144: NEBUASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



streams in the western portion of the state. In far western Nebraska 

 the Cottonwood has been so buffeted by winds and oftentimes scorched 

 bj'^ fires that a different type has been developed from that which we find 

 on the Missouri river. The Missouri river cottonwood transplanted into 

 far western Nebraska, where I am familiar with it, in groves within 

 two miles of the Wyoming line, has proved its superiority over the 

 local cottonwood. It is much more rapid in gi'owth, more regular m 

 outline, better for shelter, shade and timber. 



In towns like Bridgeport, perhaps sixty or seventy miles east of the 

 Wyoming line, there is an active demand for the cottonwood shade 

 tree. It endures their conditions, and its rapidity of growth pleases 

 the public: In western Nebraska at the present time in our personal 

 trade we find a larger demand for the cottonwood, in seedlings for shelter 

 belts and in shade tree form, than almost any other tree. 



The Carolina Poplar — This tree has been very freely planted in central 

 and western Nebraska. On the David Hunter plantation in Lincoln 

 county, Nebraska, there are poplar trees aged eighteen years that are 

 now fifty feet in height, and Mr. Hunter regrets that he did not plant 

 forty acres of them for saw timber. Although this tree under irrigation 

 sometimes grows too late in the fall and is unripe at the time of the 

 first autumnal freeze, yet we find a very large demand for this variety. 



The Norway Poplar — The Norway poplar has been pushed with vigor 

 by nurserymen and their agents and it is giving satisfaction. The price 

 at which it is sold leads to its use more freely as a shade tree rather 

 than in wind-breaks and shelter belts. 



Because the cottonwood can be furnished at a very low price, the 

 average planter needing five to ten thousand trees is more likely to 

 plant the cottonwood than either of the poplars. 



At the present time in eastern Nebraska perhaps the catalpa speciosa 

 is being sold more freely than any other tree. 



In an ' early day the homesteaders or land ownei's in the eastern 

 portions of the state did not hesitate to plant several acres of timber, 

 anywhere from two to ten acres, on lands worth from $10 to $20 an 

 acre. Now that the lands in the eastern half of Nebraska have been 

 found to be very well suited to the production of corn and wheat a 

 I'armer hesitates to plant a grove on land worth a hundred dollars an 

 acre. I am informed by real estate men that some tracts of farm land 

 near Crete can be sold for $150 per acre, and this without buildings. A 

 farmer naturally hesitates to plant timber on $100 land, preferring to 

 get an annual crop of corn or wheat rather than to wait for a return 

 from the production o"' timber, a matter of ten or twenty years. 



In our immediate neighborhood traveling salesmen from Indiana are 

 selling our farmers Catalpa speciosa seedlings at $25 per thousand. The 

 average farmer forgets to call iip the nearest nurseryman over the 

 r)hone to ascertain what these trees are really worth. Plantations of 

 catalpas which T have personally planted in Saline county tv.cnty-six 

 vears ago show very clearly just what can be done and what cannot 



