FOREST PLANTING. 



resources and its wants to the active commercial inter- 

 course of each. 



How much of the region is capable of growing timber 

 at all ; how much of it requires irrigation to insure suc- 

 cessful culture, and how much consists of alkaline depos- 

 its on which no culture is possible, are questions to which 

 only vague and indefinite replies can yet be made. But 

 of this simple fact we may be assured, that very exten- 

 sive tracts, which are capable of forest culture, and which 

 at present may be said to possess no intrinsic value, are 

 now accessible by the Pacific railroads. 



We know that the belt of prairie has its greatest trans- 

 verse expansion in the Missouri basin, and that east of 

 the meridian of Fort Laramie, the prairies are covered 

 with rich grasses adapted to pasturage, which for an 

 unknown period have supported countless herds of 

 bison. 



Where such grasses will grow, trees will grow, and with 

 the growth of trees in sufficient quantity will come the 

 increase of humidity and the modification of the storms, 

 floods and other excesses of natural phenomena, which 

 are fatal to the success of extended agricultural opera- 

 tions. The first step toward the settlement of the coun- 

 try, therefore, should be the planting of tracts of forest 

 wherever it is practicable al6ng the line of railroad, or 

 elsewhere ; and the first thing to be ascertained is, what 

 varieties of trees are best adapted to such culture. 

 Probably it may be impossible at first to grow some of 

 the varieties most desirable for timber ; but if we cannot 

 have what we would, let us have those we can. Plant 



