sure to befall us unless the government hastens to prevent it. BLACK DOUBLE SPRUCE, Picea nigra. Common in the northeast woodlands, mostly found in the swamps, and there stunted and forbidding, and of little use, save as a shield with the mosses against undue evaporation of water there conserved. In favorable localities will grow to a magnificent tree, seventy feet or more high. Its wood is white, light, strong and elastic; makes good spars and knees of vessels. When free from knots is used for sounding boards to musical instruments. From the bark of. the young branches is made the spruce beer. The Black Spruce attains its best condition in humid, deep soil, covered with thick mosses. It is pyramidal in form, and very pretty. Leaves a dark green, firm and numerous. Flowers appear at the extrem- ities of the smallest branches; small, reddish, oval cones; winged seeds, ripening in tlie late fall. 26 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. WHITE OR SINGLE SPRUCE, P. albci. Common, yet scattered northward; grows on drained soils; sometimes attains to two or three feet in diameter, spiring up majestically in a clean tapering trunk, handsomely tufted in a pyramidal form. Flowers in May; needle-like leaves, about half an inch long, covering all sides of the branches; cones small and pretty; scales loose and thin; seeds fall out the first of the winter. A tree of longevity and one of the hardiest of the conifers. It differs from the Black Spruce in that its leaves are less nu- merous, longer and more pointed, and their color paler; being a bluish green, like those of the White Pine. The seeds are smaller than those of the Black, but the cones are more elongated; and the bark is lighter col- ored. When macerated in water, the fibres of the roots, like those of the Larch, are flexible and tough, used by Indians to stitch together their birch bark canoes. A tree of special value, which, with the Black Spruce and poplars, is used for wood pulp. Belongs with the " survival of the fittest." HEMLOCK SPRUCE OR HEMLOCK, Tsuga Canadensis. Scarce; a few, it is said, are growing on the St. Louis waters and upper Mississippi in Itaska county. Is pretty when young, grand in maturity. Wood of old trees is shaky; used for roof boards, studding, etc. BALSAM FIR, Abies bulsamea. A small northern tree, found mainly in groups. In our wild woodlands is apt to be heart-rotted and hollow, but not so when planted in good soil. Handsome when young, pyramidal and graceful. Leaves narrow and flat; bright green above, white beneath. Cones cylindrical. Wood makes excellent butter firkins and the like. A popular tree for the lawn. Blisters form on the smooth bark containing an agreeable balm, used con- siderably in certain stages of pulmonary diseases. AMERICAN OR BLACK LARCH, Lavix Americana. This tree, known also as Tamarac and Hacmatac, is common in most all our swamp lands; grows naturally also on drier hard ground. A magni- ficent tree, straight, slender trunk, sometimes 60, 80 and even 100 feet in height, two to three feet in diameter. Branches near the summit; bark smooth as if polished; leaves flexible, in bunches, shed in the fall; renewed in the spring. Male and female flowers separate on same tree, as with the pines. Wood very strong and durable. Largely used for knees to vessels in the East. Constitutes first-class railroad ties, surpassed only by the white oak. Preference obtains for the European species, but it is questionable whether, in all instances, the American is not better for America. A most valuable tree is our larch, but wofully neglected to be devoured by our forest fires. The Hursery sort grown from seeds will do well in our cul- tivated ravines and fiells. INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 27 AMERICAN ARBOR viT^, Thuya occidentalis. The Arbor Vitie, or White Cedar, belongs mainly to our almost im- penetrable swamps of the North, there forming a perfect net-work of roots that, with the mosses, cover every knoll and rock and rotten log. Grows also on drained, moist soils, and there of the best qualities. Its aromatic wood is light and durable; used for shingles, telegraph poles, posts, street paving, pails, tubs, churns, etc.; when well seasoned best of lampblack. Precious little care is bestowed upon its preservation. For lawns, screens and hedges nothing excels it. Its foliage is a perpetual evergreen. RED CEDAR, OR COMMON JUNIPER, Junipevus commuTiis. Indigenous throughout the wooded portions of the state, but not fre- quent. The variety alpina is found on the north shore of Lake Superior. A shrub tree six to eight feet high, growing in dry woods and hills, often forming a slender pyramid. This and the Yew (Ground Hemlock) growing in the same region, are indeed desirable; also the Red Cedar, or Red Savin or SaUna, var procumbens, trailing over the rocky banks and grounds, along our northern borders. It has scale-shaped, acute leaves, "the fruit nodding on the short peduncle-like recurved branchlets." Is hardy and hedgy. RED CEDAR TREE, J. Virginktufui. Indigenous to the greater part of the state, most frequent in the south- east; "rare near the west side and north of Lake Superior. Found scanti- ly in exposed situations, as on the bluffs or shores of rivers and lakes, growing to be ten to twenty-five feet high."— ZJp^m. Foliage evergreen, subdivided numerously, composed of tiny sharp scales enclosed in one an- other. When bruised, emits a resinous, aromatic odor. "Flowers incon- spicuous, the staminate In oblong, terminal aments; the fertile on separate trees, producing small, bluish berries, covered with a white powder."— Wood. Seeds mature in the early fall. The wood is a bright red tint; sap perfectly white; odorous, compact, fine-grained, stronger than the White Cedar. Highly esteemed for cabinet work and manufacture of pencils; growing scarcer and higher priced. So hardy and branchy it should have special attention paid it in prairie forestry. NON-INDIGENOUS EVERGREENS. The Norway Spruce, Scotch and Austrian Pine (European) are popular trees in Minnesota, and yet, all qualities considered, they do not excel our native ones. The Colorado Blue Spruce, Picea jnitvgeus, and Bull Pine, Pi/nus ponderosa, have promise of success for prairie planting. THE QUESTION TO SOLVE. Our valuable pines, our spruces, our larches, our cedars, that have brought us wealth and comfort immeasurable, serving as a primal factor of 28 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. our very civilization — shall they be preserved with our hardwoods for per- petual forests to bless our succQSsors?^ The question is pressing; and our legislature must solve it. RED BUD OR JUDAS TREE, Civcis CanadeTisis. Rare locally in southeastern counties; planted in some of our lawns. Is small and handsome. Flowers numerous, colored like peach blossoms; ripening into pods scarcely stalked in the calyx. Rounded leaves and somewhat pointed. KENTUCKY COFFEE TREE, Gymnoclodus Canadensis. Rarely indigenous in Houston, Winona, Scott, Blue Earth, Nicollet, Brown and other southern counties. In our state seldom exceeds six or eight inches in diameter; farther south jgrows twice as large and fifty to sixty feet high. Straight trunk, tufted foliage. Wood very hard, straight- grained, of a rosy hue. On young, healthy trees, the leaves, doubly com- pound, are three feet long and about twenty inches wide. Leaflets, op- posite, are oval shape and pointed; of a dull green. Large flowers, diwdous, pods bowed, reddish brown, hard gray seed. Plant in the fall just after they ripen. Beautiful foliage; wood very val- uable for cabinet work. A tree this of special merits. WILD BLACK CHERRY, Pvunus scrotiua. Common except in the far north. Grows to good size in rich soil. Trunk regular; bark block-like and rough, bitter and aromatic-medicinal. Wood dull light red tint, deepening with age; fibre brilliant, compact, fine-grained, seldom warps when well seasoned; much valued by the cabinet maker, preferable even to the Black Walnut. Leaves are smooth, lance-oblong, taper-pointed, having incurved short callous teeth. Flowers spiked, white, beautiful. Fruit the size of a large pea, purplish black, vinous-bitter, yet quite palatable. Nice for birds, saving our more val- uable crops. A tree of beauty and very valuable for furniture. Is hardy but needs support of other trees. Seeds ripen in autumn, and should then be planted. LOCUST TREE, P. seuda acacia. This adventive tree belongs now with us. Light foliage; each leaf is composed of opposite leaflets from eight to twelve with an odd one at the summit; thin and so smooth dust cannot adhere to them. Flowers hang in pendulous bunches clearly white and very fragrant. Five or six black or brown seeds ripen in flat pods about three inches long, which often hang on till late in the winter. Bark very thick and furrowed. Young trees are armed with thorns disappearing in maturity. In the main the wood has a greenish-yellow, streaked with brown veins; hard, compact, strong; endurable under all circumstances. Best qualities have a red heart. Owing to difference in color of the heart, arising probably from soil conditions, the tree is variously known as Red, Green, White and Black Locust. Very INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 29 beautiful when polished. Is a good substitute for the Box-wood; is often manufactured into domestic ware, such as sugar-bowls salt-cellars, spoons, etc. It is not recommendable as an ornamental tree to stand alone. Its branches break easy in the wind; its limbs are illy balanced and shade scanty. All over the United States and the Canadas, it is attacked by a worm that eats into the heart and kills the tree prematurely. When thus bored into and wind-disheveled, it presents a most forbidding aspect. If hunters would spare the wookpeckers we could have the locusts in our forests and planted groves for marketable purposes. No species of trees furnish so valuable posts and railroad ties, when not worm-eaten. The Roee Flowering, Yellow-wood, Sweet and Water Locusts have special merits. HARDY SHRUBS. In his twelfth annual report of the Geological and Natural History Sur~ vey of Minnesota, Prof. Winchell, through Prof. Upham, acting as assist- ant, says, p. 183: "Of , the 412 species in Sargent's Catalogue of the Forest Trees of North America (north of Mexico), 81 occur indigenously in Min- nesota; but eight of these, though becoming trees in some portions of the United States, do not here attain a tree-like size or habit of growth, while forty-eight become large trees, at least forty to fifty feet high. Besides these, about 125 indigenous shrubs belong to this flora, making its whole number of wooded plants about 206. In the same catalogue of the total number of plants in Minnesota, Prof. Winchell enumerates 1,650, one-twelfth of which consists of introduced species, belonging to 557 genera, and representing 118 families or orders. Since then Conway MacMillan, Professor of Botany, in the University, adding to the list by virtue of further research, estimates that we have 1,750 seed-producing plants, 75 species and varieties of ferns, club mosses and allied ferns, 700 mosses and liverworts, 2,500 fungi, 800 algse, 250 lichens. The work of collection is by no means finished. There are numerous species and varieties, new to science, waiting discovery "in neglected nooks, in marsh, in dense woods, cool ravines, on cliffs and hills, in streams and lakes." The author of this compilation has included in his descriptive enumer- ation of indigenous trees (real) some of our large shrubs referred to by Prof. Upham. As there are other shrubs of smaller sizes which are necessa- ry to complete genuine forestry, serving as protective supports to our large trees, some of them are here summarily mentioned as hardy and reliable. Without shrubs of some sort mixed in with our trees, we cannot reasonably expect success in our cold and hot windy climate. They should be planted and fostered in our forest clumps and wind-breaks; and as a source of |uxury and profit, it is well to select such as bear berries for the market 30 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. and table. These especially are here catalogued. Certain introduced species are included, but only such as have been tested as adaptable to our climate, some of which are recommended by Prof. Green, of our Experi- ment Station at St. Anthony Park. HAZEL NUT, Cavylus Americana and rastrata. Common in the woodlands. The latter is so hardy as to grow on the north of Lake Superior, where the shrub is weighty with fruit. HIGH BUSH CRANBERRY, Vibumum OpUlUS. Native, vigorous and hardy; grows from four to ten feet high; white flowers in June; clusters of yellow and red edible fruit hanging on into the winter. Grown from seed, cuttings or layers. BURNING BUSH, Euonymus roperpureno. A tall shrub indigenous to the southern part of the state, extending north into Anoka, Kandiyohi, Clay and other counties on like parallel. Can be safely planted all over the state except in the extreme north. Contrasting with other shrubs, it is desirable for the lawn. Would serve a valuable purpose in our planted groves and underbreak as brushwood protection to our principal trees, and so the Trailing Strawberry Bush which has long trailing branches. COMMON BARBERRY, BerMs vulgavis. It is strong, prickly, suitable for a small, loose hedge; yellow flowers in June; red fruit; very hardy. Other varieties are the Purple-Leaved and Thunborg's barberry. Grown from seeds that ripen in autumn. SIBERIAN PEA TREE, Carogaua arborescens. Close, neat, locust-like leaves, and bright yellow, pea-shaped flowers; pretty; one of the hardiest. Grown from seeds that ripen in autumn. NINE BARK, Physocarpiis opiUfqliua. Grows strong, six to ten feet high; clustered flowers in late June; makes good screens. Grows from cuttings a-nd seed. The Golden Spiroea excels for its graceful form and golden green leaves. ALDER LEAVED BUCKTHORN, RaVfinUS auifoUuS Is a shrub-tree, rare southward in Minnesota, common northward, found largely in the St. Croix river regions, and the beach of Lake Superior and Lake of the Woods. Leaves oval, acute at summit, their margins pointing forward like saw teeth. Flowers greenish, axillary, in small clusters, early summer. Fruit three-seeded, mawkish in taste. HEDGE PLANTS. Common Buckthorn, R. catharticus, introduced, has thorny branchlets, hardy; a good hedge plant; three to four'seeded fruit. Juice of the berries a strong cathartic; barl an emetic quality. Juice of the unripe berries INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 31 with alum gives a yellc .v dye; when this mixture is concentrated it gives a sap-green used by painters. Withal a valuable shrub to plant. JERSEY TEA. Buckthorn. The species known as Red Root, Jersey Tea, Ceanothus Americanus, is worthy of a place in our forestry work. It is quite common throughout the state, except far northward. A shrub ranging from twenty-five to thirty feet high; roots red, mossy, gnarly; a nuisance to the plow. Flowers, summer, crowded in a dense slender peduncled (flower stalked) cluster. The leaves deciduous, ovate, finely-toothed downy beneath, three-ribbed and veiny; sometimes used as a substitute for tea. So gnarly rooted, adapted to dry grounds, it can no doubt serve an admirable purpose as a pioneer in regenerating wild and barren localities, pre- paratory to the planting of larger and more advanced trees. ENGLISH BUCKTHORN, Rhamuus catharticus. A popular hedge plant of Europe and the eastern states; bears close pruning without injury; robust, pretty, white flowers in June; black ber- ries, hardy even in very severe localities. Seeds ripen in autumn. PRICKLY ASH, Zauthoxylum Americana. Common, perfectly hardy; makes an impenetrable hedge. Autumn seeds. BUFFALO BERRY, SJiepherdixi argentea. Give it a proper place and it will grow from ten to fifteen feet high; found along the water courses of Dakota and Montana; bears imperfect flowers before the leaves appear; leaves are silvery and pretty; difficult to secure pistillate plants, hence must have fertilization; fruit red, having one quite large seed; acid, makes a good jelly or sauce; hardy, and is used for hedges. Grows from seed. RUSSIAN MULBERRY. The Russian seems to take the lead of the mulberries in Minnesota. Useful for shelter and wood. Standing alone, it is handsome. Makes a solid hedge. Its fruit has an aromatic odor, sub-acid, sweetish. Thorn- shrubs of the Crataegus family, such as the White, with its rigid thorns and crimson fruit; tho Black (American) and Hawthorn (English), are well fitted for hedges and the forest borders. RED AND YELLOW PLUM, Pruuus Americana. Select, blossoming in April and May and fruiting in July and August. Let them occupy the sunny niches of the woods, protected and protective, yielding their delicious plums. THE UNDERBRUSH. In the planted forest place the dogwood, the native hollies, red bird cherries, the choke cherries, the June berries the wild raspberries and blackberries, currants, dewberries, sand-cherries, gooseberries, elders and wild dwarf roses, alone the borders with the thorns, and grow in there 32 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. the mint family, the bjxberry, the wintergreen, the genseng and what- ever else is safely medicinal and esculent. The mosses will assert their rights to a place there. They will grow spontaneous where there is shade enough and moisture and decaying wood on whifh they feed. Conditions obtaining, introduce all possible varieties of mosses and ferns that are adaptable to the situation. The practical idea is to naturalize our forestal art for beauty as well as utility. VINES AND CLIMBING SHRUBS. As vines are constituents of a real and successful forest, some of our more conspicuous and hardy are here mentioned. American Ivy, Ampilopsis quinquefolia. Native, strong, hardy; beauti- ful, bright crimson foliage in autumn. Surpasses all for covering porches, unsightly fences and decayed trees. Grown from cuttings, layers and seeds. Bitter Sweet, Celastrus scandens. Hardy, clean, conspicuous and pretty when covered with its orange-colored seed pods. Grown from seed or layers. Virgin's Bower, Clematis Virginiaiia. Native, healthy and strong, bearing a profusion of small, white, fragrant flowers in August. Makes a beautiful contrast with the ivy just mentioned. Grown from seed or layers. The C. viticella is equally satisfactory, having large blue or purple flowers, producing them all summer. Moonseed, Menisperum canadense. Slender and pretty, large leaves; succeed well in partial shade; grown from seed. Wild Grape, Vitis riparia. Coarse but beautiful, covering dead trees or any unsightly object. Hardy anywhere; fragrant flowers. Excellent stock for grafting on the domesticated grapes. Grown from cuttings or layers. 1 How to Manage Forest Seeds, Seedlings and Cuttings. Most of our prairie farms are tillable. For this reason they specially need wind-breaks. Then why not copy nature's art here? The wind-breaks could be economically placed in separate groups and clusters and curves, leaving wide spaces between them for fields and orchards, thus breaking the winds from all directions, and yet leaving the best possible ventilation, so that none of the crops will be crowded or shaded. There is such a thing as blending the beautiful with the utilitarian, making the farm a perpetual satisfaction. THE SQUARE STYL.E. If farmers will persist in having the square style of forestation, surmising that they thus abridge the forest acreage and better arrange their agricul- tural grounds, there should be the same studied effort to adapt the species of trees to the situation and where they can best perform their functions. The hardiest and most flexible should be planted on the outside to cut the prevailing winds, and these, on our prairies, are generally from the west and south in the seasons of plant growth. It is not wise to leave the south open as some do, as our hottest wind-waves beat in from that direc- tion, like so many blistering simoons. The denser wind-breaks are, there- fore, needed on these two sides, also protection on the north and east, but not to the same special extent. WINDROWS AND SNOW-DRIFTS. On the outside plant two rows of white willows not over one foot apart. As it is desirable to prevent snow-drifting on your premises, leave an open space next the willows, where it will naturally lodge, of twenty or thirty feet. Beginning on the hither side of the snow-lane, plant, four feet apart, several rows of ash; then rows of box-elder, cottonwoods, ma- ples, elms, hackberries, oaks, buttarnuts, and line the inside of the "decid- uous wall" with white spruces, arbor vitaes, pines, and other evergreens, not right up under the shade, but thirty or forty feet distant — two, three, yes, four rows of them, so placed that the trees in each row will form per- fect triangles with each other, thus the better protecting each other. In a few years their branches will begin to interlock in solid arches. Such a forest will resist any wind and will protect the fields and orchards in the leeward safe from all harm. In less even than a decade that farm will be worth ten times more than it was at first, and that forest has made it 34 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. so. What can possibly enhance farm values like an ample supply of fuel close at hand, and a living and perpetual shield to the crops and stock and inmates of the home ? SELECTION OF SEEDS, To insure success, the seeds must be of the best quality. Avoid the first installment that falls, for insects may have caused unhealthy ripening. Seeds from stunted, malformed or dwarfish trees may be morbid in make- up; avoid them, also seeds from trees enfeebled by extreme age or other debilitating causes. The trees should be middle-aged, and a little sep- arated from others where they have the full benefit of the sun and air which gives a full head and a healthy condition. TIME TO GATHER. Seeds should be gathered when the weather is dry, and when they fall to the ground as if heavy — in showers at the beating or shaking of the trees. PKESERVATION OF SEEDS. It is difficult to determine x-he exact condition by which all kinds of seeds, may be preserved. By experience it has been proved that seeds will not germinate if placed in vacuo or in an unbalanced atmosphere, such as hy- drogen, nitrogen or carbonic acid. Judging from the duration of seeds buried in the earth, and from other circumstances, the essential conditions are : 1, uniform temperature; 2, moderate dryness; 3, exclusion of light. ART OF DRYING. When gathered, the seeds should be immediately spread in thin layers in a dry, airy place, raking occasionally until the dampness has evaporat- ed. There is such a dijfference in the conditions of species as to tenden- cies to sprout, to heat, to rot, to perish by desiccation, or to mould, no one set rule seems to be always applicable. The seedsman must be a close student of nature's art of preservation, and act according to conditions and circumstances. But we have some guides, whibh are herein mentioned, safe to follow. When properly dried so as not to heat, put them into sacks and keep them from drying-out by mixing with sand, hung up in airy shelter. BOX-EEDER AND ASH SEEDS. As the box-elder and ash are our pioneer trees, special attention is called to the management of their seeds, ripening in autumn. They are liable to be injured by the drying art, hence the safer way, also, for the sugar maple, is to plant them in the late fall, and more seeds will thus sprout. If the spring planting is preferred, the better to escape the early frosts, soak in a creek or other changed water till well swelled out all ready to sprout. The ash requires longer soaking. Sow in moist soil in the cool of the day. A yet better way, thus avoiding the soaking process, is to spread them out thin, just before winter sets in, on a smooth and well- FOREST SEEDS, SEEDLINGS AND CUTTINGS. 35 drained spot of ground, and cover with sand, decayed straw or other litter, and keep them there frozen and moist. When it is time to sow the next spring, see that the seeds are not exposed to the sun's heat. Sow them so the plants will be self-shading, and yet thin enough for vigorous growing. THE NUT SEEDS. The nuts of the oaks, walnuts, butternuts, chestnuts, hackberry, bass- wood, larch, fir, and the like— all ripening in the fall— should be gath- ered soon as ripe. Some may be worm-eaten; test them and other seeds in water; the sourift ones sink; or, put some at random on a hot shovel; the sound ones turn over and go "tick-tack." In such ways the proportion of good and bad seeds may be ascertained. Dry as described. Mix with sand and keep in the dry cellar at about thirty degrees above zero. Plant in the late fall where you want the trees to stay. Spring planting is safe if the seeds are allowed to freeze where they will not dry up. Succor the young seedlings. PULP SEEDS. Use similar methods for seeds of cherries, buffalo berries, cranber- ries, and others of like constituency, also of pears and apples. Fall planting recommended. For fall planting, a good way is to put the seeds at the beginning of winter under inverted sods, or freeze awhile in a box of moist dirt, then remove to the cellar, being careful that they do not dry out there. In the spring expose to warm suns till they just "bo- peep" from their shells; then plant, properly shading while young and tender. HARD-SHELLS. The heavier and larger seeds of all species of flora produce the best plants. Such seeds as the juniper, locust, white cpdar, hawthorn, Ken- tucky Coffee Tree, etc., are difficult to sprout. They need the freezing and thawing of winter in its utmost rigor. For spring planting pour boiling water on them, and as it gradually cools, let them remain in it about an hour or more, or until some of the seeds have swelled out. These "elect" should be immediately planted in moist soil and kept moist for sprouting with certainty. Treat the still more refractory to a like dose. The red cedar seeds are harder to manage. The alkali of potash seems to be the most effectual for ^uch. Some seeds, the haw for instance, may be mixed with bran-mash and fed to sheep or cattle, and the droppings planted. Being softened by digestion they are thus fitted for sprouting ; the same with seeds that birds swallow. SEEDS THAT DO NOT KEEP WELL. Seeds of the poplars, willows, elms, birches, soft maples, etc., lose their power of germination soon after ripening in the early summer, and should, therefore, be planted at once. It is unprofitable lo try to rftis« 36 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. cottonwoods on the prairie from the seeds. The proper place is on the sandy beach of the lake or river, where they sow themselves. The above- named, and all other seeds, in fact, do best on a northern or eastern slope, where the soil is moister, and the light and heat less intense. PREPARATION OF SOIL. Plow deep for all trees — pulverize the soil fine, as for corn. If you plant on newly broken or unsubdued soil, failure is certain on the prairie. All seeds and plants have their inalienable rights to fitted soil, light, air, water and culture. DEPTH OF COVERING, EtC. Covering too deep retards germination. Comparatively' thin sowing gives large, healthy trees. For maximum depths, 1^ to 2}4 inches for oaks and chestnuts; ^ to an inch for maples, ash and box elder; 2 inches for black locust; 3^ of an inch for alder; 3^ to 1 inch for spruce, Scotch pine and larch; % of an inch for Austrian pine; birch and elm as thin as possible to insure germination. Fall sowing may be covered more heavily. Have the earth cover above seed loose so that air and moisture can readily penetrate to aid in dissolving the food materials in the seed. The quicker the sprouting, the lesc danger to the seeds. Guard against hot air and strong light. Keep the water supply at the roots, and the degree of light and heat at the top properly balanced. Avoid too much water for the plantlets; most plants are then liable to rot. SPRING OR FALL PLANTING. If the ground is well supplied with moisture for the winter, it is quite safe to plant seedlings in October, such as the box elder and ash. If the fall season is dry, do not plant a tree till spring. Indeed, spring planting should be the rule. HEELING-IN. Trees for spring planting had better be removed from their seed-beds in the fall. They are then in their best condition, and it is wise to keep them so, and not subject the young candidates to needless wintry perils. Select a well-drained spot; dig a trench of suitable length and depth correspond- ing to size of your trees. Throw the dirt up like a roof. Thin out the plants side by side in the trench, their stalks lying impact on the slant. Sprinkle the dirt among the roots fine; shovel on enough for another ground-roof and another tier, and so on till all are buried. Press the earth down gently. After the ground is well frozen, cover the tips with some kind of litter. By spring the cuts and broken parts of the roots have started to heal over, and you have gained so much time. Frozen plants should be placed in a dark cellar, and the frost allowed to come out slowly. GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR PLANTING. Trees one or two years old are more reliable for the field than older and larger ones, and with proper management will soon outstrip the latter in size and quality. Your soil must be all ready before you can unbury a FOREST SEEDS SEEDLINGS AND CUTTINGS. 37 single tree, and all your tools in proper order. Do not venture to plant while the ground is so wet as to make a mortar, or the water collects in the hole. If you do, the soil in contact with the roots tends to become hard in drying, to the great injury of the growth. Soon as trees are taken up or received from the nursery, with a sharp knife prune off all badly bruised roots, but cut as little as possible to bring crown and root in proportion. Puddle the roots in equal parts of cow dung, clay and water. Be careful not to expose the roots of trees to the wind and sun. More failures in tree planting arise from carelessness in this particular than from any other cause. To prevent this, carry the trees to the field to be planted in bundles covered with mats; lay them down and cover the roots with wet loam, and only remove them from the bundle as they are actually required for planting. In planting, the roots should be carefully spread out and the soil worked among them. Make the roots trend downward into the damp soil. When the roots are covered, press the earth firmly about the plant with the foot. Insert the plant some deeper than it stood before being transplanted. Select, if possible, for tree plant- ing a cloudy or a rainy day. It is better to plant after the middle of the day than before it. Protect the young plantation from cattle and other browsing animals. PLANTING LARGER TREES. In planting trees from three to six feet, select such as are symmetrical, free from insect pests, having broad crowns and dense foliage. It is the little fibers that sustain the life of the tree. See that there are plenty of them, compactly grown, and not impaired in bark or torn at the ends or dried up. Cover them with moist soil or moss or bags, and retain on them as much of the original soil as possible. Pruning for beauty and health should be done a year before transplanting, or may be done a year after. If you select cottonwoods, or any of the poplar family, see that they are not planted near the well or spring, for then they will surely clog them with their roots and taint the water. The method of planting, and after care, are thus summarized by Prof. B. F. Fernow,