MEADOW YALE TRIAL STATION. 63 



bore a good crop, and the fruit is of good quality. Surprise did 

 not kill back the past winter and bore this season. Several of the 

 varieties on trial are not bearing satisfactorily and will be grubbed 

 out and replanted after another year's trial. Several new plums 

 will be planted in the spring. 



Compass Cherry is a good fruit, bears a large crop and bears 

 every year; can be eaten from the hand, makes a good pie and is 

 valuable for canning and sauce and can be dried like other cherries. 

 It is perfectly hardy. It is of no use on Prunus pumila stock here. 

 I have had the best success with Prunus nigra stock. There may 

 be other stock that would be as good as this. I have them on their 

 own roots, but they have not fruited yet. 



I think Ponderosa pine will make one of our best evergreens. 

 It grows very thick in the bottom and makes as good growth as 

 the Scotch pine and is always a beautiful light green. The arbor 

 vitae does well here, fully as well as the red cedar that are native 

 here. Those from Illinois have all died; they seem to be tender 

 here. 



We have added a miniature park, using for the purpose a piece 

 of land occupied by the usual farm rubbish piles, showing what can 

 be done with a few trees, shrubs and flowers and a little work. 



In traveling through the country I noticed a school yard that 

 was nicely graded down. The people are planting the ground with 

 trees, shrubs and flowers; they have it nicely laid out with a walk 

 and driveway with flowers on one side and trees on the other. 

 They have a playground on the opposite side of the school house, 

 which will be surrounded with a row of ornamental trees. This is 

 quite a curiosity and so different from the usual school yard, which 

 is a very dilapidated looking place, the yard strewn with wood and 

 sticks, fences broken down, no trees for shade or flowers to please 

 the eye. A good reason why children do not like to attend school. 

 I hope to see in the near future the school grounds a miniature 

 park. Nothing would be better than to educate the children in the 

 care of flowers, shrubs and trees. It would be a pleasure to them, 

 and this education would remain with them in after years, and 

 they would grow up to be men and women with a taste for the 

 beautiful in nature. 



I want to say a word in regard to our timber land. Where will 

 our supply of timber come from in a few years if our remaining 

 forests are allowed to be destroyed? The time will soon come 

 when we will have to plant forests for our supply of wood. In 

 this immediate vicinity, taking the past twenty-five years, fully one- 

 half of the standing timber has disappeared. The country is fast 



