ARBORICULTURE 



179 



The wind breaks formed by these liv- 

 ing walls, reaching sixty or eighty feet 

 heavenward, are very valuable to the 

 ranches and aid materially in making the 

 fields more productive. How? Well, in 

 summer, when water grows less in the 

 mountain streams and fields of grain are 

 needing moisture, the current of air is 

 diverted upwards from the field's surface 

 and evaporation is thus reduced to a min- 

 imum, leaving the moisture in the ground 

 for the plants. 



In winter as the cold winds chilled by 

 traversing snow-covered mountains and 

 plains, the stock upon the ranch and fam- 

 ilies on the farm are spared the chilling, 

 for these winds are broken in force by 

 the lines of trees. 



Deciduous trees, gathering strength 

 from earth and air, accumulate a large 

 quantity of valuable fertilizing ma- 

 terials in their foliage, which, when 

 autumn comes and the leaves fall, 

 they are spread over the fields by winds 

 thus aiding in soil fertility. 



To say nothing of the barrenness and 

 dreariness of a land totally treeless, 

 which has been changed by the trees 

 planted by the Mormons to be a land of 

 beauty and productiveness. 



The Lombardy Poplar is a tree and as 

 such is worthy of extensive cultivation, 

 although the economic value of its wood 

 is very slight. 



It burns quickly and is not a good 

 fuel. The trunk is too small to aflford 

 much lumber, which is not durable, and 

 as a timber tree it cannot be considered 

 of importance. 



All of us may learn some useful les- 

 sons from the Mormon experiment in 

 Utah. 



Uniformity is necessary in street plant- 

 ing. Elms, Oaks, Cottonwood, Maples, 

 Box Elders, etc., hit or miss, just as 

 each lot owner fancies to plant, will not 

 make a handsome avenue of shade trees. 



On one's private grounds, variety is 

 essential, but each public street should 

 be uniform for best effect. 



Our western prairie friends who live 

 on rich farm lands so dismally free from 

 any sort of shade or shelter trees should 

 look to the Mormons, who have set a 

 magnificent example in planting trees 

 which mav well be emulated. 



INDIANA FORESTS. 



Away back in the '50s, during a heated 

 political campaign in which the Whigs 

 and Democrats battled for control of the 

 national government, the editor of 

 Arboriculture, then a boy of fifteen, 

 heard the first political stump speech of 

 his life — and to-day the memories of that 

 day are fresh in his memory. The Hon. 

 Will Cumback was the speaker during 

 his candidacy for Congress. 



Governor Cumback is well qualified to 

 compare the dense forests of that early 

 day with the few remaining trees of this 

 time. His words of advice are golden 

 and we hope they may be heeded by the 

 farmers of Indiana. 



My Dear Brown: — It has been my 

 good fortune to have traveled in nearly 

 all the states and territories of this coun- 

 try. I have been a close observer of the 

 conditions in every place I have visited; 

 and have concluded, all things considered, 

 that Indiana, my native state, is the best 

 of them all. In admiring the beauty of 

 the scenery in our state, we have also the 

 satisfying consciousness of the great fer- 

 tility of the soil and her other inex- 

 haustible natural resources. I wrote an 

 article some two years ago which went 

 the rounds of the press on "The Wood- 

 lands of Indiana;" and I propose herein 

 to repeat substantially what I then said 

 and if you think proper to do so, you 

 may publish this letter for the consider- 

 ation and action of your readers of 

 Arboriculture, 



The greater part of this state was once 

 a dense forest. There was only a small 

 portion of prairie land. There is still 

 on the border of almost each farm which 

 was originally in the woods, a skirt of 

 timber which adds a charm to the scenery 

 that the monotonous prairie lands does 

 not possess. Our public highways and 

 our railroads often pass through and 

 alongside of these woods and are seen 

 by the traveling public as they go 

 through this great central state. It is a 

 matter of regret that our farmers, like 

 those of other timber states, give little 

 or no attention to their woodlands. They 

 pay their taxes year by year on this part 

 of their land and because of their neglect 

 get nothing out of it. As a consequence 



