ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS ADAPTED TO MINNESOTA. 7 1 



passed Judge Meyer's house. It is a very beautiful place, and I 

 enjoyed the view very much. His light shines, but it does not shine 

 far enough. I was east of him and went through a dry creek bot- 

 tom, and it was the most forlorn and forsaken looking place I ever 

 got into. They had a school house there, and I tell you the fox and 

 the wolf said good-bye to that place, they would never meet there 

 again! (Laughter.) Is that not the case all over our state? I 

 have yet to come to a place where the school house is the most 

 prominent place in the community, and I tell you it is a disgrace 

 to the public. Why do we not get together in each district and make 

 a movement to improve our school grounds? It is a contemptible 

 shame that our children have to spend the best part of their liv^s 

 in a place where there is nothing to see but a wilderness of weeds, 

 and where we would scarcely turn in our cattle because they might 

 starve or become poisoned. (Applause.) 



Mr. Cowles : I would like to ask Judge Moyer what he has 

 against Norway spruce. I have some Norway spruce that I grew 

 from one to two inches that are twenty-five feet high today. 



Mr. Moyer: The only objection I have is that I planted several 

 at an early day and after growing some time they died. I still 

 have one growing in a ravine where the soil is moist, and it is doing 

 pretty well. 



Mr. Canby : I have Norway spruce at Canby that are doing 

 well. 



Mr. S. D. Richardson: The Norway spruce in our part of the 

 state is very difficult to grow when small, and when it is large I 

 would much rather have a white spruce in its place. 



Mr. Older : We had considerable experience with Norway 

 spruce and other evergreens. In exposed situations the Norway 

 spruce while young is liable to turn yellow. At Larchwood, across 

 the state line, they were doing wonderfully well, and Mr. Brown, 

 the forester, said they were doing all right. As a matter of fact 

 they shed their leaves when ten inches to a foot high, and last spring 

 I made up my mind that they want protection from the stinging 

 winds when small. I prefer the white spruce, however. It is a 

 little stronger tree, but does not grow quite so high. 



Prof. Hansen : Mr. Older is in the southwestern part of Minne- 

 sota, and his experience is more or less unfavorable to the Norway 

 spruce, and Judge Moyer is in the west central part of the state. My 

 own experience in South Dakota, eighteen miles from the Minnesota 

 line, is unfavorable to the Norway spruce. I would like to ask Mr. 

 Norby what his experience has been at Madison, in South Dakota. 



Mr. Norby (S. D.) : I cannot expect to give as long a list as 

 that given in the report from your state. The farther east we go 

 the larger we find them, and they have varieties in the eastern and 

 northeastern part of the state that do not do well with us. The 

 Norway spruce with us is not much of a success. The first ever- 

 greens I planted were the Norway spruce, but I have none now on 

 my place, and I do not believe I shall plant any more. I have seen 

 some fine specimens of Norway spruce at Yankton, and they are 



