312 



ARBORICULTURE. 



ing- straight, tall trees and producing the 

 best of softwood lumber. 



On the contrar}', the ancient trees 

 along the valleys in the semi-arid regions 

 are very shoTt-bodied, knotty, twisting, 

 and totally worthless except for fuel. 



As the elevation increases tO' 6,000 feet 

 along the base of the Rocky Mountains, 

 the broad^leaved cottoiiwood disappears 

 and the narrow-leaved tree makes its ap- 

 pearance. This is Populus mhgiistifolia. 

 The narrow-leaved cottonwood has a 

 much handsomer foliage than the broad- 

 leaved, being willowy and graceful in 

 form, often growing in clusters. The 

 tree is oif rather small growth. 



Another form of the cottonwood in the 

 same locality, and greatly resembling the 

 former, is Populus angulata, the leaves 

 of which are broader at the base, and the 

 under side of the leaves and younger 

 branches are tinged with yellow. 



There are many other varieties of the 

 poplars. 



Again ascending one or two thousand 

 feet, and these are replaced by the aspen, 

 which covers the mountain sides at from 

 8,000 to 10,000 feet altitude. 



Latitude, as well as altitude, governs 

 the poplars — aspens thriving in the far 

 North, cottonwood to the southward. 



The cottonwood is dioecious ; that is, 

 the male and female flowers are on sep- 

 arate trees, the seed being produced only 

 on the female trees ; hence the so'-called 

 Carolina poplar, which produces nO' seed, 

 is merely the masculine form of common 

 cottonwood, and, being produced from 

 cuttings, do not change their sex. 



The male in trees as well as animal 

 nature are more vigorous, stronger grow- 

 ers, and in their youth are rapid in 

 growth, but with age all forms of the 

 cottonwood become ragged, ugly, unsym- 



metrical and most undesirable for home 

 adornment or as street and shade trees. 



Our illustration of the narrow-leaved 

 cottonwood is from the camera O'f Mr. 

 D. M. Andrews, the noted collector of 

 Rocky Mountain plants and seeds, of 

 Boulder, Colorado. 



Glen Eyrie, the home O'f General Wm. 

 J. Palmer, near Colorado' Springs, con- 

 tains many hand.-ome trees of this rather 

 rare poplar. 



A DETERMINED RAID UPON THE 

 NATION'S TIMBER LANDS. 



This journal commends President 

 Roosevelt in his insistence that large 

 areas of the forest lands which remain as 

 the heirloom of the American people shall 

 be kept sacred for the future nation, and 

 can only condemn the speculating crowd 

 who met at Denver a few days ago for a 

 determined onslaught upon the forests. 



Greater opposition to the plans of the 

 schemers than was expected made it a 

 very tame afifair in the wind-up. 



Success by these raiders would mean 

 an end to the forests. 



Greater expense to the Government in 

 river and harbor expenditures to main- 

 tain a navigable depth to the great rivers. 



Increased cost to Texas, Louisiana, 

 Arkansas and Mississippi, far removed 

 from these forests, in building greater 

 levees to prevent overflows. 



The manufacturing industries of the 

 nation are in jeopardy when the forests 

 cease to supply the materials necessary to 

 their very existence. 



These are a few of the evils which must 

 result from the continued spoliation by 

 lumber concerns, cattle magnates and real 

 estate speculators, who are so determined 

 to gain possession of the nation's forests. 



