regions much drier than the river bottoms, which are its natural 

 home. The best region for its economic planting comprises the 

 greater part of the treeless West, from North Dakota to Texas. 



HABITS AND GROWTH. 



Boxelder tolerates a great variety of climate and soil conditions. 

 Tt will grow on rocky slopes and on the semiarid prairies; it thrives 

 on calcareous soils, sandy loam, or even on sand, when ground water 

 is within 20 feet of the surface ; yet the best development is reached 

 on the deep, moist soil of valleys and the borders of lakes and 

 swamps. Because of the small size of the boxelder and its ability 

 to endure shade, it usually occupies the lower story of the forest in 

 which it grows, and in the Middle West often comes up in dense 

 thickets as an understory in cottonwood plantations. The tree does 

 not clear itself well and the dead branches are very persistent. It 

 often sends up clusters of sprouts from the root collar. 



The boxelder is a short-lived tree of moderately rapid growth. 

 The annual increase is usually not more than 1 to 1J feet in height 

 and one-fourth inch in diameter. 



In the Northern States considerable damage is often done to the 

 boxelder by drifting snow, which collects on the thick branches and 

 breaks them off. In some localities young shoots and the pith of 

 branches are attacked by borers, and the foliage is much afl'ected by 

 leaf-feeding insects. With the exception of the silver maple, the 

 boxelder is the species most extensively damaged by the cottony 

 maple scale. 



ECONOMIC USES. 



The wood is soft, weak, light, close-grained, creamy white, with 

 an indistinct, thick sapwood. Although it has low fuel value, its 

 principal use is as firewood. It is utilized to some extent for interior 

 finishing, woodenware, cheap furniture, and paper pulp. The wood 

 is more durable in contact with the soil than cottonwood or willow, 

 but boxelder does not grow straight enough to make good posts and 

 it yields less per acre than either of the other species. 



As a street and lawn tree the boxelder is of some value because 

 of its hardiness, but throughout a great portion of its range it 

 becomes at times so badly infested with a scale that it is very objection- 

 able. Where uniformity is desired the use of this species is inad- 

 visable, since trees of the same age are apt to vary much in form and 

 rate of growth. 



Boxelder has been planted extensively in the West and is useful 

 for wind and snow breaks, for underplanting in open stands, and as 

 a filler with a more valuable species, such as black walnut. However, 

 the tree's need of moisture and the small quantity and inferior quality 

 of the material it produces make it unfit for general upland planting. 



[Cir. 86] 



