134 Transactions of the 



come at a most critical time for the farmer, and in two days time blow 

 his hope of a good harvest for the season into despair. 



These evils can be easily avoided and at the same time a supply of 

 timber secured to every farmer, and in a much shorter time, too, than 

 many would believe possible, by planting suitable trees in nursery form 

 in different places or plantations on the farm, where they may be care- 

 fully cultivated for the first two or three years, when they may be prop- 

 erly thinned out and those removed planted in belts, always taking care 

 that they run in such direction as to afford the best shelter to crops from 

 the prevailing winds. Trees planted in this manner, and kept thoroughly 

 cultivated and well mulched, will make a fine growth and require no 

 irrigation. Mulching and cultivation are better than irrigation. This 

 mode of cultivation has a tendency to encourage the roots to run deep, 

 seeking a moist soil, and giving the trees a hold upon the earth that will 

 prevent their being blown down. It has been demonstrated that noth- 

 ing is required but an effort on the part of our farmers, skillfully 

 directed, to grow many kinds of our most valuable forest trees on our 

 dry plains, and it would be money well invested for all our agricultural 

 societies to offer liberal premiums for the best and most extensive tree 

 plantations. What better or more enduring monument than can be 

 erected in living tree characters on our prairie farms? The managers of 

 our agricultural societies should encourage the good work by liberal 

 premiums. Make the good work popular, and our winds and plain wastes 

 will soon be conquered. 



The following is 



Mr. Edwards' Statement. 



I planted seven thousand locust trees last year and this — three 

 thousand five hundred each year — for which I claim the society's 

 premium. I have them set out in alternate rows, eight and ten feet 

 apart, and four feet distant in the rows. I raised the trees from seeds 

 I got in the neighborhood. 



To germinate the seeds I put them in warm water, covei'ed them, and 

 set them by the stove for about a week, until they got started; then I 

 set them out in nursery form for one or two years before they were set 

 out in the artificial forest. The forest is on high land, about three miles 

 south of Sacramento. I have plowed between the rows four times each 

 year. The first I set out did remarkably well this year; and those of 

 this year's planting are all alive, except two or three per cent. I will 

 state here that the land had not been cropped for a number of years 

 before the trees were set out. I think the expenses will be about fifteen 

 dollars or twenty dollars a year; but I expect to get some firewood from 

 it before the end of ten years, by trimming and thinning out. 



I hope the society will excuse me for not bringing in a sample. In 

 about ten years I think I shall have fence posts enough to fence my 

 own land and some to spare for my neighbors. 



The Board awarded the premium to Mr. Stratton, on the ground that 

 their offer of a premium for forest trees planted during the year con- 

 templated that the trees should be planted permanently where the forest 

 was to grow, and not in a nursery from which the trees were to be taken 

 and sold from year to year, as demand for them could be found. While 

 they would encourage the laudable efforts of Mr. Aiken to introduce the 

 growth of shade and forest trees in all parts of the State, and especially, 

 as is suggested, on the plains, and in belts, so as to form wind breaks or 



