8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ground occupied by them would not diminish but rather increase the 

 cultivable area, and the forest growth would be a positive addition to 

 its productiveness. 



But whatever the particular plan adopted, a prominent question 

 will be with every one, what trees to plant. The multitude offering 

 themselves for consideration is embarrassing. Our country is one of 

 such extent and such varied climate and soil that we have a tree vege- 

 tation embracing all the variety of the entire Eastern hemisphere. 

 Our Atlantic coast corresponds, in this respect, with that of China 

 and Japan, while our Pacific-coast region is like that of Western 

 Europe. At the International Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876, 

 the wood of nearly four hundred indigenous species of trees was 

 shown, whereas Great Britain has only twenty-nine ; France, thirty- 

 four ; and all Europe, leaving out Russia, only about fifty. The little 

 State of Connecticut, on the authority of Professor Brewer, has sixty 

 species of native trees. At the Philadelphia Exhibition there were 

 specimens of thirty-seven species of the oak, thirty-four of the pine 

 family, seventeen of spruce and fir, eleven of maples, besides many 

 others. 



With such a variety of trees and so many conditions of climate 

 and soil, and the different objects which the planter may have in view, 

 no one can give an answer to the question what to plant, except in a 

 general way. Trees have their homes as well as men, where they 

 develop to the best. And, though they may often be transferred to 

 other regions and be made to form to themselves new homes, the 

 success of such a transfer can not be predicted with certainty. Ex- 

 periment alone can decide. But, for the general purposes of tree- 

 planting, and for those who are looking for definite and sure results, 

 the safe rule, and the only trustworthy one, is to follow Nature to 

 plant the trees which she has already planted near us or in situations 

 like our own. From these we may wisely make a selection, according 

 to the objects we have mainly in view. If we want the speediest 

 growth of fuel or shelter, we shall choose the quick-growing trees. If 

 we purpose to grow valuable timber we shall make a different selec- 

 tion, or we may select for both results at the same time. Even in 

 those parts of the country most destitute of any considerable masses 

 of trees, the Western Plains, the treeless regions as they are called, 

 there are a goodly number of species showing themselves, if but 

 sparsely, and giving us hints as to what may be accomplished there 

 in tree-planting, if fires and the depredations of destructive animals 

 can be prevented. We have it, for example, on good authority, that 

 the following trees, among others, are natives of Nebraska, one of 

 the so-called treeless States : the buckeye, the red and the sugar ma- 

 ple, the box-elder, the honey locust, the white and green ash, two 

 species of elm, the hackberry, sycamore, black walnut, three species 

 of the hickory, seven species of oak, the iron-wood, two species of 



