248 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



few years hence in the untamed soil of the plainsman's dooryard. So, 

 too, in many a western village it is far better to shade the sidewalks 

 with Carolina Poplars, which will certainly grow, and grow rapidly, than 

 to wait for the uncertain growth of otherwise more desirable trees. Here 

 is a case where "the best" is not "the cheapest," when we take into the 

 reckoning the comfort of the dwellers in the shadeless houses, and the 

 sun-scorched villages. 



The western settlers have acted upon the theory set forth above in 

 planting extensively of the common cottonwood for a quick shade. Of 

 course they know that cottonwood trees were not as desirable as elms, 

 oaks, ashes, walnuts and maples, but the cottonwood would grow, and 

 grow easily, while the growth of the others was much more difficult and 

 uncertain. So the plains were soon dotted over with cottonwood groves, 

 and the village streets were lined with the quick-growing trees, which 

 soon transformed the country and the village houses into comfortable 

 homes. But when the shadeless heat was forgotten, and the trees, now 

 grown large, began to shed their "cotton" in increasing amounts, the 

 tree planters forgot the service rendered by the cottonwood trees in the 

 early days and thought only of the troublesome cotton which they now 

 shed. Thus it has happened that in many a village the cottonwoods 

 have been cut down in wrath by the men who as boys played in the shade 

 of these same trees — the only trees then to be seen — the only shade on 

 the wide, hot prairie. The objection to the cottonwood which ultimately 

 condemns it for a shade tree, namely that of shedding a disagreeable 

 amount of cotton, does not hold against the Carolina Poplar, since only 

 the staminate (male) tree is known in cultivation. With a more rapid 

 growth, and the absence of the cotton nuisance, this tree must commend 

 itself to every man who wants — who must have a quickly-grown shade 

 tree. Let it be remembered that the Carolina Poplar as grown in Ne- 

 braska, is the male tree, and that as a consequence it px'oduces no seeds, 

 and therefore no cotton. It is a cottonwood loithout cotton. If you 

 plant it you will not bothered with the annual shedding of the cottony 

 seeds. 



VAI.ITE FOB FUEL. 



Exact data as to the relative fuel value of the dry wood of the Carolina 

 Popuar are wanting, but cannot be far from that of the common cotton- 

 wood. Several years^ago the writer made some careful calculations as to 

 the relative fuel values of the growths of various common species .of 

 tree's calculated as dry wood, as follows: 



At 10 At 15 At 18 

 years years years 



Cottonwood 100 100 100 



Hickory 11 12 12 



Oak 6 5 6 



Walnut — — 12 



Ash — 21 — 



