TREE-PLANTING BY EAILROAD COMPANIES. 119 



Ellinwood: 215 miles west of Missouri River; 1,760 feet above tide ; 17 acres; soil, 

 a stiflf, black loam, a little sandy. 



Garfield : 256 miles west of Missouri River; 2,100 feet above tide; 17 acres ; begun 

 in 1874. 



SpearviUe: 283 miles west of Missouri River; 2,478 feet above tide ; 18 acres; soil, 

 a dark loam, with a stiff clay subsoil. 



It is observed that the rate of growth from 1870 to 1875 was greatest 

 with the Cottonwood at all the stations, and after this the ailanthus, 

 cataipa, and gray willow. As a general rule, the seedlings had done 

 about as well as plants a year old. Of the whole number planted, the 

 greatest number living at the end of the third year was the ailanthus j 

 next to this the honey-locust, cataipa, elm, silver maple, and box-elder, 

 and least the cottonwood, silver poplar, and gray willow. The surviving 

 cotton woods were 50 per cent, at one station, 25 at another, and 20 at 

 another. 



The kinds, on the whole, most approved were the ash, black walnut, 

 box-elder, cottonwood, honey-locust, Osage orange, silver maple, and, 

 for fuel and fruit, the peach. The plantation at Hutchinson, when vis- 

 ited by us in June, 1877, had suffered severely from the locust the year 

 before, which had damaged the ailanthus, apple, silver and Lombard 

 poplar, balm of Gilead, cataipa, and willows very much ; in some cases 

 killing them. Elms, maples, and box-elders were less damaged. The 

 Osage orange and honey-locust had been found very liable to injury 

 from gophers, and the peach, to less extent. The rabbits had also 

 proved troublesome. The chestnut and the oaks and hickories gener- 

 ally had failed. The butternut, sapindus, ailanthus, silver and Lombard 

 poplars, and cataipa were still regarded as doubtful, as were the coni- 

 fers generally. A plantation begun at Syracuse, near the western 

 boundary of the State, had suffered from grasshoppers and drought. 

 The policy now held by the company is, to try hereafter no experiments 

 with species not native of the country, and to employ only such kinds 

 as have been proved well adapted to the climate and conditions of the 

 region through which their road extends. 



The report of Mr. Kelsey, at the end of the second year, shows that 

 the apple, golden willow, Norway spruce, and Osage orange had been 

 injured slightly by the winter, the ailanthus, cataipa, and sapindus had 

 been killed back, and the China-tree and some of the ailanthus and 

 cataipa killed entirely. 



These experiments derive great interest from the fact that they will 

 determine the capacity of the plains of Western Kansas for forest culti- 

 vation, and, to the extent of their success, prove of infinite advantage 

 to the country, by leading to more extended plantations in a region 

 where they are extremely needed. 



Kansas Pacific Eailroad. — Experiments at tree-planting were begun 

 by this company in the fall of 1870 and spring of 1871, under Mr. R. S. 

 Elliott, at the following stations on the line of this road : 



Wilson (now Bosland), 239 miles west from Kansas City, 1,586 feet above tide; 



Ellis, 302 miles west from Kansas City, 2,019 feet above tide; and 



Fond Creek (now Wallace), 422 miles west from Kansas City, and 3,175 feet above tide. 



The experiments of Mr. Elliott as industrial agent for the company, 

 also included grains and grasses. Of twenty-four species of trees trans- 

 planted, six were evergreens and the remainder deciduous kinds, includ- 

 ing those that have been most generally cultivated in the Western States. 

 The plantations were neither irrigated, mulched, nor shaded, and were 

 considered as but a rude experiment to test the capacity of the country 

 for tree-planting. They were continued under care about three years 

 and then left, and from neglect, and exposure to stock, have now mostly 



