PRAIRIE FORESTATION. 



347 



and the grove was fenced for pasture. After a grove has been 

 pastured for a number of years, the trees begin to fail, the for- 

 est cover is destroyed, and the entire destruction of the forest 

 is only a question of time. 



If fire and livestock vv^ere kept out of prairie groves, they 

 would rapidly reproduce themselves and enlarge their borders. 

 Indeed throughout the prairie regions, wherever the ground is 

 rough or uneven, a vegetation peculiar to the borders of forests 

 begins to appear. The wolfberry (Symphoricarpos occiden- 

 talis) springs up and spreads rapidly over the prairie, forming a 

 dense shade. This shrub has a tendency to destroy the tough 

 prairie sod, and under the shelter of its leaves, sun-flowers, 

 silphiums and other tall compositae spring up, to be followed by 

 box elders, green ash, bur oaks, and other forest trees. On low 

 bottoms the sandbar willow has the same effect as the wolf- 

 berry, forming dense patches on the prairie bottoms, to be follow- 

 ed by box elders, ash and elms. On other and higher prairies 

 the borders of the forest are extended through the growth of 

 such shrubs as wild-rose, wahoo, choke cherries and wild plums. 

 As soon as the shrubs have taken possession of the ground, the 

 seeds of trees spring up amongst them, and the forest is ex- 

 tended. Where pasturage is the rule there is little opportunity 

 for this cover of shrubs to develop so as to protect the young 

 seedlings of forest trees. If our farmers would use foresight 

 enough to keep the stock out of the natural groves and out of 

 the ravines where wolfberry grows, and if trees were plant- 

 ed on rough ground where they show a tendency to grow natur- 

 ally, the work of foresting the prairies would be greatly sim- 

 plified. 



There is, however, in southwestern Minnesota but little 

 waste land. Nearly all the land is fertile and well adapted to 

 •general farming. It already sells at from $30. to $60. per acre 

 and is steadily advancing in price. This land is too high priced 

 for forestry purposes. Trees for timber and fuel can only be 

 grown with' profit on cheap land. 



The people of the prairie regions are much interested in tree- 

 planting for shelter belts and for landscape adornment. In 

 southwestern Minnesota the prairies are already dotted every- 

 where with artificial groves. Too often these groves have not 

 been set with the best trees. The box elder, a quick growing, 

 temporary tree, has been planted too much. Too many cot- 

 tonwoods have been planted on dry land, where they will even- 



