HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 397 



Again, I believe in the willow. It makes a good screen. It 

 makes very good fuel; but I prefer one cord of wood of mulberry 

 to three or four cords of willow. I came here to learn and have 

 not pretended to know much about anything so far; but as to 

 these forestry questions I claim to know something, because I 

 have tested different kinds of trees. We have just heard that 

 trees ought to be mixed. I would emphasize that point. Perhaps 

 the most of you know that as sap rises it does not make wood, 

 but after it goes out into the leaves, receives the rays of the sun, 

 and goes through a certain chemical change, it returns and be- 

 gins to form wood. If we plant the same kind of trees side by 

 side we get the shade from the one kind of tree. If we go into 

 the woods we find the ash will grow in the shade of the cotton- 

 wood, but almost any other kind of tree planted under the Cot- 

 tonwood will not thrive. Plant ash with box elder and it will 

 grow very rapidly, but if planted alone it will require a long 

 time to make a tree of it. It grows well with box elder; am I 

 right? 



Mr. Smith. Yes, that is correct; they grow well together. 



Mr. Terry. With regard to these premiums for timber plan- 

 tations I would say it is a good thing. I wish some of you gen- 

 tlemen could live awhile on these western prairies and see the 

 value of trees. One of your former members, now deceased, did 

 a grand work — Mr. Hodges — in getting the legislature to make 

 liberal appropriations in the interest of forestry years ago. I 

 think there were more trees grown then than under our friend's 

 administration. 



Mr. Barrett. I have Jiad some considerable experience while 

 I lived on the open prairie and have paid considerable attention 

 to the subject of forestry. I think we ought to be very cautious 

 about how we lay down rules. I was interested in Mr. Smith's 

 talk; but if I were to make a choice of plans, judging from my 

 own experience in my locality, between leaving a vacant space 

 among the trees to catch the drifting snow year after year or leav- 

 ing it open, I would prefer the latter policy. In our section of 

 the country we have comparatively little snow. 



I have a very fine timber claim ten rods wide by one hundred 

 and sixty rods long; it is considered one of the best in that sec- 

 tion ot the country. It is open for the snow to pile in. I have 

 reaped many advantages from it. It protected my plants even 

 after they had broken down; they would start up again. It 

 keeps the soil moist in summer and furnishes moisture to plants 



