NATIVE EVERGREENS. 441 



soil and climate among the conifers. Toward the summits of moun- 

 tains and upon the borders of other barrens where trees have a 

 struggle for existence (and fires are not prevalent), we find the 

 picket line to be of evergreens. As a rule, we find them enduring 

 greater extremes of temperature, more and drier wind, less fertile 

 soil and less moisture than deciduous trees. These were the ideas 

 acted upon when Dr. Fernow planted jack and Norway pine from 

 Minnesota in the the sand hills of Nebraska. The experiment proved 

 an eminent success, the jack pine {Pinus banksiana), direct from 

 the forest, proving the hardiest of all the many trees planted there. 

 I do not know what trials have been made in Minnesota; I have not 

 heard of these two pines being tried; even if they have been tried 

 and have failed, perhaps some essential provision nature makes has 

 been overlooked. For a striking illustration of such provision, take 

 the spruces and fires growing in exposed situations: they have their 

 lower branches longer than those above, and those of the black 

 spruce especially, vine-like, run out upon the ground forming a 

 dense mat about the base of the tree. The snow, falling upon this 

 mat is kept off the ground, and the higher branches, weighted down 

 at the same time, form an air space that extends well up the tree, 

 causing a much more even temperature about the lower trunk. The 

 snow forms a cone-shaped downy blanket that regulates the temper- 

 ature, keeps the ground from freezing deeply and protects against 

 drying winds. In applying this suggestion, select seedlings with 

 their lower branches well developed and, in addition, even pile some 

 brush around them or set something like a barrel with heads out 

 over the small trees before the ground freezes. 



Each of our native evergreen trees and shrubs will now be men- 

 tioned with some remarks. Some of you may be surprised, but first 

 in order of usefulness for planting in sandy and gravelly soils in 

 exposed situations for windbreaks, groves, fuel, fencing, even lum- 

 ber—yes, and far better than nothing for ornament, is: 



PiXUS Ba^ksiaxa— luamhert {Baaksiaa, or Jack Bine). Plant it as 

 early as the frost is out deep enough to plant, and let it have the 

 moisture from the thawing ground. It cannot be planted too 

 densely. With it, for groves and timber, plant the red, or Norwaj^, 

 pine from twentj' to thirty feet apart. The two go together, the jack 

 pine acting as a nurse to the Norway. Under the most favorable 

 circumstances jack pine has been seen 125 feet high and two feet on 

 the stump. It is now cut by lumbermen with other timber. 



Pinus Resinosa-— Alton (Red, or Norway Pine). It is sturdy in ap- 

 pearance when young, like the Scotch and Austrian pines,and is fully 

 as beautiful. It is one of the few evergreens that will thrive without 

 branches on the lower trunk. If proparl^^ managed, at thirty years 

 and upward it will make a most attractive grove. Such groves are 

 occasionally found in our northern forest. The upper branches 

 join, the lower have disappeared, leaving clear yellowish-brown or 

 bronze colored trunks supporting the wide dome overhead, in which 

 the winds whisper and the birds nest and sing. The ground in these 

 groves is free from brush and is covered with the clean, bright 

 leaves the trees have shed, forming a great assembly ground the 

 Goths would come far to find, and from which all vandals should be 



