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them. Some of the trees which at the present time seem most deserving 

 of trial for the purposes we have named we will briefly notice. 



Cottonicood.— In the Western States and Territories the name " cotton- 

 wood" is applied to the Populus monilifera. Groves of this tree are com- 

 mon on the streams which traverse the great plains. Near the base of 

 the Eocky Mountains, however, as in the Platte bottoms near Denver, 

 two other species of i^oplar are associated with it in the cottonwood 

 groves, viz, the narrow-leaved cottonwood {Populus angustifolia) and 

 the balsam poplar {Pojmlus halsamifera). They are all large trees, of 

 rapid and vigorous growth, and are readily propagated from cuttings. 

 They are particularly recommended for wind-breaks and shelter for more 

 tender and vslow-growing trees. A belt of cottonwoods around a young 

 orchard will undoubtedly save many trees from loss by frosts, and con- 

 tribute to their thrift and productiveness. All the poplars are dicecious 

 and objectionable for planting in the immediate vicinity of dwellings 

 on account of the abundant cottony down of the seeds, which fills the 

 air after their maturity. This inconvenience can be avoided, however, 

 by jn^opagating from cuttings of the male tree only. 



The maples. — For ornamental culture, for usefulness of wood, and for 

 vigor of growth, there are few trees so worthy of attention as the silver- 

 leaved, or white, and the red, or swamp maple. In the Western States 

 the red maple is comparatively rare. The white helps to diversify the 

 forest growth on the bottom-lands of most of the western rivers, and 

 is largely planted as a shade-tree in the cities. Perhai)S the most 

 serious objection to its cultivation is that its long, slim branches are 

 liable to be broken by storms of sleet and snow. This diflflculty could 

 probably be obviated by a judicious yearly shortening in of the 

 branches. In some parts of the West it has suffered severely from the 

 ravages of a borer, which penetrates the trunk. 



The red maple is more comj^act and somewhat less rapid in its 

 growth, but is deserving of large planting. 



Hard maple. — For beauty of form, for its close and- compact foliage, 

 for the value of its wood and of its saccharine juice, no cultivator 

 should neglect the sugar-maple. In the whole family of maples, 

 whether native or foreign, this species is without a peer. It is a little 

 shy of transiDlantiug, and for the first few years is of slow growth, but 

 when it is established it is worth many times it cost. Several foreign 

 species of maple are cultivated for ornament and shade in the eastern 

 cities, but they i)resent no advantages over our native ones. 



Box-elder, (Negmido aceroides.) — This tree rivals the cottonwood in 

 rapidity of growth, and is deserving of particular attention, combining 

 not only the qualities of rapid growth, of hardiness, of handsome foliage, 

 and a good quality of wood, but having also great promise as a sugar- 

 I)roducing tree. The sugar made from it is not equal in flavor to that 

 trom the hard maple, but is yet of 'an excellent quality. A committee 

 of the Illinois Horticultural Society examined this tree with reference 

 to its value for sugar and reported : 1st. That it produces more sap 

 than the sugar-maple of equal size, half a gallon per day being obtained 

 from a small tree of 3^ inches in diameter and five years old. 2d. That 

 the sap is richer in sugar, the yield of dry sugar averaging two and 

 eighth-tenths per cent, of the weight of the sap. 3d. The sugar pro- 

 duced is in general whiter than that from sugar-maple treated in the 

 same way. These facts should recommend this tree to the early atten- 

 tion of ali tree-planters, especially in prairie-regions. 



