454 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



November, 



running south along section lines from 

 near Thedford to the Dismal River, 

 where the line turns at a right angle 

 and runs east for nearly twenty miles, 

 following the general course of the river. 

 It then zigzags northwest, following the 

 section lines along the middle Loup 

 River to the starting point near Thed- 

 ford. 



The village of Halsey, about midway 

 on the diagonal side, has been taken as 

 the point near which to begin work. At 

 this place I was met by Mr. Miller, who 

 is in immediate charge of the work. 

 We mounted our horses, and first ford- 

 ing the river rode to the camp, two 

 miles away, at the foot of a bluff. Here 

 there were several tents, a cooking out- 

 fit, teams, wagons, tools, etc., and half 

 a dozen men. The latter were young 

 fellows, all college graduates, who have 

 entered the Bureau of Forestry after 

 completing a course of scientific training. 



We soon started out for a preliminary 

 survey of the premises, stopping first at 

 the nursery site. Here the ground has 

 been cleared and plowed and workmen 

 were engaged in putting in the posts for 

 the inclosure. A thicket of trees and 

 shrubs near by receives a good deal of 

 attention, since here in the space of a 

 few rods no less than twenty-four dif- 



ferent species of woody plants are grow- 

 ing naturally. This is in itself an indi- 

 cation of the favorable location of the 

 nursery. We then scrambled up the 

 bluff, past indications of a couple of 

 strong springs which are waiting to be 

 opened for the use of the workmen. On 

 the bluff we found that some trees have 

 grown to the very top. Most of them 

 have been cut by settlers, who paid no 

 attention to the fact that they were the 

 property of the government. There is 

 evidence that some of the red cedar 

 trees were nearly two feet in thickness. 

 There are now small Red Cedars on the 

 hillsides, where they make a thrifty 

 growth. On the bottom land close to 

 the river we found a thicket of shrubs 

 growing as rampantly as in New Eng- 

 land. Here, too, we found a rank 

 growth of ferns. In fact, I do not rec- 

 ollect to have seen a greater mass of 

 ferns anywhere in Nebraska. 



After dinner in camp we got into a 

 light buggy, behind a span of govern- 

 ment mules, and drove directly into the 

 sand-hills We followed no road or 

 trail. In fact, there were none to fol- 

 low. The surface is very irregular and 

 broken, and the drive was one of the 

 roughest that I have ever taken. We 

 drove for many miles over the hills and 



A SCENE IN THE SAND-HILLS OF NEBRASKA, SHOWING PRESENT ABSENCE OF TREES. 



