STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIEIV. 199 



city, fine stately evergreens may be seen in very large numbers, and as 

 thrifty and healthy as can be found anywhere of the same species. 



Bloomington is situated on the Grand Prairie, the very prairie Mr. 

 Flagg afterwards named as one he had reference to, and said he did not 

 mean that his remarks should apply to those with sandy or light subsoils. 



Now as the largest nurseries in the West are situated on Grand Prairie, 

 and both deciduous and evergreen trees are growing there in almost in- 

 numerable species and varieties, and will compare very well in health and 

 vigor with trees grown elsewhere, is there any reason to fear that " cot- 

 tonwoods, willows and soft maples, must be grown for many generations," 

 to fit the soil for more delicate and more valuable forest growths? 



Mr. Flagg contends that the prairies underlaid with a cold clay sub- 

 soil are unfitted for the growth of valuable timber, yet we find that many 

 of our valuable forest trees, and some of them "deeply rooting trees," at 

 that, grow better in such soil than in any other; and we judge this to be 

 the case, not only from their condition since they were planted on such 

 prairies, but from the same species attaining their best growths on similar 

 soil in other parts of the country. 



Among the valuable forest trees which prefer a cold clay subsoil to a 

 warm sandy soil and subsoil, are the black walnut, the hickories, the most 

 valuable species of oak and ash ; then the white pine, the hard maple, the 

 most valuable birches, and many others, grow quite as well on the prairies 

 and on a cold clay subsoil as on any other. These are all natives of our 

 State, and named from memory, as trees that I have seen growing well, both 

 indigenous in this State and also planted on the prairies. 



Although these include many of the most valuable timber trees 

 native to the State, they are not by any means all that could be named, 

 but quite enough to show that we can dispense with the missionary labors 

 of the " Cottonwood, willow and soft maple, for many generations," if 

 we do not want them for any other purpose. When we come to the more 

 delicate trees we are entering a very wide field, and cannot take the time 

 to discuss their adaptation in a short paper; but it is not necessary here, 

 as we find that the most valuable forest trees are not delicate. We may, 

 however, say, in passing, that many trees are delicate only when an 

 attempt is made to grow them too far north or south, or on a soil not 

 adapted to their growth. 



The chestnut is delicate when grown on a cold clay soil ; on the 

 other hand, the balsam fir soon becomes delicate, and makes a poor, 

 stunted tree, when grown on a warm, sandy soil. 



We know that trees on a warm, dry soil, ripen up their growth better 

 before winter sets in, than on a cold, damp soil : hence a plum tree, for 

 instance, is not so likely to kill back when young on a warm, sandy soil, 

 yet a clay soil is the only one on which a plum tree will ever come to 

 perfection. I know that many people contend that if a tree is delicate 

 it must be placed in warm soil, wliere it will ripen its wood early, they 

 say, or it will not stand the winter. Now the tulip tree, the cucumber 

 tree, the catalpa, the white fringe, and several others I could name, are 

 delicate in our northern latitude, nine miles from the Wisconsin line; 



