286 ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



on the east side, next black walnut, and the third row soft (or silver) 

 maple. The other three-quarters, or seventy-seven rods, had four rows, 

 by adding one row of Norway spruce on the east side of the larch.* 



The Norway spruce occupying the east side row in the remainder of 

 this belt has suffered from too close planting, the distance being but four 

 feet, and has an irregular growth in height and diameter, yet some have 

 attained the full height of the larch, while four feet has proved a suffi- 

 cient distance for the larch till now. The diameter of the spruce is four 

 to six inches. 



Next row west of the larch is a continuation of the black walnut, 

 which made a fair growth while the cultivation of the ground continued, 

 and until the west, or soft maple row, began to show signs of dying, which 

 occurred in ten or twelve years; and while the early and abundant shade 

 of the maples continued the walnut showed no signs of failure ; but 

 the total destruction of the maples and the very lateness of the leafing of 

 the walnuts so exposed the ground to the sunbeams that the sun took full 

 possession, and the trees became stunted and have made but little growth 

 since, with the exception of ten or twelve trees. These were in a basin 

 or sink, or depression of two or three feet, known on dry prairies as hav- 

 ing an unusual depth of black vegetable mould gathered from the more 

 elevated ground around. There the trees had a height of twenty to thirty 

 feet and an averaged diameter of four to seven inches. Here the depth 

 of this rich vegetable mould gave such a vigor of growth that it overcame 

 the grass enemy. The trees in the remainder of the row have only a 

 height of twelve to sixteen feet and a diameter of one and a half to three 

 (ji^ to 3) inches, and the greater part of them are valueless. 



Soft {Silver) Maple. — The trees in this row grew vigorously the first 

 two years, and attained a height of twenty feet and a diameter of four to 

 six inches, when they began to decay, and were nearly all dead in four- 

 teen years, and were removed. 



Remarks on the Black Walnut. — While the combined early leafing 

 of the larch on one side and the maple on the other continued, the 

 walnut was protected from the grass growth and flourished, but when it 

 had destroyed its neighbor and protector (the maple), then itself fell a 

 victim to its own destroyer, the grass. There is little doubt but that the 

 walnut, as also the oak, should be planted where required to grow, in 

 forests, and thereby save the expense of transplanting, and the trees will 

 be equally valuable. 



Black walnut transplanted in a block, rows four feet apart and trees 

 two feet apart in the row, cultivated only five years, the ground very soon 

 became covered with a stiff sod, owing to the aforesaid cause; late coming 

 into leaf; and now the trees are nearly all dead and the remainder valueless. 



Fourth Experiment. — The walnuts planted in a block, and rows four 

 feet apart and thinned to two feet in the row. This block was three rods 

 in width and sixteen rods in length ; one-fifth of this was in the basin land, 

 the rest was common prairie. The entire plot received clean cultivation 



* Whenever diameter or circumference is given, it is one foot from the ground. 



