BEST VARIETIES OF EVERGREENS FOR WINDBREAKS. 3 73 



they are white pine or balsam fir. I have noticed this especially, 

 that the balsam fir is abundant, and in many cases the white pine is 

 a decided success. My opinion is that all those trees that are native 

 to the country bordering on the Mississippi are very much better 

 adapted to this country than those trees that are grown from north- 

 ern seeds in this country. I believe if an effort was made to keep 

 those seeds and plant them, you would have greater success. As to 

 the red cedar, whether grown in the Platte Valley or grown in 

 southern Illinois, there is not much difference between them and 

 those grown from the seeds in the northern portion of the state. 



Prof. Hays: I think there is a very valuable point in this matter 

 of handling forest trees. Two years ago I was in Canada with Prof. 

 Saunders, and he showed me a number of elms and other varieties of 

 forest trees that were grown from seeds nearly or quite as far 

 north as that country, and also trees grown from seed brought from 

 everj' section of the country. They are very distinct varieties in the 

 matter of hardiness, because they had been grown in many cases 

 for many generations where they could survive only if they were 

 hardy. Nurserymen, I believe, should not only take pride in telling 

 where their stock is grown, but they should complain of each other 

 for not doing that, and patrons should clearly understand where 

 seeds come from. It is a matter of vital importance to get that 

 matter straightened out so hardy things will be used. 



Mr. Dartt: I would like to ask the professor whether some indi- 

 viduals of the red cedar are less hardy than other individuals? 



Prof. Hays: No doubt, those that come from seeds from trees 

 grown south. Take the individual red cedar of Minnesota, and I 

 have not the least doubt in the world that the trees vary from the 

 seed produced from such trees. I might illustrate. We find a great 

 variation in all of the field crops. For instance, take the plants of 

 wheat. We plant a plat of ground with wheat and pick out the ten 

 best plants and get other variations. These sometimes will be cross- 

 fertilized, and there cannot help being variations. 



Mr. Dartt: If variation naakes that difference, is the white spruce 

 and Norway spruce a variation? 



Prof. Hays: It is only a variation; originally in the evolution 

 there was little difference. I am a great believer in the problems 

 that Charles Darwin worked out, and when I see such great varia- 

 tion in plants I cannot help but conclude that there will be immense 

 variation if a large variety of more different types are brought 

 together. Suppose we bring trees from the north and put them 

 near trees from the south, it may be the same kind, blood lines are 

 so divergent that there will be great variation. 



Heads Need Thinning.— The chief defect in many orchards is 

 too much wood. The heads are so dense that light and air cannot 

 get to the interior. As a result the fruit is borne upon the ends of 

 the outer branches. The yield is reduced and the quality inferior. 

 Do not prSne severely but cut out interfering branches, so that all 

 parts of the tree can get air and sunlight. 



