374 ANNUAL REPORT 



under the eaves, and attained a strength of root equal to the emerg- 

 encies of travel in "strands remote," it is now bridging, or seeking 

 to bridge a twenty foot space at an upward angle of about twenty- 

 five degrees and get among the branches of a green aeb. It sends 

 out a leader in the direction of the nearest branch of the ash, and 

 when it has gone as far as it can hold up its head, a brace is sent 

 out from beneath, angling upwards and fastening itself midway on 

 the leader, which now proceeds as before, as far as it can make the 

 flight on its new support, when other braces are put up, and so on- 

 ward it goes with its consummate skill of civil engineering, and if 

 undisturbed it will not only reach the ash, but coming generations 

 may some day find it wandering leisurely along over the forests 

 yet to be, to bid good morning to some future horticultural society 

 even here in Madison, fifteen miles away. The thing is not im- 

 possible. If it becomes hungry on its travels it knows how to reach 

 down a feeder to strike new root and draw up food from the ground 

 after which it can resume its journey. It has a longer period of 

 life without renewal from new rootlets than any of us who observe 

 or record its history, as the specimen on exhibition testifies. 



Prof. Keffer, has given the name of another of these native 

 climbers — the Moonseed vine; but I am not acquainted with it, and 

 there are others, annuals certainly, perhaps perennials also, — some 

 exceedingly pretty ones, that from careless observation, much re- 

 gretted, I can neither name nor sufficiently describe. 



The hawthorn is an elegant tree for lawn planting. Its bloom 

 is much like that of the pear, which its fruit in some respects, 

 though not in color, resembles; and its mass of red fruit is very 

 showy in the fall of the year. It is a favorite food of the ruffed 

 grouse or partridge, imparting to their flesh a most delicate flavor; 

 but have we the ruffed grouse in South Dakota? Who has heard 

 the long roll of its drummer in our woods? It would seem from 

 the long needle pointed spines of the hawthorn growing so thickly 

 on the branches, that it is well adapted for farm hedges. The tree 

 in my woods is never approached by the cattle. They take no chances 

 of being crowded against it by their mates. It seems to be a slow 

 grower. Is there any Scotchman or botanist present who can tell 

 us whether our hawthorn is the one immortalized by Burns? — Its 

 beauty either in blooming or fruiting time is lovely enough to in- 

 spire the raptures of any poet; and Bryant's lines — 



" The melancholy days have come 

 The saddest of the year," 



quoted in presence of the hawthorn, the Sheperdii, the bittersweet, 

 the wahoo, the Virginia creeper, the glowing sumacs and all our 

 gay colored forest leaves at the autumn season, seems inappropri- 

 ate in South Dakota. 



The sumach we have in all our wooded gulches. In its native 

 state, it appears best at a distance, when its long, heavy, abundant 

 spikes of seed glumes, -vermilion hued, form a mass of strikingly 

 agreeable coloring in the landscape. A close view dispels the im- 

 pression. Perhaps in cultivation it wou Id show better. Its seeds 



