350 ANNUAL REPORT. 



6tU — SCOTCH PINE. 



This is the least desirable tree ©f the lot, the crookedest, most open headed,— but 

 as it makes a rapid growth, and is hardy, it will do to put on the out side, to guard 

 the finer trees of your shelter belt. Seeds of this tree in Northern Eui :)pe are 

 extremely plenty and are being shipped out by the carload, and there is danger of 

 this tree being cultivated too extensively in this country, to the exclusion of our 

 better native pines. 



FOR LUMBER. 



We are told that "pines made their appearance long before ordinary trees, in 

 what geologists term the mesozoic age." This accords with all creative wisdom, 

 nothing made in vain, or out of season. The pines, everything considered, for all 

 economic purposes, are doubtless the most useful plants in the whole universe. 

 They were the first trees needed owing to their superiority over all other plants for 

 architectural, mechanical, and perhaps I might add medical purposes. The white 

 pine is the most remarkable tree for lumber in the northern states, and perhaps we 

 might say in North America. Whoever saw a building of any pretentions at alh 

 where white pine was not used in some parts of it? I mean in the north. Most 

 people know there's a mine of wealth in the pine family for the manufacture of the 

 different kinds of lumber. Evergreen lumber stands unrivaled for general purposes. 



ORNAMENTAL HEDGES. 



. We are not lacking in Minnesota for the very best material for ornamental hedg- 

 ing. The American Arbor Vitae ( Thuja Occklentahs) and its many beautiful varieties, 

 are unrivaled for this purpose. In damp, sheltered situations the Hemlock Spruce, 

 { 7'sugce Canadensis) makes a beautiful hedge. Ornamental trees for extensive home 

 grounds first, Hemlock Spruce; second, Norway Spruce; third White Spruce; 

 fourth, Siberian Fir ; fifth, American Arbor Vitae and its many choice varieties. 

 Evergreens for grounds of quite limited extent. For this purpose we recommend 

 nothing but the dwarfs, viz.; Thuja Globosa Arbor Vitae, Thuja Compacta, Pyra- 

 midalis, Siberian Arbor Vitae, Prostrate Juniper, Tom Thumb Arbor Vitje and 

 other hardy dwarf varieties. 



LEAVES. 



Gray says: "The actual amount of surface presented by a tree in full leaf is 

 much larger than one would be apt to suppose. Thus the Washington Elm at 

 Cambridge— a tree of no extraordinary size — was some years ago estimated to 

 produce a crop of seven millions of leaves, exposing a surface of 200,000 feet or 

 about five acres of foliage. 



Noticing ihe very long, beautiful, dark-green leaves on the Red Pine, I had a 

 curiosity to know how they compared with the more common, but less desirable 

 Scotch Pine, whose leaves are less than half their length. Knowing that leaves 

 are a most important part of a tree, and should be very carefully studied and com- 

 pared, one variety with another, in determining their relative value for shelter 

 belts, etc., I cut a branch eight inches long from the ends of the branches of 

 these varieties and counted them, with this result: Red Pine 444 leaves, Scotch 

 Pine 348. Showing a leaf surface of more than double in favor of the Red Pine. 



