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winds, for ornament, for fuel, for use in building, fencing, and the me- 

 chanical arts. Some trees are adapted to one of these purposes and 

 some to another. 



The earliest tree- want which is appreciated by farmers in a new coun- 

 try is the want of fruit-trees. Even this practical and personal need 

 too often fails to stimulate the farmer to immediate action toward the 

 formation of an orchard. But it is not with reference to the cultivation 

 of fruit-trees that we now design to write. 



What kinds of forest-trees shall we attempt to cultivate ? is a question 

 often asked, toward the solution of which we propose to offer a few 

 thoughts. In an open prairie-region there is an immediate and urgent 

 want of trees for shelter and wind-breaks. Both man and the domestic 

 animals instinctively seek the grateful shade of trees during the intense 

 heat of summer, and as instinctively seek their shelter from the fierce 

 winds of winter. The intelligent farmer also knows that i,t is a question 

 of positive economy, as the absence of suitable shelter must be repre- 

 sented by an increased consumption of food and fuel. Often, too, he 

 finds that without some suitable wind-breaks he is unable successfully 

 to cultivate the best varieties of fruit-trees. He wishes to secure these 

 advantages of shade and shelter at the earliest iiossible period, and 

 hence he inquires for rapidly growing trees for cultivation. The great 

 cost of fencing on the prairie leads him to seek some suitable tree or 

 shrub for the growth of hedges. It is true that many experiments in 

 this direction have been attended with failure, but we should not be 

 deterred from continuing our experiments until a suitable hedge-plant 

 is found for every section of country. If the Osage orange fails, let us 

 try the honey-locust, or some of our native thorn-bushes, crab-apples, 

 wild plums, viburnums, or other shrubs or trees, until we meet with 

 success. 



The production of wood for fuel and for mechanical uses is an object 

 which, however desirable, has seemed so remote in prospect that it has 

 been almost universally neglected. But even this neglect is to a great 

 extent based upon too general and vague views as to the slo'svness of 

 tree-growth. 



There are several species of trees which with proper cultivation will 

 acquire a circumference at the trunk of eight to ten inches in five years' 

 growth, and a few acres of such trees would soon furnish a constant 

 supply of desirable fuel to farmers who now have to haul, at great ex- 

 pense of time and labor, a distance of from five to ten miles. Most of 

 the rapidly growing trees produce soft wood which is not much esteemed 

 for fuel, but for summer use, when x)roperly j)repared, it must be equal, 

 if not superior, to the corn-cobs which are extensively used for fuel in 

 the Western States. Many western farmers have cultivated their jDrairie- 

 lands for twenty years and have hauled their fuel from a distance, when 

 during that time cottonwood trees of 2 feet diameter, white maple of 

 18 inches, box-elder of 20 inches, and butternut of 18 inches, might 

 have grown upon their own lands with a little labor and care. 



The planting and cultivation of hard- wood trees suitable for building 

 j)urposes and use in the mechanical arts is one which has been almost 

 wholly neglected in this country. It is a work which is too commonly 

 regarded as being whoUy for the benefit of posterity, and we are slow 

 to realize that we have any duties in that direction. But the necessity 

 of entering upon this work is apparent, for it is not diflicult to contem- 

 l^late the period when our natural forests shall have disappeared under 

 the enormous demands which the progress of our country makes upon 



