368 ANNUAL REPORT 



cattle where it stands, or if to be propagated or transplanted, it 

 may have intelligent care according to its special needs. I take 

 off my hat respectfully to the whole tribe and confess my neglect 

 to study them as carefully as I might during their season of leaf, 

 flower and fruit; and to the dead and faded leaves under my feet I 

 promise amends if I am permitted to see their successors another 

 season. 



Another final impression is that our entire list of shrubs consti- 

 tutes the basis of all true forestry ; that if we were to put aside all 

 ideas of their direct aesthetic or economic value to man, still, for 

 their agency as pioneers and nurses of the forest and as protectors 

 of the forest from insects by reason of the fruit they furnish to 

 attract the birds, we should need them all; and we must plant them 

 wherever we seek to establish new forests. A proper elaboration 

 of this idea would require an essay by itself. 



The varieties to be considered here are as follows: 

 Snowberry — Symphoricarpus racemosus; plum, Prunus Ameri- 

 cana; grape, Vitiscordifolia; gooseberry, Ribe3 gmssularia; sand 

 cherry, Prunus pumila; choke cherry, Prunus virginiana; buffalo- 

 berry, Sheperdia argentea; black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis; 

 dwarf Juneberry, Amelanchier canadensis, var. alnifolia; high bush 

 juneberry, Amelanchier canadensis; nightshade, solanum nigrum 

 (?); red raspberry, Rubus strigosus; blackberry, Rubus villosus; 

 dewberry, R Canadensis; black currant, Ribes Floridum; bitter- 

 sweet, Celastrus scandens; Virginia creeper or American ivy, Am- 

 pelopsis quinquefolia; moonseed vine, Menispernum Canadense, 

 Hawthorne, Crataegus tomentosa (?); sumac, Rhus typhina; prickly 

 ash, Xanthoxylum Americanum; wahoo, Euonymus atropurpurea; 

 sweet elder, Sambucus Canadensis; dwarf rose, Rosa lucida; tree 

 rose, Rosa Carolina ( ?). 



I place the snowberry at the head of the list, because in my 

 neighborhood it is the pioneer of the forest. It is the first shrub 

 that takes possession of the ground after the prairie tire is fenced 

 out. It grows up thickly, destroys the grasses, is not browsed by 

 the cattle and prepares the soil for the procession of other shrub 

 and tree growth that follows, beginning with such as the grape, the 

 cherry and the plum, resulting in the elm, the ash, the oak, the 

 linden, etc., which finally clear the land of all brush and leave un- 

 derneath only a carpet of delicate plants adapted to dense shade. 

 If thare is any bird that eats its fruit, it has yet to introduce itself. 

 Poss ! bly it may come in time and prove to be the very one we need 

 to cinquer some insect as yet invincible. We must remember that 

 the birds that live with us are mostly immigrants as we are. Na- 

 tion after nation of them is yet to find South Dakota, send in their 

 committee of observation for a season, and afterwards come in col- 

 onies to file on their claims as fast as we can fit up the land for 

 their settlement. 



The plum is probably the most valuable native fruit we have. 

 The fragrance and beauty of its blossoms make it a desirable tree 

 for the lawn, and a welcome one wherever it grows. The blossoms 

 are usually a pure white, though occasionally we find a variety 



