258 



them, and been able to attend to them in the proper seasons, I am convinced that, as a 

 whole, they would be much finer. At all events, it shows that any one who will take the 

 trouble, can begin the culture of forest trees without previous training. I do not speak 

 of orchards here. Having no School of Forestry in Canada, we must educate ourselves ; 

 we have got books written on the subject by eminent and practical men, and we have got, 

 always open before our eyes, the great book of Nature. 



TREE PLANTING ON THE PRAIRIES. 



By S. M. Emohy, Minnesota. 



The development of the vast syst(!m of railroads throughout the west, is bringing 

 into prominence; a scopes of country to which the name " empire " is peculiarly applicable. 



Our (;astorn frifinds, whos(5 jounKjys have been confined to the country east of the 

 Mississippi, have but a limited idea of the boundlessness of this immmense section. 



To the new comer, it is hard to make selection from so much that is deserving and 

 desirous ; and the usual distinction made, is a settlement of the question — stock raising 

 or wheat growing. Wheat growers are usually attracted to the Red River Valley, the 

 popular name given to the territory extending from Lake Traverse, on the boundary be- 

 tween M innesota and Dakota, as a starting point on the south, extending north to Lake 

 Winnipeg, with eastern and western boundaries extending indefinitely into Minnesota 

 and Dakota on either side, embracing, also, nearly all of Manitoba. 



Stock growers, on the contrary, find grcatei" attractions, in milder winters and better 

 grazing faciliti(!S, in the belt of country lying south of the lied River Valley. Each sec- 

 tion presents remarkable inducements in its particular line, and both are equally destitute 

 and equally desirous of th(! beiu^fits arising from tree planting. 



The most skciptical caviller from the east, after having given just and impartial criti- 

 cism to either of those regions, can only find two tangible points of objection to the 

 country : First, the quality of the water ; second, the absence of timber. The first is 

 easily remedied by the use of cisterns, supplemented with ice ; the second, by the judi- 

 cious planting and cultivation of desirable vari(!ties of timber. If this prove successful, it 

 must be done under direction and auspices of horticultural bodies and sound doctrine, and 

 information must be disseminated. 



The nursciryman can give the embryo tree the best of care, and can send it forth, a 

 thin" of beauty, with his tenderest blessing, but it will certainly come to naught, unless 

 the same intelligent providence and forethought attend it on its perilous struggle for 

 existence, surrounded on all sides by the lower and inferior types of creation. 



It is dense and overshadowing ignorance, that so eflectually bars progress in horticul- 

 tural effort ; the need and want of timlx^r, fruit and ornamental trees, is obvious. 



All are anxious to enjoy, but the usual failure that waits upon their careless minis- 

 trations has a decided tendency to deter and discourage any further expenditure of time 

 and money, both on the part of producer and consumer, with this difi'erence however : the 

 products or nurseryman, usually having his all invested in his business, will not allow 

 total failure to ensue, by the neglect on his part of getting rid of his stock, and thus he 

 shifts the responsibility on the shoulders of the planter where it belongs. 



Th(i passage of the United States timber law gave tree planting its real impulse. 

 The action of the Government in this respect is munificent, oflering as it does, free of 

 cost IGO acres of land to the planter, save the small sum incident to the cost of filing 

 papers, and the attendant expenses to the planting and cultivation of ten acres of timber. 

 This inures to tin; Ixsnefit of the planter, and is worth all and more than the actual cost 

 of complying with the reejuirements of the law. Those claims are eagerly sought, being 

 particularly desirable for non-residents, in the liberality of the law as regards settlement 

 and residence. 



