‘ei. Pe ANNUAL REPORT. CLC 
_ which, if-any weeds or grass had put in an appearance, erties pull them up, 
carry them off and burn them up. 
I should repeat this process the next season, and in the fall would calle 
heavy with good manure. 
I think by that time you will have that strip of prairie pretty well bull- 
dozed, and a wind-break started that won’t dry out or freeze out, and which 
will stand and grow in spite of grasshoppers or other enemies. 
Time of Preparing Cuttings. 
As far as the willow is concerned, most any time will do. 
I have cut them nearly every month in the year, yet would prefer cutting 
and planting right along through the month of May, as being then liable to 
less loss and better growth. 
I confess in my own experience to more satisfactory results with cotton- 
wood cuttings cut and planted in October and November than in any other 
months. 
As far as willow, cottonwood and Lombardy cuttings are concerned, good 
fresh healthy ones are about as sure to grow (in Minnesota) if properly 
handled, and under the most favorable circumstances, as either corn or 
potatoes. Failure is not necessary. Do your work intelligently and 
thoroughly, and at the proper time, and success is the rule. 
Care of Cuttings till Planted. 
In the fall of 1874 I caused to be cut and hauled together, enough white 
willow to make five hundred thousand cuttings. I reduced som? of this 
brush to cuttings in the fall, tied them up in bunches of a hundred each, set 
them up on end in trenches dug about a foot deep, threw a foot of dirt over 
them and let them lay till spring. The balance was stacked in good shape, 
covered with a layer of slough hay—threw enough loose dirt over it to keep 
the wind out, and let the thing go till it thawed out in the spring—then un- 
covered it, worked it up into cuttings and planted them. They came good 
and grew well, and I never knew any difference between those buried in 
trenches, or those of the stack. Whenever in the course of human events, 
I found a lot of cuttings drying up and apparently worthless, before plant- 
ing I would ‘‘swell ’em up” by throwing them into the most convenient 
lake, pond or stream. But a good way is to keep them buried in the trench 
until you are ready to plant. 
There are plenty of cottonwood trees in Minnesota propagated from 
cuttings in the manner I recommend, now big enough to make a cord of 
wood each—17 to 20 years from the cutting. 
You can grow 300 such trees to the acre. Can you grow anything that 
will pay better ? 
Is there any better way to ‘‘ conquer the prairie,” or to bulldoze and intim- 
idate old Boreas ? 
DISCUSSION. 
Mr. Scott. I would like to know what has been the success of 
others with cottonwood cuttings. I have had but poor success. 
