EVERGREENS. 221 



know just how to grow them. But the Concolor and the Pun- 

 gens and Engleman want special favors. They cannot be grown 

 by ordinary processes. The ground selected should be sandy 

 loam with plenty of sand near by. The most skillful men should 

 be selected for the work, and every facility should be granted. 

 An especial propagating house should be devised for the more 

 difficult evergreens. Trees should be raised by the million, and 

 should be sold at the cost of production. It would pay for some 

 man or company to go into it who could take contracts for plant- 

 ing and show people what can be done. But there is no proba- 

 bility that this will be done. The U. S. Experiment Stations 

 have taught a lesson on the cheapness of production. Per- 

 sonally I suppose I have had more experience with ever- 

 greens in this state than all the nurserymen put together. But 

 my land at York is not suitable. A plunging rain makes a 

 brick-bat of it. Light and porous soil is needed, and must be 

 had or you cannot make a success. Land invaded by angle- 

 worms is worthless. These are among the worst pests the 

 state has ever known. They take a rich piece of land that once 

 could be tilled so it would be fine and pliable, and they reduce 

 it to a sticky mass which dries out in a short time, and it is im- 

 possible to pulverize it. Some eastern soils may be benefited 

 by them, but they are a terror in oijr gardens already and a 

 menace to our future. 



If the state should expend say $10,000 or even $5,000 for this 

 work, it would repay them a hundred fold. The blizzards of 

 winter and the hot winds of summer would be checked, and we 

 would have cheerful people. While the air filled with the aroma 

 of pines would make the state a delightful sanitarium. This is 

 not visionary. Evergreens of the right kind grow well here. 

 I do not know of a country where they make a more sturdy, 

 healthy and vigorous growth. 



