ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS. 387 



ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS. 



REV. E. D. COWLES, VERMILLION, S. D. 



(Read before the South Dakota State Horticultural Society, Yankton, S. D , 

 December 15th, : 



In drawing- the line at ornamental trees, I find myself lost before 

 I begin, for there is the Cottonwood standing- about two miles from 

 where I live that has had the privilege of spreading- itself at its own 

 sweet will, with no other tree to crowd, and not even the grass has 

 been allowed to grow under it, and, growing in a cultivated field, it 

 is truly a thing of beauty. I seldom go to town that T do not look 

 up and admire the graceful forms of the soft maples standing by 

 the roadsides; they having resisted the drouths and blasts for fifty 

 years. So we will begin with a mention of those trees that have 

 proved themselves worthy as shade and ornamental trees upon our 

 lawns. You will notice that I speak of our experience at Vermillion 

 and in Clay county rather than of the state. 



The white, or water, elm has proved itself a drouth resister, it hav- 

 ing lived and kept green when even the box elders and black wal- 

 nuts died in the same grove. The red elm makes a more graceful 

 tree but is harder to propagate. The rock elm, if planted, we be- 

 lieve would resist more dry weather than the ash. Box elder is the 

 standby, though at Vermillion we like the soft maple better. I wish 

 somebody would propagate the hackberry, for no one would ever 

 regret placing one in his lawn. The man who plants a linden, or 

 basswood, gives himself a thing of beauty, fills the air with a beau- 

 tiful aroma and feeds his neighbors' bees for many days. The Ken^ 

 tucky coffee tree makes a fine head when set alone. 



So much for the natives, and if the shipped-in trees beat the aa- 

 tives for beauty or ornament they will do better in other parts of 

 the state than they have at Vermillion. We will mention those that 

 have succeeded with us. The catalpa by lots of petting makes a fine 

 tree but is not hardy any distance from the Missouri river. White 

 birch and European alder do well with us in low places. Black 

 cherry makes an imposing tree but is rather large for ornament. We 

 have one sugar maple doing well. The mountain ash will live and 

 in a low, rich places gives very satisfactory results, and the European 

 larch the same. Some one set some European lindens in Vermil- 

 lion, one of which is making a beautiful tree. The trees purely for 

 ornament are the evergreens, the weeping trees and those that will 

 bear trimming. 



The Scotch pine surely is our leading evergreen, with the Black 

 Hills spruce a close follower. The most admired tree in Vermillioii 

 is a concolor spruce, brought from the Black Hills, by Mr. Fargo, a 

 few years ago. White pine does fairly well in a grove, but has not 

 proved itself a worthy lawn tree with us. Austrian pine grows 

 nicely if cultivated. The Black Hills pines are doing fairly well ia 

 other parts of the state but have not been tried at Vermillion. Nor- 

 way spruce, though we have a fine tree in our flower garden, wc 

 would advice no one to plant. 



