FOREST-CULTURE IN NEBRASKA. 583 



oottouwood saw-logs growing there which are more than eix feet in girth, and when 

 I first saw them they were only wandering germs, floating in the air like down from a 

 bird's breast. But they are adult saw-logs in 1S76. These remarks, somewhat egotist- 

 ical though they may' be, are made for the purpose merely of impressing you, and 

 through you the farming people, with the tree-possibilities of this State, and I only 

 preach in this regard what I have faithfully put in practice, and the witnesses of the 

 truth of my theories stand majestically verifying me all over the farm whence this is 

 ■written to you, in the form of beautiful, thrifty, and valuable fruit and forest trees. 

 Come down and see them, aud in the hot summer days, while you rest in their shade, 

 even their foliage will tell you in whispering with the wind how pleasant and profit- 

 able a thing it is to plant the prairie with trees. 



The following statements refer to particular counties in Nebraska, but 

 doubtless apply in many instances to large districts of country adjoining: 



Buffalo County. — In forest-planting most farmers have made a beginning, 

 having planted from one to ten acres each. Some have surrounded their quarter- 

 sectioiis with rows of trees ; others have used trees to divide the quarter into 80's ; 

 while others have fenced off each forty acres with rows of trees. Our farmers need 

 education and experierce. Our native cottonwoods will grow almost anywl'ere ; but 

 when alone it grows so rapidly that the wood fails to ripen, and is liable to winter-kill. 

 But the young trees are amply proceoted when we raise with them some other crop. 

 We have not had much success with soft maples, chestnut, or oak, but the black-wal- 

 nut is thifty.— (Tm?is. Nebr. St. Hort. Soc, 1877, p. 85.) 



BuKT County.— In hedging, Osage-orange has not proved a success, and better re- 

 sults have been had with willow and soft maple. The favorite hedge-plant so far, 

 however, is the honey-locust, which is thought to be the best hedge-plant. About 

 2,500 acres of forest trees are planted in this county, mostly cottonwood, with a sprink- 

 ling of soft-maple, black-walnut, elm, and willow.— (TraHs. Nebr. St. Hart. Soc, 1877, 

 pp. 71, 86.) 



Clay County. — There are many groves of forest trees, a considerable number of 

 which will reach from 3 to 20 acres, and where cared for they are in good condition. 

 The cottonwood and box-elder stand pre-eminent, and the success achieved demon- 

 strates that the prairies may in a few years be dotted with fine groves of timber. 

 There has been no systematic hedgo-plantiug in Clay Coumty.— (TmHS. Nebr. St. Hori. 

 Soc, 1S77, p. 83.) 



Douglas County.— William Hollonbeck had, in 1873, a grove of about 200 acres 

 planted in 1861, in which the white ash measured 26 inches in girth and were 30 feet 

 high. They were planted very closely and grew very straight, and free from lower 

 limbs, and at an early age would arrive at a size valuable for farm purposes and man- 

 ufactures. A fair average tract of 4 acres of black walnut, planted in 1865, meas- 

 ured in 1873 twenty-two inches around and 25 feet high. Some bore nuts in 1869, and 

 quite a number a peck or more in 1871.— {Fourth Eej). Board of Ag., 1873, pp. 426, 427.) 



Fillmore County has 3,360 acres of planted timber, or 3i to each farm of 160 acres. 

 Of this 2,000 are cottonwood ; 1,000 ash aud box elder ; 350 in soft maple, honey -locust, 

 and black walnut ; and the rest fancy varieties. This estimate does not include hedges 

 nor the plantings of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company. In the spring 

 of 1877 it was expected that 1,500 to 2,000 acres would be set under timber-claims. All 

 native kinds, except soft maple, thrive on the table-lauds. Thothornless honey-locust 

 is growing in favor, the tree being of rapid growth and making good timber. This 

 county has 75 miles of Osage hedge, 32 miles of willow, and 20 miles of honey-locust; 

 but ignorance of the best methods of cultivation (and probably also the fact that the 

 soil is new and not perfectly subdued), renders the success of the Osage less than could 

 be desired. A contractor had planted several miles of hedge directly from seed, giving 

 as the reason that the tap root should never be cut. — {Trans. Nebr. St Hort. Soc, 1877, 

 pp. 70, 82.) 



Franklin County.— From a statement published in 1877 {Trans, of Nebr. State Hort. 

 Soc, p. 46) it appears that in Franklin County 100,000 black walnut t.ees had been put 

 out. and most of them one year from the nut; 150 box-elder trees; 500,000 cottonwood 

 trees, and an equal number of cuttings. The trees were doing well, but the cuttings 

 (which ordinarily thrive as well as young trees), were mostly dead, or rather were dead 

 when set. The hedge-planting of the county had been of cottonwood, the young trees 

 being set about 18 inches apart, for a live fence. 



Furnas County. — Artificial groves are being planted to considerable extent ; the 

 species in favor being ash, box-elder, walnut, and cottonwood. — {Trans. Nebr. St. Hort. 

 Soc, 1877, p. 84.) 



Hall County.— The original forest of this county was nearly all destroyed when 

 the Union Pacific Rai'road was bnilf. Cottonwood, white ash, and elm were all cut 

 down for ties and fuel, and the best timber now is in artificial groves scattered all over 



