330 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
timber for pulp, from which is manufactured pails, barrels, water 
pipes, furniture and numerous other articles as wellas paper. At 
the present time there are about 250 pulp mills in operation in the 
United States, annually using over 500,000,000 feet of spruce, besides 
the poplar, pine and other woodsemployed. The tanning business, 
for which so much of our hemlock is cut, has already been men- 
tioned. 
The Norway spruce is used considerably in its native land for 
the production of resin, and although it does not contain near as 
large an amount as do the pines, yet the value of this product 
amounts to no small sum. 
As the Yule-tide approaches, we cannot but call to mind another 
industry, which, at this season of the year assumes gigantic pro- 
portions, and is a practice which annually diminishes the number 
of our firs. That is the cutting of spruce and balsam by the tens 
of thousands, which are shipped from here all over the northwest 
for the celebration of a meaninglesscustom. We do not say “mean- 
ingless” to discourage its patrons, for where do we see a happier 
sight than beneath the boughs of the Christmas tree? But, if trees 
are to be used, why is this not a good opening for the growing of 
such trees for market? The supplies are being speedily exhausted 
among all kinds of evergreens and certainly the assurance is not 
towards a diminished price for the product of the gardener. 
SHRUBS FOR FARM HOME DECORATION. 
ROY UNDERWOOD, LAKE CITY. 
All things taken into consideration, the hardy shrub is, without 
doubt, the principal factor in lawn decoration of any kind; trees 
form the ground-work, and shrubs fill in to work out the natural 
effects, while the flower beds are of a more artificial nature, which 
the hand of genius and art may weave with beautiful details, Con- 
trasted with the annual garden flowers, is its stability. In the spring 
when the work of starting the flower-garden must be done, there is 
always sucharush of general farm work that this feature is apt to 
be in the way if attempted on alarge scale. Of course, we could 
not do without the pansy bed, and the asters and the verbenas from 
which to pick a few blossoms for the table or an occasional one for 
the buttonhole, but when we begin the decoration of the farm-home 
grounds we seek for that which will be the most productive of 
beauty with the least time and attention. 
It is my purpose within the limits of this paper, to point out just 
a few of the many desirable shrubs available to the Minnesota 
farmer, and after applying to them the tests of hardiness and 
beauty, he may give the reins to his decorative genius, for he is 
sovereign in that he has unlimited room forit. Asa general thing, 
farmhouses are approached from the highway by a private road, 
leading past the house to the barns. Here is splendid opportunity 
for decorative improvement, for,as we know, first glimpses, like first 
tastes, always make the deepest impressions. So let us grade the 
road to acenter for drainage, and on either side, about three feet 
