TRANSACTIONS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ILL. 289 



Ash-leaf Maple {Acer Negundo, or Box Elder"). — Are remarkably 

 rapid in their growth, some having a diameter of six inches seven years 

 from planting, with a fine formed head of sixteen feet across. It is not 

 liable to break by winds nor ice, like the soft maple. 



Butternut. — Grows well under cultivation, having a diameter of five 

 to seven inches, with fine proportioned head, planted separately, and 

 bearing nuts. 



Cypress — Slow in growth, evidently not well adapted to prairie soil. 



Red-bud Maple. — Only valuable as an ornamental tree ; grows slow. 



American Larch ( Tamarack) has grown nearly as rapidly as the Eu- 

 ropean, but is more irregular in its form, branches wild and straggling, 

 and less perfect in its straightness than the European ; its height, twenty- 

 five feet ; diameter, four to six inches. 



Elm. — The red (^slippery) elm grows rapidly, some of the trees hav- 

 ing a diameter of six to eight and even ten inches ; but at this age many 

 of them have an unhealthy appearance, and are unworthy of cultivation 

 on dry land. 



White Elm. — In regard to their growth, the variety of soil needed, 

 and their habit of late leafing, they resemble the walnut, require the same 

 treatment and produce the same results; valueless on the common prairie 

 without continued cultivation until capable of self-protection. There is 

 this difference between these two trees: while the wa/;??^/ requires a deep, 

 rich, yet dry soil, the elm will accept of and flourish on a wet and less rich 

 and deep soil. With an annual cultivation for twenty years, these two 

 varieties will make about the same growth on common dry prairie as they 

 do in the " sinks " with a cultivation of four or five years. 



English Elm makes a more vigorous growth and more beautiful 

 foliage than either of the American varieties, and will do well with less 

 cultivation. 



. Sweet Chestnut {Common). — A total failure on prairie soil. I have 

 but one tree remaining in my grounds, and I know of no other in this 

 county. It stands twenty feet in height, six inches in diameter, and pre- 

 served in slightly growing condition by the forest protection around it. 

 "Total failure" is written on all the efforts that have been made in its 

 cultivation on prairie soil, while it grows satisfactorily on the lighter 

 soils of the Mississippi bluffs. 



Lombard}' Poplar. — A rapid grower and beautiful a few years, but is 

 unhealthy and valueless after ten or fifteen years. Especially so on rich 

 soils. Trees of ten years' growth are eight to ten inches in diameter, and 

 twenty-five to thirty feet in height. 



LLorse Chestnut. — Hardy, but an exceedingly slow grower on prairie, 

 yet grows well on gravelly or sandy soil. 



Evergreens. — White Fines have a height of thirty to forty feet, and 

 when standing in forest, six to eight feet apart, have a diameter of ten to 

 fourteen inches; the same height and less diameter when standing in close 

 forest plantation, and thereby denuded of side branches. My white pine 

 plantation is from trees from seedlings gathered from the American forests 

 in 1866, planted twelve feet apart each way. Six to ten feet in height in 

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