444 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



TREE GROWING ON COTEAU FARM. 



O. C. GREGG, SUPT., LYND. 



Prof. S. B. Green, our horticulturist at the State Experiment 

 Station, has under his charge at Coteau Farm a small area of ground 

 which has been devoted to forestry. We have become much inter- 

 ested in tree growing as a result of this work. I am not the only- 

 person that has become so interested because of it ; many people 

 from our own county and from more remote districts have made 

 visits to this tree plantation, and have gone away with the determina- 

 tion to begin to grow trees themselves about their own prairie home- 



THE VALUE OF A WINDBREAK. 



One of the most important things which has been accomplished 

 is the establishing of the fact that a hedge protection which checks 

 the sweep of winds from the south and southwest is the great requi- 

 site for the beginning of a successful tree plantation, both for shelter 

 and ornament. The white willow has served an excellent purpose, 

 but we have found during the past few years that the golden willow 

 is superior to it. It is equally as rapid in growth ; it is more beauti- 

 ful in appearance and apparently (we speak from a short experi- 

 ence) it is less liable to be infested with the bark louse and the saw 

 fly. The bark louse is the more injurious insect of the two. It is 

 a very difficult insect to destroy. We suffer some injury from it 

 every year. This bark louse trims up the tender and lower branches 

 of the willow hedge. It begins its ravages during the latter part of 

 the summer and spreads almost like a flame along the hedge, sapping 

 every lower tender twig and small limb. They will attack another 

 portion of the hedge the following year. The result of their work 

 is to destroy the low waving branches, which are so pleasant to the 

 eye and which, of course, tend to check the sweeping winds along 

 the surface of the ground. We have tried to destroy it by using 

 kerosene emulsion, but it proved to be too expensive both in material 

 and in labor. At the present time we are inclined to let it work its 

 way. The saw fly is readily destroyed by the use of Paris green 

 and a spray pump. The saw fly is the most destructive of the two 

 insects if left to itself. We think at the present time that two valu- 

 able shrubs will be added to the list of hedge plants, one of which 

 is the buckthorn and the other the Russian pea tree (Caragana). 

 So far as we know no insect pests feed upon these plants. They are 

 hardy in the extreme and grow in very good form. 



HOW TO PROTECT A GROVE FROM SNOW. 



The first groves planted upon the prairies were, as a rule, badly 

 broken down by the snow which drifted in upon them, causing the 



