170 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



located at Halsey in Thomas County. This nui'sery comprises neaiiy ten 

 acres of seed-beds and transplant beds, with a capacity of seven to ten 

 million trees. Jack pine, western yellow pine, and Scotch pine, are the 

 principal species that are being used. North and east slopes have been 

 l?ound to be best suited to forest growth and are being most extensively 

 planted. A combined system of farming, forestry and grazing in the 

 sandhills would greatly increase their value over that of being used 

 solely for grazing. Experiments in slope land are also being tried at 

 the State Experiment Station at North Platee, and give promise of con- 

 siderable success. The highest slopes are being planted without any 

 preliminary cultivation of soil or any subsequent care of the trees, ex- 

 cept to prefect the stands from live stock. Red cedar once grew over 

 many of these sloi>es under much worse conditions than now prevail, and 

 a large number of evergreen species will be tried in an endeavor to 

 find the species best suited to this region. As a result of the agitation 

 and experiments, both by government officials and the men connected 

 with the Nebraska Experiment Station, private interests are doing an 

 extremely large amount of work in afforesting the sandhills. 



IniportjJiiee of Remaining' Xatiiral Forests. 



In the southeastern poi'tion of the state, along the river bluffs, 

 occurred most of the natural timber which originally grew in eastern 

 Nebraska. One of the most noted stands cf natural timber was found at 

 the mouth of the Platte, where there was an exceptionally heavy stand 

 of Cottonwood. Stands of buroak occurred along the hillside bordering 

 the course of the stream for long distances. Many of these natural 

 stands of cak covered from 100 to 500 acres, and several thrifty wood lots 

 still exist as remnants of this growth. The early records show that the 

 Omaha land district contains two million five hundred thousand acres. 

 This region was noted as being the most heavily timbered in the state 

 and an area of 75,000 acres was classed as timber land. It is probable 

 that a much larger area than this was covered with scattered stands, 

 which were interspread among the areas classified as distinctly agri- 

 cultural. It was a poor stand of this type of forest which the Hon. J. 

 Sterling Morton improvetl so well at Nebraska City, and which may be 

 found at the present time encroaching upon the slopes in various locai- 

 itio.s; all over the eastern two-thirds of the state. Several fine stands 

 have been noted during the last year's investigation in Nuckolls county, 

 Nance county and Antelope county. The most important species in this 

 type of forest are bur oak, green ash, cotton wood, hickories, elm.-;, 

 honey locust and several minor species. As one travels vv s , the 

 number of species in the bluff and slope forests becomes' less, until 

 green ash and bur oak are the only representatives. 



In the northwestern part cf the state occur slope forests in which 

 the western yellow pine is the principal tree. These forests are much 

 more open than the broad-leaved forests bordering the Missouri river, be- 

 cause of the less favorable sites on which they occur. These areas were 



