574 FOREST CULTURE IN KANSAS. 



plowing, iuto rows 12 feet apart,^ setting the young plants IS incites apart 

 in the rows, and cultivating the ground between with corn until the 

 whole surface was shaded. The walnuts might be planted with a hoe, 

 like potatoes, and the cuttings and young plants with a spade. When 

 the trees have grown so as to shade the ground too much he advised 

 sowing with red clover, and, if hedged or inclosed, hogs or young cattle 

 might be turned in to feed on the clover. But it is not advisable to 

 pasture woodland with any animal that will injure the trees. 



Among other trees adopted for growth in Kansas he mentioned the 

 honey-locust, white ash, box elder, Kentucky coffee, white, red and 

 water elm, butternut, chestnut, hickory, cypress, European and Ameri- 

 can larcb, linden, silver-leaf poplar, mulberry, catalpa, ailanthus, white 

 and yellow willow, and hackberry. 



Evergreens, always desirable as screens and often as ornament, grow 

 slowly for the first few years until they become thoroughly acclimated. 

 Much disappointment has been felt in the failure of these plants, especi- 

 ally when brought from distant nurseries and in bad condition. They 

 should be got from nurseries near home while small, and preference 

 should be given to those that have been several times transplanted. 

 They should be set from the 1st to the middle of April, or earlier if the 

 ground is in good order. The roots should be exposed to the sun and 

 air as little as possible. The Norway spruce, white, Austrian and Scotch 

 pines, balsam fir, red cedar, and American arbor vitas, present advan- 

 tages worthy of notice. The native evergreens from the West and 

 South are especially worthy of trial on Kansas prairies in preference to 

 exotic species. 



The black locust in Kansas, as in very many places elsewhere, is very 

 liable to injury from a borer. But this injury is less on dry limestone 

 lands, and in the interior of large groves. When the trees are killed 

 down sprouts will still spring up from the roots, and often reach a size 

 suitable for poles or for fuel, before they are in turn attacked. 



The great toothed poplar {Pojyulns grandidentata) has been suggested 

 as a desirable tree for cultivation in Kansas. It grows rapidly and to 

 a large size, splits freely, and when cut and the bark peeled it will last 

 quite well in the open air, wlien not in contact with the ground. 



The State of Kansas exhibited at the Centennial of 187(i, specimens of 

 44 deciduous and 2 coniferous woods grown within the State, and mostly 

 native species. — {Report of Managers^ — published by the State in 1877, 

 p. 285.) 



The following local items will serve to give an idea of the timber 

 resources of various sections of the State ; 



Atchison County: 



The bluff-land along the Missonri River is generally timbered with oak, black walnut, 

 hickory, elm, cottouwood, &c., but the best timber is ou the bottom lauds, in the 

 ravines, and on the islands. The poorest is on the tops of ridges and on the south and 

 west sides of bluffs. It is often noticed that the north side of a bluff will have con- 

 siderable timber, while the South side will be bare, showing that nature has had the 

 same difficulty with hot suns and winds that have so much discouraged the planting 

 of orchards and groves. This place is about 1,200 feet above tide ; rains, 20 to 30 

 inches ; wiuds in spring and autumn eouth and southwest, with a tendency to shift 



'This is doubtless a great mistake. The first rows should be much nearer together, 

 care being taken to thin out from time to time as they bi^come larger, so as to admit 

 more air and light to the trees as they become larger. If it is urged that the settler 

 with slender means cannot afford to plant his ten or twenty acres with so many trees, 

 the answer is ready, that by planting a given number on half the space he will have a 

 greater final profit from increased growth afforded by mutual shelter in the earlier 

 ycarS; and a straighter and taller form. 



