ee ae oe Ne ee Cl soon oe ore ee, . ™ Pode > ha" 
whoa 5 SE FE RPE GA Se APE LO TERE he Me Fee Perce 
402 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
REPORT ON EVERGREENS. 
D. T. WHEATON, MORRIS. 
AsI understand it, Il am expected to report upon the condition 
of evergreen trees in this part of the state—not to give theory but 
facts. 
Such being the case my report will be very brief—evergreens being 
few and my observations of the same being limited. It is only now 
and then that a single stray evergreen can be found growing on the 
prairies, and there are many townships without a solitary growing 
evergreen. Occasionally, there is a prosperous wideawake farmer 
who has a windbreak of evergreens or one growing, but the most of 
the farmers have notatree. Most of the evergreens are found in the 
towns and villages, where they add much to the beauty of the place, 
and not on the prairies where they are most needed, showing clearly 
that expense and care are necessary to secure evergreens. 
The reason there are so few evergreens is not that no trees have 
been set out but that so few live after being set out. Most of the 
evergreens are purchased of itinerant pedlars and are seedling 
trees that have been pulled from the woods. Many of the trees are 
dead before they are set out, and the rest are but little better. Only 
a few live at all,and most of these never amount toanything. When 
small nursery grown trees with good roots have been set out with 
good care,they have generally grown well. There is no good reason 
why evergreens should not be found around every farmhouse. 
Care and attention they must have, or the probabilities are that they 
will not grow. 
Some twenty years ago the railway company passing through this 
place set out some evergreens—they may have received some care 
for a year or two, but since then they have had no care whatever, 
For some years it wasa struggle for existence. Most of those left 
standing are fine trees from twenty-five to thirty feet high. There 
does not seem to be any good reason why evergreens will not grow 
and do well. 
Rabbits have caused me the most trouble in growing small ever- 
greens. They will soon clean outa bed of small trees. They also 
damage larger trees when the snow drifts around them so they can 
get to the smal) limbs. Trees of any kind area great addition to the 
comfort of living on the wind-swept prairie. Evergreens are doubly 
so. 
It does not seem as though any farmer after experiencing the 
difference between the windy prairie and a good evergreen shelter- 
belt would delay longer to set out such a belt around his own 
buildings. 
As to the best evergreens to set out, I think almost any of those 
recommended by this society are good. There are nearly all of 
these kinds growing finely on the prairie. The Scotch and white 
pines and the white and Norway spruces are the kinds most com- 
monly found growing. 
