198 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



Pomana, and Sylva, and Flora, in time sink to a long rest, the ranks of disciples of the 

 rural arts are constantly filled by new recruits. 



All these years past, since first homes were made upon the prairies, the sweeping 

 northwest wind pierced to the bone of man and beast at intervals through the year. 

 Flesh has suffered sore discomfort, and vegetable life has met with great destruction 

 because there were no pliant, thick interlaced boughs, dense foliage, and sturdy trunks, 

 to interpose before the chilling blasts from the barren lands of the Northwest. 



And all this while our natural forests would at any time furnish, upon call, thousands, 

 yes millons of seedlings, (or the seeds to grow them) of trees, of scores of species, some 

 appropriate for ornament, some for shade, some for fuel, some for lumber and timber, 

 some for hedge and fence and shelter belt ; and, in fine, for any and every use. 



These native forests and copses are a very treasury, filled with the riches we need most — 

 a bank, afflicted with no such seasons of stringency and panic as the Wall Street con- 

 cerns — a bank of issue, creating and turning out myriads of green-leafy promises of 

 future comfort and pleasure. 



From the great American Elm, with buttressed trunk and tree-like limbs, a forest of 

 graceful outline in itself, to the little blueberry, fruiting when an inch high ; of the mul- 

 titude of native species, the majority are mostly worthy of cultivation. 



During the past season a careful canvass of the ligneous growth of one county 

 (Stephenson) has developed the fact of the existence within, and native of this county, 

 of 40 Genera, containing 111 species of trees and woody shrubs and vines. This county 

 is considered lightly timbered. Large quantities of coal are imported for fuel ; while for 

 building, vehicles, agricultural implements, cabinet work, etc., almost all the material 

 used is imported — that is, it is brought from other counties and states. 



And of material for hedging, fence, fruit and ornamental planting, the most comes 

 from without our borders. To show how rich we are in native arboreal growth, I pur- 

 pose naming the useful native species in alphabetic order : 



Acer — the Maple family, with its five species, all useful, heads the list. 



A. rubrum — the Curly Maple of the cabinet-maker, is a rapid grower ; well adapted 

 for ground too wet for the plow. 



A. dasycarpum — the Silver Leaf Maple of the nurseries ; if headed in, will make a fine 

 ornamental appearance, and is among the rapid growers. 



A. saccharinum — The Rock Maple produces the bird's eye of the cabinet-maker, and 

 with A. nigrum the sugar, which stands above all other sweets, honey not excepted. 

 The growth of these trees, when properly cultivated, is not so slow as is generally sup- 

 posed, and their wealth of foliage will secure them places before many a door. 



A. negundo — the Ash Leaf Maple or Box Elder, or Blue Ash or Black Maple, or 

 Honey Maple, has probably more names than a rather small tree deserves, though it is 

 not planted as much as it deserves. 



Of all these common names, the latter (Honey Maple) is probably the most appropri- 

 ate, for the syrup it produces is a better imitation of honey than comes from any other 

 source, except the nectar cups of flowers. The good traits of this tree are — great vitality. 

 It will live and thrive under very adverse circumstances — rapid growth, at four years 

 from seed 2% inches diameter ; at 12 years, 11 to 16 inches diameter. Dense shade, good 

 fuel, the production of sugar in shade from brown to nearly white, in quantity greater 

 than the other maples. 



(Careful experiment of the writer, last spring, demonstrated the production of good 

 brown sugar to be 2 8-11 per cent, of the sap used.) 



