104 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



tion, whether set in belts around and through the field, or alternate with the orchard trees, 

 is a question to he decided only by experience. Their presence in any form will be bene- 

 ficial. Every tree and shrub made to grow, adds to the beauty and value of our country. 

 The timber nature gave us, is all along the streams and on the lowest ground ; it has but 

 little effect on the winds which pass over it, and sweep the high prairie with injurious 

 force. Every high ridge of the prairie should be surmounted with a belt of timber — 

 every farm should have its groves ; every cottage should nestle in a clump of evergreens ; 

 every orchard and fruit yard should be protected by the pine, spruce and cedar, till it 

 change a borean, to a milder climate, when a more healthy luxurance and rich fruits shall 

 reward the planter. There is no direction in which the efforts of the Society will be 

 more useful than in directing the public attention to planting timber, and especially in 

 protecting with evergreens the houses, the stock, the fruit and farms of our people. 



It will be a most profitable investment ; $50 worth of evergreens judiciously planted 

 and cared for, on any 80 acre farm, will increase its value in ten years from $500 to $1,000 

 or more ; and if we ever succeed in fruit culture on the prairie we must protect it. 



EVERGREENS DISCUSSED. 



Galusha — I have handled a good many evergreens ; I have propa- 

 gated from seed and taken them from the forest. It is better for 

 most persons to buy small trees of such men as Douglas, of Wauke- 

 gan. The best kinds are the White, Austrian and Scotch Pines. 

 Hemlock, Arbor Vitae, Red Cedar, Norway and White Spruces. 

 The trees should be transplanted two or three times; the roots 

 should never get dry. In setting, the trees should be pruned and 

 mulched. I prune Pines and Spruces by cutting out the center of 

 last years' growth ; other trees, by shortening in. I planted six 

 hundred evergreens of from four to ten feet in height last spring, 

 and lost but seven, planted on the sight of an old pig-pen. 



Long — The Red Cedar, Spruce, and Arbor Vitae, are best with 

 us, I lost three out of one hundred in transplanting. I kept the 

 ground loose by mulching. 



Colman — The White, Scotch and Austrian Pines succeed best 

 with us. The Black, White and Norway Spruces do well. The 

 American and Siberian Arbor Vitae, and Red Cedar do admirably. 

 A mistake is made in not preparing the ground well. It is better 

 to make a large, deep and irregular hole and plant a clump. 



Baldwin — It is a general fault to let the roots get too dry. Red 

 Cedar is the most diseased with us. 



