402 MINNESOTy\ STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The bitter hickory has a wide range of hardiness in this state 

 and is equally worthy of cultivation. 



The hackberry is another tree which should be more gener- 

 ally planted. Then we have the birches and the willows, which 

 in their place are worthy of attention. Among the smaller trees 

 we have the ironwood, and some of them are very beautiful in- 

 deed. The thorn tree makes a low top with dense' foliage 

 and seldom grows to a height exceeding fifteen feet. We often 

 find the top of great diameter in comparison with the height of 

 the tree, and the foliage is very dense. I think the various 

 forms of this tree are of great interest. 



Then there is another class of trees we seldom see planted, 

 and that is the oak. There are several varieties of the oak that 

 do well with us, and I think are deserving of more attention 

 than we give them. There is the white oak, the red oak, the pin 

 and scarlet oak, all of which are perfectly hardy with us. We 

 have a specimen of the burr oak in our nursery three years old, 

 once transplanted, which is five feet high. We have the red, 

 scarlet and pin oak that have made a growth of seven feet with 

 one transplanting in three years. 



The sugar maple forms a dense top thickly covered with 

 leaves, which are of a glossy, deep green. It is one of the best 

 street trees in northern Iowa. The red maple will thrive also in 

 Minnesota, and the silver maple will thrive in the greater por- 

 tion of your state. The black walnut and the butternut will 

 also thrive in some sections of your state. 



There is one tree that is being grown to a certain extent 

 among nurserymen which I think deserves wider attention than 

 it receives. It is perhaps not so valuable an ornamental 

 as a forest tree, and that is the wild black cherry. Black 

 cherry lumber is worth $250.00 a thousand, and it can be grown 

 as readily as the maple. This is a tree that is native through- 

 out the larger portion of Minnesota. The Kentucky coffee tree 

 is a peculiar thing, and the tree is of a very interesting habit. 

 The shape of the Kentucky coffee tree is of the general shape of 

 the black walnut, and it is a tree that should have more atten- 

 tion than it now receives. 



There is another tree which we seldom see planted about 

 our homes, and that is the wild crab apple. It is so common 

 that I suppose everybody despises it, but in the prairie sections 

 of our state it seems to me that the wild crab apple should be of 

 special interest. I do not think there is any trouble in trans- 



