February 27, 1909 



HORTICULTURE 



•279 



cultural. However, the injurious effect? may be observed 

 for fifty miles down the river. 



The low mountains this side of Missoula contain the 

 Yellow Pine, Douglas Fir, and the striking western 

 Larch (Larix occidentalis) which we found up the 

 canon. During the last part of August it began to lose 

 its foliage and gave the landscape a yellow appearance, 

 indicating the approaili of winter. 



On our way out, during the middle of July the land- 

 scape of the mountains was one mass of green and the 

 valleys aglow with flowers. From Missoula we went up 

 the Bitter Root Valley passing through the old settle- 

 ments at Stevensville, and the growing villages of Carl- 

 ton, Coalville, and Hamilton. Hamilton is the county 

 seat of Ravalli County, made famous by the large and 

 splendidly equipped ranches of Marcus A. Daly, who es- 

 tablished a beautiful country home near this place. The 

 country hereabouts has become famous as an apple and 

 potato country. 



The range of the Bitter Root Mountains from which 

 the waters of the stream of this name come, on the 

 whole is not a lofty one, the highest- peaks being about 

 eleven thousand feet high. The mountains are fairly 

 well timbered. There are few lakes and comparatively 

 few meadows in the area visited. 



The lower foothills consist of bare slopes with a few 

 trees. These consist of scattered groves of Pinus pon- 

 derosa, common desert plants like Artemisia tridcntata. 

 Ptirshia iridentata, and Achillea millefolium. The 

 benches on the west slope of the mountains were once 

 thickly covered with Pinus ponderosa, which has largely 

 been removed through the operation of large lumbei- 

 companies. 



There is a well marked zonal distribution of the sev- 

 eral conifers found in these mountains. The lower zone 

 is occupied by the Yellow Pine (Pinus -ponderosa) , fol- 

 lowed by the Pseudotsuga Douglasii. This is followed 

 by the Lodge Pole Pine (Pinus Murrayana). Thi 

 Pinus flexilis occupies the upper zone of the Lodge Pole 

 Pine region. Engelmann Spruce (Picea Engelmannii i 

 and Fir (Abies subalpina) occur in the canons and nar 

 row valleys of the streams extending over a considerable 

 altitude, from four thousand feet to timber line. 



The Yellow Pine has admirably adapted itself to all 

 the lower, drier slopes; much of this very rocky. The 

 soil is rather thin, but well drained. The young trees 

 are usually scattered in the forest, but when protected 

 they grow as thickly as the Lodge Pole Pine. This pine 

 makes a fairly rapid growth. 



The Bitter Root forest reserve is partly located in 

 Montana and partly in Idaho. The eastern part of the 

 reserve has its watershed in the Bitter Root Valley; in 

 the western part of the reserve the water flows to the 

 Clear Water and the Salem Rivers. On the mountain 

 slopes and in the valleys ferns overhang the rocks. Here 

 too we meet the Western Arbor vitae (Thuja plicata), a 

 magnificent tree. 



In the Lodge Pole Pine zone there are a number of 

 most interesting plants like the Rocky Mountain Colum- 

 bine, Arnica, Valerian, Bryanthus ( Bryanthus empetri- 

 folia), Moosegrass (Xerophyllum Douglasii) and Gilia. 



There are very few open parks in this country. The 

 most extensive visited was at an altitude of 7,500 feet 

 near the head waters of the Blue Joint. At this point 



occurring on the outlying lower slopes are groves of the 

 Pseudotsuga Douglasii and P. Murrayana; farther up 

 on the highest points some Abies subalpina P. flexilis, 

 and a little Engelmann Spruce. The most abundant of 

 all, however, was the Lodge Pole Pine. In these open 

 meadows there was an abundance of a Wheat Grass 

 (Agropyron dasystachyum) , a beautiful blue flower 

 flax the Linum Lcwisii, which is well known in culti- 

 vation, Silver Plant (Eriogonum umbellatum) and Blue 

 Grass (Pon pratensis), and other Poas; Yarrow 

 (Achillea millefolium) , antennaria and two species of 

 blue-flowered Aster. 



Overhanging the brooks in moist places an abundance 

 of several species of Asters, Erigerons, the Saxifraga 

 punctata, Aconitum columbianum, Luzula spadicca, As- 

 pidium lochitis, Aspletiium septentrionale. 



During the middle of August when we were camped 

 between 7,000 and 8,01)0 feet altitude, the nights were 

 cold. It froze ice every night, while the plants were 

 frozen hard in the. morning, but after the sun came out 

 tlip plants were as green as during the spring season. 



The Douglass Fir lu the Bitter Itcmt M te the thick 



barli, au admirable protection „ !ire. 



and the parks and woods were aglow with the Mimulus 

 Lcivsii and Aconitum. 



Some of the cultivated plants, especially the forage 

 plants, have been widely naturalized. Red Clover (Tri- 

 folium pratense). White Clover (T. repens), Timothy 

 (Phleum pratense), and Blue Grass (Poa pratensis), 

 have followed the trails far beyond present limits of the 

 cultivated areas. The clovers are found miles beyond 

 the settlements, frequently along old trails or where 

 lumbering operations were formerly carried on. Fruit 

 culture is successful in the Bitter Root Vallev and its 

 tributaries up to altitudes somewhat above 4,000 feet. 

 Orchards have been planted where frosts occur nearly 

 every week in the year. The culture of the potato 

 occurs at altitudes somewhat higher than the apple. 

 Cherries (Prumis ccrasus), Prunus domcstica and 

 peaches ■ succeed in the Bitter Root Valley. 



Ames, la. 



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