588 FRANKLIN COUNTY, NEBRASKA. 



in the art of growing timber, is not among the least of the 

 benefits that have grown out of it. The planting of a few 

 thousand trees in communities where the law has been opera- 

 tive, is not now considered much of a feat ; whereas, in com- 

 munities where it has not been in operation, it is regarded as 

 an onerous task. Many homes are surrounded by beautiful 

 groves, that owe their existence to a cultivated taste and 

 knowledge received through practical lessons taught by expe- 

 rience in cultivating timber claims under this act ; and from 

 our standpoint it is impossible to estimate the result of its 

 influence upon the country a generation hence. 



HOW AND WHAT TO PLANT. 



The timber is usually planted in a solid body, without 

 reference to any laws of landscape architecture, but there are 

 some who give attention to the effects in laying out their 

 grove. It would add greatly to the beauty of the country, and 

 would give it an appearance of greater thrift, if all did ; but 

 so few are educated in that science that it can not be expected. 

 The inquiry that is being made with regard to different kinds 

 of timber not indigenous to the soil, is a step in that direction. 

 At first the timber almost universally planted was cottonwood, 

 but box elder, ash, maple, elm and black walnut soon found a 

 place in the list, and now the oaks and ashes, foreign to the 

 soil, butternuts, chestnuts, catalpa, and many other deciduous 

 trees, have been added to the list, and in some instances soon 

 grew. 



FRUIT CULTUEE. 



The influence of the Timber Culture Law has not been 

 confined to forest culture. It has awakened a- spirit of inquiry 

 on the subject of fruit culture also. Farmers are learning that 

 they can propagate their own fruit trees as well as their own 

 forest trees, and many that would not have felt able to make a 

 bill of fruit trees for an orchard for years to come, are starting 

 in a modest way from the seed or the root graft. 



In conclusion, I predict that in a very few years the most 



