440 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURA.L SOCIETY. 



reforestration should be effected through natural seeding or plant- 

 ing in order that the dense beauty of the green forest might 

 stand uninterruptedly an agreeable sight to the citizens. We may, 

 perhaps, assume or at least hope that our sj^stem of forest man- 

 agement will be inore pliable and elastic than the forestry systems of 

 European countries, because our civil institutions are less rigid and 

 bureaucratic than theirs; which leads me to believe that instances 

 like the one I have cited might with us be made of still wider appli- 

 cation. It is even conceivable that special cases might arise where 

 the exceptional beauty of the landscape might warrant an entire 

 subordination to it of the question of material gain aimed at by 

 forestr}'. Aside from this, the critic I have proposed could exercise 

 his powers in certain other specific ways. He could, for instance, 

 select exceptionally beautiful or otherwise remarkable individual 

 trees for special protection and preservation. It occurs to me that 

 the selection of wooded areas for countriJ^ parks, etc., might like- 

 wise be entrusted to his care. 



In this way it would be possible to retain something of the pris- 

 tine beauty of our scenerj'^, and some of the best influences of nature, 

 so constantly threatened in various ways b}^ " progress and civili- 

 zation," might be preserved. — Garden and Forest. 



NATIVE EVERGREENS. 



H. B. AYRES, CARLTON. 



With little experience in cultivating, I have doubted my useful- 

 ness as a member of this committee. 



Impressions as to what treatment the several plants like have 

 been formed not by personal care of them but merely by seeing them 

 under various circumstances, whether in cultivation or wild. These 

 remarks, therefore, should be received with sharp criticism, and the 

 pros and cons should be well considered before going to expense or 

 making any venture based upon them; but if the woods man can 

 help the prairie man in his need or make the city man happier by 

 reminding him of or leading him to the restful retreats of the forest, 

 he is only glad to have the privilege. 



There is reason why the prairie people of Minnesota should be 

 deeply interested in evergreens, especially in the trees. We have a 

 great diversity of soil and climate. Analyses and the yields of 

 favorable seasons show most of the soil to be very rich in plant food, 

 and our problem is how to prepare and serve this food for our 

 plants, that they may grow fat and fine and always jneld us good 

 crops. Experience has been slowlj^ and expensively teaching us 

 that on the prairie trees are desired not merely for ornament and for 

 their wood, but that windbreaks and groves are needed to check 

 evaporation and otherwise regulate moisture and temper the air- 

 But we have not always succeeded in growing windbreaks and 

 groves. We need to be learning the hardy trees and the way to 

 treat them. 



If we begin on the Atlantic coast and travel northwestward across 

 the continent, we find farms follow the hardwood, but unfavorable 



