474 



HORTICULTURE. 



April 11, 1908 



the water had nearly all run off, that were turning 

 yellow and at a distance they looked as if dying. Come 

 to examine them, I found tliat on account of the ex- 

 cessive drowth, they were dropping half their needles 

 Av'hile the rest were fresh and green. They did not 

 have provision for the whole family and so they were car- 

 rying just what they could. Down in the valley, two 

 hundred feet from an irrigating ditch, there were the 

 same kinds of trees with needles, long and glistening, 

 of the healthiest green. 1 wondered how this could be 

 as they, too, were on a steep hillside. Having occasion 

 to dig beside the irrigating ditch, I found a mass of roots 

 from those distant trees pumping up water and sending 

 it to the topmost branches, keeping them fresh and 

 green. 



If you go into Northwestern Nebraska, you will see 

 I hem perched like cliff dwellers on the tops of dry, in- 

 accessible bluffs where the soil is too poor to raise grass. 

 They are up there put of the way of fires. Were it not 

 fo» this enemy, doubtless the plains of the West and the 

 Sand Hills of the North would have been covered with 

 them. 



Nurserymen have not always succeeded with them 

 and complain that they are hard to transplant, that the 

 loss is heavy, and it takes years to recover from the 

 shock. 



AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY 



At this station, after years of careful experimenting, 

 we have found a process by which you can raise them ■ 

 from seed as easily as you can peas, and you can trans- 

 jdant them with no more loss than with elm or ash, and 

 you can grow them as easily as you can potatoes. 



The trouble has l)een, we have grown tliem under 

 screens as we have other evergreens, but they resent this ; 

 they do not want any coddling. The process is so sim- 

 ple any one can raise his own at small cost. 



On a trip to the Black Hills, we noticed a lot grow- 

 ing near the railroad, on a spot where the soil had been 

 scraped down to tlie hardpan. The seed had fallen in 

 the autumn from the trees near by. These had been 

 covered with snow. They sprang up early in the spring 

 and there they were thick as they could stand. I took 

 the hint, sowed a lot of seed out in the open in the fall, 

 and never saw a finer stand. T found that by growing 

 them without shelter, so they were used to the intense 

 heat of summer and the cold of winter that they were 

 so vigorous that I ventured to transplant them when n 

 year old, and here I ran into another splendid success. 

 The yearling plants had a heavy root system to sup- 

 port those long needles. Vou drift under the bed and 

 get all the roots, which are twelve to fifteen inches long. 

 Now dig a trench eight inches deep, straight on one 

 side, set your plants against this straight side, double 

 in the roots — for you need all — draw in the earth with 

 one hand while you li<dd the tree with the other. After 

 planting a while, take tlie hoe and fill the trench and 

 stami> solid. After a ilay or two hoe or rake the surface 

 to prevent evnponitioii. [f Hktc are no white grubs 



and the gi'ound is fairly moist and in good condition, 

 youwill save 95%. 



A FINE SIGHT 



1 wisli you could see our Ponderosas in all stages, 

 those one year old, those one year after transplanting 

 and you will acknowledge that our beautiful rows of 

 three year olds, twelve to eighteen inches high, with 

 their long glistening needles of freshest green are the 

 finest you ever saw. We mention this process because 

 we believe it can be made worth millions to the West and 

 iS'orthwest. A year ago, 1 sent a pound of seed to a man 

 in Manitoba. He wrote he ventured to plant one-half 

 of it and now had 3000 fine trees and was a green hand 

 at it and this his first effort. If you can't get seed in 

 the fall, make your bed in the spring, spade it up fine, 

 rake it level, put on a pound of seed to eight feet square 

 and cover with half an inch of fine loam or sand. It 

 is best to soak the seed in blood warm water, changing 

 every twelve hours to keep from souring. In about three 

 or four days, they begin to sprout. Then plant and see 

 they do not dry while germinating and you will be 

 surprised at your success and will rise fifty per cent, in 

 your own estimation. 



In appearance tliis tree somewhat resembles the 

 Austrian Pine, only the needles are much longer — some- 

 limes ten or even twelve inches in length with a glossy 

 jiolisli enabling them to resist the hot winds. Under 

 the above process, we have transplanted these trees when 

 there was no loss in two exceeding hot and dry sum- 

 mers, when there was but four inches of rain during 

 the summer months, with no irrigation. The roots are 

 trained near tlie surface. If left alone they form a 

 long tap root; for this reason, transplant when a year 

 old and then you develop the most perfect root system. 

 What a pity these trees so easily raised cannot be 

 planted on the semi-arid plains. Out there, with for- 

 ests, groves, and wind-breaks, the hot and drying winds 

 could be checked and dry farming could be carried on 

 with success. Two years after transplanting, put them 

 out where you wish them to stand in grove or wind- 

 lii-eak. Some call them too coarse for the yard but I 

 like them. Give them a chance to develop and they 

 make a symmetrical tree. Their freshness in winter 

 and sturdy growth make them very attractive. When 

 unce established, they make about two feet a year. They 

 do not grow as rapidly as the Jack Pine, but they can 

 endure the drouth and hot winds much better. If you 

 have steep hillsides, inclined to wash, or rocky places 

 you cannot ])low. ])lant them to these pines. You can- 

 not afford to liave irlle ground when land is worth -$100 

 |>iT ncrc. 



THE LUMBER 



This is all right for framing and inside work. Ex- 

 posed to the weather, it does not last as long as White 

 Pine. For inside wmk, finished with hard oil, it is very 

 beautiful. As it grows with great rapidity, the grain is 

 quite coarse but when well polished it is about as attrac- . 

 live as any lumber we liave. 



A good deal of dear lumber will often be saved for 

 frames and cornice. Tliis is all right if well painted. 

 We emphasize the importance of this tree for its many 

 excellent qualities. Its ease of propagation and trans- 

 planting, its rapid growth, its droutli resisting quali- 

 ties make it tlie most promising of all the evergreens 

 for the great prairie States. 



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