HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 73 



leaving a subsoil which is clear sand or gravel. No farmer or gar- 

 dener expects to grow a crop in sand or gravel, unless he uses large 

 quantities of manure. 



Red birch and zi^hitc are very desirable trees, hardy and satis- 

 factory. 



Hickory. Too much cannot be said for the shellbark hickory. 

 It being a native of the southeast corner of the state is evident proof 

 that it will succeed in the south and east sections of the state, at 

 least as far north as Wright and as far west as Blue Earth coun- 

 ties. The tree is of very slow growth for the first four or five years ; 

 when older with cultivation and fertilizing the growth is two or 

 three feet. This growth is always made in the first part of the sea- 

 son, and by the middle of July all growth ceases. The same condi- 

 tions govern the buckeye. From seed that was grown in Indiana 

 and planted in 1870, trees that are now twenty feet have been raised. 

 This year one of the trees bore the first nuts, probably the first grown 

 in Hennepin county. The pecan hickory is not hardy, kills back 

 but sprouts every spring. 



Present Home of J. R. Cummins. 



Walnut. There is no need to say much of our native wal- 

 nuts. The black walnut is now growing and bearing nearly one 

 hundred miles north of its natural limit. There is no doubt it 

 would be a very profitable tree to plant by the acre, on suitable soil 

 or land that would be cultivated and well manured, using also plenty 

 of ashes. A tree from seed planted in 1870 is now nearly six feet 

 in circumference. 



The Japanese IValnuts Sieboldii, Cordiformis, Rupestris and 

 Manchurian, are probably hardy. The Sieboldii has grown north 



