ROUGH NOTES ON HORTICULTURE FROM THE WEST. 



451 



bottoms of his trowsers, in rather a dispro- 

 portionate and unpicturesque manner, still, 

 there is muscular power there, and energy, 

 and shrewdness, in the brain that sur- 

 mounts the uncouth structure. 



There is, perhaps, no better evidence of 

 what we are doing, and intend to do, as 

 horticulturists, than the fact that we have 

 more nurseries in number, north of the 

 capitol of our state, than you have west of 

 yours, to the same area. This county — 

 which is 16 or 18 years old, at most — con- 

 tains within its bounds not less than 50 

 nurseries ; all more or less respectable, and 

 some quite as extensive as most eastern 

 ones. 



But to my " text." Your leader for 

 January, on removing large forest trees, is 

 peculiarly applicable to our prairie country. 

 We have many desirable situations in the 

 midst of our extensive prairies, where the 

 configuration of the land, rising into com- 

 paratively bold and graceful swells, is well 

 calculated to show off clumps of large 

 trees to admirable advantage, and in plea- 

 sing contrast with the general nakedness, 

 and monotony of the landscape. 



In the city of Chicago, much has been 

 done in this way ; and with a few more 

 such men as Wm. B. Ogden, Henry Hub- 

 bard, and Dr. Egan, with our excellent 

 Prairie Farmer to back them, Chicago 

 will soon earn a just title to her arrogant 

 synonym of "The Garden City." But 

 hitherto few trees of large size have been 

 successfully removed, — the integrity of the 

 roots not being sufficiently preserved ; yet 

 of medium, and small sizes, a vast number 

 of native forest trees now embellish the 

 streets and lawns of our city. Still, it 

 must be confessed, that perhaps a greater 

 number have miserably perished, by being 

 "set in the ground like posts." The prin- 

 cipal trees in use, have heretofore been the 



elm, hard and soft maples, cotton-wood 

 (Populus angulata,) and the universal lo- 

 cust. Very recently, a taste for our beau- 

 tiful and hardy native Conifera has been 

 gaining ground in Chicago, and the west 

 generally. Of these, we have millions, of 

 suitable sizes, along the borders of the 

 whole lake region. But, among these ever 

 smiling objects, my particular favorite, the 

 hemlock, is proscribed. I, however, reside 

 in the country, and hold country notions. 



And what can I say of arboriculture in 

 the country? Alas! the picture so vividly 

 drawn by your critic, Jeffreys, is too near 

 the truth. All here lies in its primitive 

 nakedness; or stares, from the works of 

 man, in scarred and blighted ugliness, a 

 thousand times more desolate than the 

 land as God made, and "the savage" 

 left it. 



When I settled at " The Grove," some 

 14 years since, there was, along the course 

 of the Milwaukie road for many miles, 

 some of the finest natural park scenery, 

 principally burr oaks, [Overcup oaks, — 

 Qiicrcus macrocarpa — Ed.] with low spread- 

 ing heads, that I have ever seen in any 

 country. The exceeding beauty of these 

 scattered trees, gracefully dotting the verge 

 of the prairie, on the west side of the river, 

 where trees are seldom found, and the 

 bold outline of " heavy timber" on its east- 

 ern shore, with the lovely chain of blue 

 islands, obscurely visible in the western 

 horizon, rendered the whole landscape most 

 truly delicious, and was the principal in- 

 ducement to my remaining here. And 

 now — these noble trees, that the swift fires 

 of ages had spared — where arc they ? Ask 

 Jeffreys ; he has told you, and in lan- 

 guage that really seems as though, in 

 some moment of forgotten inspiration, or 

 during a fit of somnambulism, I had myself 

 uttered his eloquent and truthful senti- 



