TREE-PLANTING BY RAILROAD COMPANIES. 121 



direction of General J.W. Bishop, set 55,455 cuttings, and in 1874 54,024, 

 in strips 100 feet wide, along the northwest side of cuts where the road 

 had been troubled with drifting snows. These plantings occupy about 

 100 acres. Some of these plantations are made under the shelter of 

 fences, built for present defense until the trees shall have grown. At 

 Seney, in Iowa, the company has planted 130 acres, chiefly with larch, 

 and in 1876 corn was cultivated among this. The plantation promises 

 well, considering the adverse influences of grasshoppers and drought. 

 During the season of 1877 the company set 100,000 trees, cbiefly cot- 

 tonwoods, and as a wind-break along the line of its road. These are al- 

 ways set with roots, and not as cuttings, and the summer following 

 proved very favorable for their growth. 



From Mankato eastward, along the Minnesota Eiver to its mouth, a 

 distance of 80 miles, the country was, when settlement began, covered 

 with a fine growth of timber, having an average width of about ten 

 miles. This timber-belt affords a large amount of fuel for the railroad 

 and for the prairie region to the westward. This company transports 

 trees and cuttings free of charge to all prairie stations, and much inter- 

 est is being taken by the settlers in planting groves and wind-breaks. 



Saint Paul and Faeijio Railroad. — Plantations have been undertaken 

 in former years at various points on this road, and nurseries were estab- 

 lished at Willmar, Eandail, Hancock, Morris, Hermon, Gordon, and 

 Caufield. An interesting account of the plantations undertaken by 

 this company was communicated to the Minnesota Horticultural So- 

 ciety, about two years since, by the Hon. Leonard B. Hodges, of Saint 

 Paul, under whose charge the later operations were executed. The 

 historical as well as practical interest which the subject offers will jus- 

 tify a somewhat detailed notice. 



A plantation of 2,000 large decidnous trees in the parks at Litchfield and Willmar, 

 made in the spring of 1870 by the company owning the main line of the First Division 

 of the Saint Paul and Pacific Railroad, failed, and probably for the following reasons: 

 They were " grubbed out" of their native bed and set on unbroken and uncultivated 

 prairie. Some retained vitality enough to leave out,- but died one after another, until 

 perhaps a dozen were left. They were planted under contract, at 50 cents each, and 

 were so much loss in money, besides the discouragement from planting which they oc- 

 casioned. 



In the spring of 1872 another contract was let for 7,500 soft maples, box-elders, Lom- 

 bardy poplars, cottonwoods, and European larche*: ; and in October, 1872, another for 

 50,000 cottonwoods, Lombardy poplars, and box-elders. The first of these were planted 

 just west of Summit Lake, between the ninety-fifth and ninety-sixth mile-posts, be- 

 tween Atwaterand Kandiyohi, on the highest ground between the Mississippi and Red 

 Rivers. The country was a high rolling i^rairie, with excellent soil and clay subsoil. 

 They were set on the north side of the track, in rows 4 feet apart, and 2 feet apart in 

 the rows. They were well cultivated, and, excepting the larch, made a satisfactory 

 growth. They were injured by weight of snow from drifting of snow-fences, and afc 

 the end of 1874 were about eight feet high, and 7,496 were accepted and paid for. 

 Some three hundred or four hundred more than the contract required were set by the 

 contractor, to cover losses. Causes of loss, cattle and snow-drifts. 



Of the second contract but 41,500 were planted — about half in cuts between Kandi- 

 yohi and Willmar, and the balance on the Pomme de Terre cuts, just east of Morris. 

 This i)lanting was done late, and on ground broken out of season, and on the final esti- 

 mate, two years after, 18,500 live trees were accepted. The greatest loss occurred 

 wiih Lombardy poplars, on the Pomme de Terre cuts, and the cottonwoods of this lot 

 did better than could have been expected. They were mostly seedlings, and had their 

 tops killed down to the ground by frost the first winter. On tbe 1st of June, 1873, 

 they were of the size of young cabbage-plants ; at the end of 1874 they are six to twelve 

 feet high, and well proportioned. 



During the summer and fall of 1872 about sixty acres were broken up, in strips 25 

 ■feet wide, along about fifty of the worst cuts, the outer edge coming to the right-of- 

 way lines of the road, and the inner edge within 50 feet of the center of the track. 

 Many of these strips were planted with acorns in the fall of 1872. Some of these were 

 bad, and the gophers took the rest. Here ended the contract system on the line of this 



