EVERGREENS. 341 



Mr. Kellogg-: For a windbreak there is nothing equal to the white 

 and Scotch pine, but for a windbreak for an orchard I want nothing 

 higher than a mature apple tree. I want nothing on the south to 

 keep away the wind. There is nothing equal to the hemlock on low 

 ground for an ornamental tree. 



Mr. Wm. Somerville: I have set out evergreens all over this state, 

 in as many orchards as any one in this house, and around my own 

 place I have all varieties, but so far as my own farm is concerned 

 almost everything in the shape of evergreens will do well. I have 

 some that were set out in 1864. I have Norway spruce and fir that 

 are sixty to seventj'^ feet high. The best variety we have in the 

 western part of this state, as a rule, is the Scotch pine — it will live 

 where others will die out; the next is the spruce, and the arbor vitee; 

 the native white pine is a failure, and for that reason I would recom- 

 mend for any portion of the west the Scotch pine, first, and then 

 the white spruce, and outside of those the chances for evergreens, 

 so far as I know, are not very flattering. M3'- friend here never saw 

 a pretty balsam fir forty years old; if he comes to my place 1 will 

 show him some very fine ones. The arbor vitse will not stand the 

 drouth. They are usually a low-topped tree. The drouth two j'ears 

 ago killed out nearly all the small arbor vita? in the western part 

 of the state, and thej' are not a safe thing to set out. I have got a 

 hedge around my orchard; I cannot agree with the majority of men 

 on that point. My orchard is surrounded with a thick hedge of 

 evergreens, and I raise apples right around those evergreens, and 

 my hedge is not less than forty to fifty feet high. It is a thick 

 hedge; an animal could scarcely get through. Many a man who 

 has seen my place wonders why I should have success with ever- 

 greens growing so close together. It is not generally recommended 

 to have a windbreak around the orchard, but I cannot raise apples 

 and let the wind blow all over. It may be different elsewhere, but 

 on m}^ place I cannot do otherwise. So far as blight is concerned, 

 I know there is no orchard in the state so free from blight as 

 mine. Even this past year my trees did not blight. It maj' be 

 different with other people. I am only speaking for myself. 



Dr. M. M. Frisselle: How near is your hedge or windbreak to 

 your apple trees? 



Mr. Somerville: "Within four feet. The limbs are all interlaced 

 with the evergreens, and they bear a great deal of fruit. This is 

 a fact. 



Mr. H. F. Busse: I would like to ask the gentleman whether 

 he mulches them or not. 



Mr. Somerville: O, I always do that; I do that every year. My 

 mulching is uniform every year; I never miss that. 



Mr. Philips: I learned how to mulch by going to your place. 



Mr. Somerville: I set out the first apple and evergreen trees in 

 Olmstead county. I paid $2.50 apiece for them when they were 

 not more than two feet high, coming from New York, and they 

 are good trees today. 



Mr. Busse: As far as I can see, it is the dr3' season that kills 

 them. I had two pine trees in front of my house; they were just 



