STATE HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 449 



NORWAY SPRUCE FOR SHELTER BELTS. 



E. H. Ricker, in a recent issue of The Farmer, of St, Paul, says: 



*'Nearly all the thrifty growing evergreens are valuable as a shel- 

 ter belt where they are hardy, but the tree that has stood the'test, and 

 hais proved the most valuable as a tree for shelter is the Norway 

 Spruce. It is hardy, is adapted to prairie soil, and where it has been 

 properly handled and well cultivated, has given perfect satisfaction. 

 It is a tree that commends itself, and all that is necessary is for the 

 people to become acquainted with it. As we have had an opportunity 

 to know this tree and see it grow for many years, we feel fully capa- 

 ble of telling your readers its value as a protection. We give a short 

 history of the Norway Spruce in this vicinity : 



"Two or three years ago a row of Norway Spruce was planted along 

 a roadway in the Elgin nurseries, by D. C. Scofield, a resident of that 

 city. The farm selected by Mr. Scofield was about one and a half 

 miles west of the city, on the open prairie. Not a sod had ever been, 

 turned — it was the virgin prairie. He started the plow, and got a 

 piece of ground in as good condition as possible, in the tough prairie 

 soil. The next year he sent his order to a large nursery firm in Scot- 

 land for a quantity of small Norway Spruce seedlings, there nf>t being 

 any nurseries in this country at that time where the Norway Spruce 

 was ^own in large quantities. They arrived, after being many weeks 

 on the ocean, and thence by rail from New York to Elgin. Not a tree 

 failed. The plants were two years old at the time of planting. At 

 the expiration of ten years, accurate measurements, made by the 

 Horticultural Society of Illinois, as recorded in their report, showed 

 that many of them were over two feet in circumference, and over 

 twenty feet high. Measurements recently made show many of them 

 to be six feet ten inches in circumference, and seventy-three feet 

 high; and for twenty-two years they have been a protection against 

 the fierce storms of this climate. Although Mr. Scofield was up- 

 wards of fifty years of age at the time of planting, he still enjoys the 

 benefits of this magnificent shelter belt. His experience proves that 

 a man past middle age may enjoy many years of pleasure and profit^ 

 as a result of his foresight in planting evergreens for protection. 



"We recommend Norway Spruce as the best for shelter belts; the- 

 next in order are American arbor vitse, red cedar, and American white- 

 spruce. White, Scotch, and Austrian pines are reliable evergreens^ 

 but we do not recommend them for shelter belts." 

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