INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 9 



hops. The seeds are small, hard, triangular, contained in oval, reddish, 

 inflated bladders, covered with an irritating fine down. The bark in win- 

 ter is smooth and grayish, detached in strips, finely divided. The wood is 

 purely white, fine grained, heavy, compact. The tree is a very slow 

 grower. It is used mainly for levers by the woodsmen; it can be put to 

 many mechanical uses, such as blocks, mill-cogs, mallets, etc. 



Carpinus Americana is the true American Hornbean, also called the 

 blue or water beech. This is a low tree; its trunk furrowed; very hard 

 wood; close gray bark; small leaves, resembling those of the beech; flowers 

 with the leaves in the spring. Quite common in our native woods, grow- 

 ing indifferently as to soil. There is a unique beauty about it. Its white, 

 tough wood recommends it. 



the beech, Fagus ferruginea. 



Probably not a native beech tree grows in the woods of Minnesota, but 

 it abounds in Eastern Wisconsin under the salutary influence of Lake 

 Michigan. Though not suitable for a pioneer tree, yet it is so valuable 

 and susceptible of surviving in special localities under right treatment, it 

 is worthy of consideration. It must have moist soil and cool atmosphere. 

 It is not well adapted to our dry prairies, but is to the drained alluvial 

 soils of our river valleys, where they can be insulated by protecting forests. 



Seed will have to be procured outside of the state. Be sure and have the 

 northern grown, such as Eastern Wisconsin furnishes, It ripens in Octo- 

 ber. Soon as possible plant under tree shade, where there is light enough, 

 however, to sprout them healthfully. Thin out the old shading trees 

 gradually, for the young beeches must be acclimated. In three or four 

 years you should have all the near supports removed for the reception of 

 ample light and ventilation. 



URTICACE>.-ELM FAMILY. 



The Elm belongs to the Nettle Family, which, according to Gray,includes 

 thirty-eight or more species and varieties in the United States. Upham 

 mentions thirteen for Minnesota. But we have to deal with trees, not 

 shrubs and grasses. He recognizes but three of the elms, the white,the red, 

 the cork, as indigenous. 



white elm, Ulmvs Americana. 



The White or American Elm is magnificent. It ranges over a vast area 

 from New Foundland to Florida and as far west as the eastern foothills of 

 the Rocky Mountains. It adapts itself to different kinds of soil, thriving, 

 with proper treatment, on the prairies central on the continent. It leads 

 all the other elms in hardiness, size, foliage and beauty. It is a fast grow- 

 er; in deep, rich soil and favorable environment, known to attain from two 

 to three feet or more diameter in half a century. 



Evidently there are different types of this tree, two especially marked. 

 In the alluvial soil of the Mississippi and other river valleys of Minnesota, 



