346 ANNUAL REPORT 



of May, but owing to the stroDg heavy roots they sprouted well 

 and yielded an unusually large crop but a few days later than we 

 generally have our first. All things considered 1 think we might 

 call it an average crop. 



TKEE BAEK. 



By A. W. Sias, Rochesier, Minn. 



However caustic the criticism on this little article, (i^ deemed 1 

 worthy of any discussion) no one can accuse us of raking up an 

 ''old chestnut" for a text. After fixing on Tree Bark, as a heading 

 for a few rough thoughts, we ransacked all the horticultural litera- 

 ture at our command, to give us some light on the subject, and 

 with very meagre results. We looked through the index columns 

 of two popular works on Botany, without finding the word bark 

 at all ! Scientific writers have been as mum on "Tree Bark" as they 

 have on my other pet subject of Pyrus Coronaria ! Practical hor- 

 ticulturists, have perhaps, been still more unmindful of the mag- 

 nitude of this theme. We shall contend (without authority) that 

 the Bark stands second to no part of a plant, except the leaf. We 

 also introduce what we believe to be a new term for the botanist, 

 viz: persistent bark. BDtanists frequently speak of persistent 

 cones, like the Pitch Pine cone, for an instance, but we recall no 

 instance where this term is applied to the bark, Landscape gard- 

 eners, as well as other tree planters, would find a list composed of 

 all the trees in the Northwest having persistent bark, to be quite 

 valuable. We are not theorizing, but speak from careful observa- 

 tion, when we state that trees with persistent bark can be seen on 

 this continent ranging through all grades of thickness from four 

 inches up to thirty-six. Or to be more explicit ranging all the 

 way between the Oaks of Minnesota, up to the mammoth trees of 

 California. One noteworthy peculiarity of these warm clad trees 

 is, that they are subject to "Sun scald," that our good friend Edson 

 Gaylord showed us to be so fatal to many of our "so called" hardy 

 forest trees. As to magnitude, they surpass all other plants, or 

 vegetables on earth. As to longevity they ante-date the Christian 

 Era, and some of them are said to be over 2000 years old. Trees 

 can be more accurately judged by their coats, than man ! While 

 a tree may infrequently be found with a fair bark and a black heart,. 

 and still be good in some cases for a hundred years of noble ser- 

 vice, a man, with a good coat, and black heart, is either a corpse, 

 or an animal ten fold worse ! Beecher once said in substance that 

 the coat did not make the man, but was a wonderful improvement 

 to him after he was made ! And so I say of the tree, in this cli- 

 mate of such extremes of heat, and cold, a good, thick, persistent 

 bark, is a most "wonderful improvement" after the tree is made. 

 In order to show how Minnesota compares with the rest of the 



