TREES FOR SHADE AND SHELTER. 127 



QUESTION BOX. 



"What is the relative value, considering the labor, of green manure 

 hauled from the stable and spread on the land, or thrown in the open 

 yard and hauled out after it is rotted?" 



Prof. Green: It depends altogether for what crop you are going to use 

 it. If you are going to use it for an early crop it must be rotten; if for a 

 late crop it need not be. 



"What fruits or vegetables are poultry manure and ashes best adapted 

 for?" 



Prof. Green: In the first place, poultry manure is rich in nitrogen, and 

 should be used for early crops. For cabbage and fruit crops I should pre- 

 fer to use wood ashes, and perhaps some poultry manure. 



TREES FOR SHADE AND SHELTER. 



WHAT TREES ARE BEST ADAPTED TO OUR NORTHERN 



PRAIRIES. 



BY J. O. BARRETT, BROWNS VALLEY. 



The practical test of tree raising is experimentation. Our calculation 

 has weight as to latitude and elevation, humidity or dryness of the 

 atmosphere, quality of the soil, the configuration of the country, and the 

 treatment of the plants. We need to be vigilant in these particulars for 

 the ends of success. And yet we may be thwarted in our selection of trees. 

 Because elms, oaks, poplars, basswoods, cottonwoods and ironwoods are 

 indigenous in some localities of the northwest, more especially along the 

 shores and in the valleys of the lakes and rivers, we are apt to conclude 

 that any or all of these can be successfully raised on the open prairie. 

 And here is where so many failures occur with unskilled planters. 

 Valley soils are very unlike those of the prairie, and the moisture consid- 

 erably greater. What specially imperil our young trees are the hot, 

 cold, and drying winds. Our prairie soil is of a black loam, porous, and 

 therefore readily absorbs every element that touches it. Heat and cold 

 penetrates into it as through a fine sieve. I have had fresh, green grow- 

 ing strawberries, set out for a week or more, promising so largely for next 

 year, burned down to their very roots in a single day under one of our fierce 

 southern winds. A like experience has been mine with some other small 

 fruits and young apple and forest trees. Elms, white or red, cannot be safely 

 warranted as fit for theprairie there. Oaks cannot survive transplanted to 

 the open prairie. It is difficult to raise them there from planting scions 

 Cottonwoods and willows from cuttings are not reliable to develop into 



