154 ANNUAL REPORT 



Mr. Brand. I received a letter from Mr. Brown, of Lac qui Parle 

 county, containing some items of interest, 



FROM LAC QUI PARLE COUNTY. 



Providence, Jan. 6, 1888. 



Friend Bkand: — Yours of the twentieth ult. came to hand yester- 

 day. It was marked mis-sent. I will try and answer your several 

 questions. The white pines I got of you are from 8 to 12 feet high. 

 They would have been about 3 feet higher but for being twice injured 

 by hail in June. They are looking very healthy and green. I have 

 about forty white pines. I have not far from 500 Scotch pines; they 

 are looking very fine. Some of them are from 6 to 12 feet in heighth. 

 They are mostly from 8 inches to three feet tall. I have something 

 over 2,000 white spruce, mostly from 6 inches to 12 feet in heighth, a 

 few 4 feet, and the one you sent me is 12 feet high and 18 inches in 

 circumference at the ground; it is a beauty. I have about 500 arbor 

 vitse, nearly all mere seedlings.! You will remember that you sent one 

 arbor vitae tree which was about 4 feet at that time; it is now 10 feet 

 in heighth. I likewise have fifty balsams, all quite small except one 

 which was planted eight years ago, and was then 18 inches high, and 

 is now about 12 feet high. My evergrsens are all looking very green 

 and nice. 



I notice A. W. Sias speaks of the Norway spruce as his favorite 

 evergreen. I have had no success with them in this county. Fifteen 

 years ago I planted 300 of them and have not one now. They lived 

 and grew quite well the first season, but nearly all died the first win- 

 ter. I would take the white spruce first; second, the arbor vitae; 

 and third, the Scotch pine. These are the most hardy with me of all 

 the evergreens I have planted on my place, and I have seven different 

 kinds. The Scotch pines have made the most rapid growth of any; 

 they have grown from 1 to 2 feet yearly, and sometimes more. I 

 transplanted forty of them last spring which were from 2 to 3 feet 

 high; not one died, and they are looking very healthy now. The 

 white spruce grows more dense in its branches and takes a stronger 

 hold in the earth, and therefore is less liable to get leaned by the 

 strong winds, which makes it preferable for a lone tree. They can 

 be transplanted with as much certainty of living as any of the ever- 

 greens. I am now fully satisfied that all may have a fine stand of 

 evergreens about their homes if they will. I see no reason why we may 

 not have evergreen groves, even on these bleak prairies. I am plant- 

 ing them in my grove; thej' grow well, even where it is quite shaded. 



