FOREST TREES. 143 



nearly equal to that of the black locust. It, however, makes a beautiful 

 shade tree and I remember noting a very beautiful specimen of honey 

 locust in the lawn of J. Sterling Morton at Nebraska City. This tree 

 was highly prized by Mr. Morton. I have two or three of these trees 

 near my ofRce in the city of Crete. They have attained large size with 

 a broad, symmetrical head. The foliage is pleasing. 



The Green Ash — The green ash is indigenous to our eastern rivers 

 and streams, seeding profusely at an early age. Because of the abundance 

 of the seed, I have had quantities gathered at fifteen to forty cents a 

 bushel of ten pounds. The ease and certainty of germination of the 

 ash seed, the fact that two hundred thousand seedlings could be grown 

 by skillful care and cultivation on an acre, made this variety a favorite 

 among nurserymen. The trees used to be offered to the planting public 

 at such moderate prices as to induce the planter to make large use of 

 the ash seedling, perhaps more than of any other variety. I have in 

 mind two of our timber claim contract groves of this tree in Scotts 

 Bluff county on high dry table lands within twenty-five miles of the 

 Wyoming line. Planted in ten acre tracts of timber claim work, we 

 found that after cultivation ceased to conserve the moisture the trees 

 on the south side of the grove left to themselves suffered. The north 

 half of the grove would intercept the drifting snows of winter, which 

 ultimately melting would supply the north half of the grove with ample 

 supply of water for continued vigor and growth. The snow having been 

 intercepted by the north half of the grove and the south side of the 

 grove suffering from weeds and not infrequently from the browsing of 

 cattle, could not make the same growth as the north half. Planted as 

 a shade tree in western Nebraska, standing in sod without cultivation, 

 suffering severely from summer drought has caused the ash to be 

 attacked by borers. This reminds us of Professor Bruner's suggestion 

 made to our society at the Trans-Mississippi meeting in Omaha that 

 "borers are scavengers of nature, attacking trees already suffering from 

 (he extreme heat of the summer." 



The Soft Maple-^In the early history of the state the soft maple was 

 quite freely planted and the seed could be gathered along the rivers 

 and later wherever they had been planted a sufficient length of time. 

 Where the tree has been planted in eastern Nebraska in shelter belts 

 it has served a good purpose but has not proved desirable on the elevated 

 table lands of western Nebraska. The demand for this tree at the 

 present time is not large and it is not grown in nurseries with anything 

 like the freedom of earlier years. 



The Box-Elder — The elder is still planted with some freedom in 

 central and western Nebraska; transplanting with ease it grows with 

 vigor and has proved its usefulness in wind-breaks and shelter belts. At 

 the present time the tree does not have the call that it had twenty years 

 ago, its place having been taken by other varieties of timber. 



The Cottonwood — The eastern or Missouri river cottonwood grows 

 with much greater rapidity than the type of cottonwood found along the 



