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FORESTRY. 195 
or four dry seasons with hardly enough rain in many localities 
to wet the ground. Iam inclined to recommend the growing 
of ash trees, because I know that they have done well in that 
part of South Dakota, where tree growing has generally been 
considered a failure. I have made a success of the box elder 
myself, because I have been out there every summer and kept 
the weeds out and the trees pruned. I have kept them as nicely 
as you would keep them in a park—free from grass and weeds 
—yet last year I lost 1,500 or 2,000 trees. 
Vice-President Wedge: Were they box elders? 
Mr. Church: Yes, sir; and I am unable to state what caused 
the loss. I think, however, it is probably owing to drouth, and 
perhaps partially to the fact that we have had very inclement 
weather. In the month of April we have most always a few 
days of warm weather, which causes the buds of the trees to 
swell until they are almost ready to burst into life, and then a 
speil of cold weather comes on in which the water in the 
watering trough freezes several inches thick; and as a conse- 
quence of this cold weather a great many of the trees, that have 
budded out, ultimately die. Last year a great many of those 
trees, that died,threw out long shoots. I sawed off some of this 
dead wood, and those trees came out as fine as any Ihave. At 
some future time I will give you amore detailed account of that. 
Mr. Cook: Is not the ash more subject to being destroyed 
by fire than any other kind of timber? 
Judge Moyer: We that live in western Minnesota and Da- 
kota know that the green ash is well adapted to the prairies. 
Ido not know anything about the white ash, as the only ash 
that we have in western Minnesota and eastern Dakota is the 
green ash. In 1873 I was out in Dakota near Watertown ex- 
amining land, and I noticed around the little lakes in that coun- 
try, that the only tree that grew there was the green ash. I 
noticed also at the south end of the Wahpeton and Sisseton 
reservation that the corner post was a green ash tree. The 
tree is a success in that country. 
DISCUSSION ON TREES. 
Prof. Green: The red pine is one of the finest pines that we 
have in the state. It is one of the best trees to stand the 
drouth, especially in, sandy locations. It is a difficult tree to 
obtain, however, in large quantities. 
Mr. Smith: Does it bear transplanting? 
Mr. Green: Yes, I think it does, 
