FOREST-CULTURE IN NEBRASKA. 585 



The average rainfall here is about '29 inches; prevailing winds in summer south and 

 southwest ; in winter, north and northwest. Amon<j the indigenous trees most planted, 

 are the coffee-bean, box-elder, soft maple, honey-locust, and cottonwood, besides gray 

 ash, black walnut, and mulberry. The chestnut, birch, Scotch pine, Austrian pine, 

 and the Menzies''spruce from the Rocky Mountains all thrive when properly planted 

 out and mulched for the first season. Our soil forces forest-growth with wonderful 

 vigor, and wherever prairie-fires are kept out the timber-groves are swiftly incroach- 

 ing upon the plains. 



The European larch does not succeed, the soil being too dry and porous for it. 

 The yellow locust was cultivated here, but it was so infested with borers that it has 

 been abandoned generally. No other tre«s in this vicinity are suffering from insect 

 enemies, so far as I know. 



The best method of planting forest-trees is in rows, north and south, 8 feet apart. 

 Alternating the rows with hard and soft wood trees is an advantage in securing a bet- 

 ter growth for the hard weod. To illustrate: Plant first a row of cottonwoods, then 

 one of black walnuts, and then one of cottonwoods. The latter grow swiftly and run 

 up above the intermediate walnuts. Then the latter, struggling for light, shape 

 themselves into tall and symmetrical trees, wher'jas planted on the open prairie alone 

 they become stubbed and gnarled shrubs. The quickly-growing varieties planted in 

 this way, with hard wood and slowly-growing varieties, act as nurses, and bring ttem 

 up properly. I have tried this. Tree -planting is a mania in Nebraska, and hundreds 

 of thousands of trees are planted every year on Arbor Daij.^ 



The climate has changed very perceptibly during the twenty-two years that I have 

 lived in Nebraska and on this farm. Our annual rain-fall has increased more than one- 

 third. » * » Personally, I have the satisfaction, though now only forty-five years 

 of age, of having grown here, upon the high, loamy prairie, saw-logs of cottonwood 

 which will measure 6 feet in circumference at the but and 4 at the limbs 20 feet 

 from the ground; black walnuts from the seed which will measure 3 to 4 feet in cir- 

 cumference, and apple-trees nineteen years old, blooming full every year and measur- 

 ing in girth from 39 to 4G inches all through the orchard which I planted.— (J^ Sterling 

 Morton, Netrasl-a City, Ntb.) 



Pawnee County has about 500 acres of thrifty artificial groves, besides wind-breaks 

 and groves of less than one acre. Cottonwood and soft maple predominate, with some 

 ash, walnut, elm, and honey-locust. The latter has been used to some extent as a hedge, 

 but it does not meet with much favor. The ash, which is a native timber-tree, makes 

 good growth and is free from vermin. — {Trans, yeb. St. Hort. Sac, 1877, p. 80.> 



About 400 miles of Osage hedge is planted in Pawnee County, much of which is a 

 good fence, though neglect iu some cases has made it a failure. Abotrt four years arc 

 found necessary to rear su<"h a hedge that will defy stock, and at a less expense than 

 posts alone could be furnished. To fence a quarter section on the boundary-lines (2 

 miles), 4 acres must bo plowed twice, at a cost of §1.50 per acre ^$12 ; 140,000 plants, 

 costing $21 ; planting, at 50 cents per M, §7 ; to'al, $40, or a little over 6 cents a rod. 

 The after-culture is but little more than that required, iu good husbandry, for corn, ex- 

 cept pruning, which is less than the labor of cleariiig a corn crop. Mr. Barnard, in re- 

 porting these facts, gives the following advice as to planting: '• In the first place, the 

 hedge-row should never be broken so as to leave the back furrows where the hedge is to 

 be planted. On the contrary, a land not less than 1 rod wide, should be laid off, 

 making a dead furrow to be set, and the second plowing should be done in the same 

 way, deepening the dead furrow. Then back-set into that dead furrow, and you have 

 a deep-tilled bed (and not ridged) wherein to set the plants ; cultivate as level as pos- 

 sible, and never allow ridges along the hedge-row, and the better cultivated and wider 

 the hedge-row, the less danger from gophers. In the after-cultivation, keep the ground 

 loose and clean, but never cultivate with the plow after the middle of July, as this 

 will promote too late a growth, and when winter comes the wood may not be ripe. 

 The reasons for not ridging are threefold. The wind does not blow off the dirt, nor 

 the rain wash the soil from the roots, and the frost does not throw the plants to the 

 ground. The plants were set behind a spade, and 8 inches apart, 8,000 to the mile." — 

 {Trans. ^\e6. St. Hort. Soc, 1877, p. G7, 72.) 



Richardson County.— Our county is the best timbered of any in the State, al- 

 though mostly prairie, with timber only along the streams, and especially on tho bluffis 

 of the Missouri River. The growth consists of oak, cottonwood, elm, walnut, and some 

 ash and maple. About one-twentieth of the area is timbered, and this part is worth 

 from §10 to $50 per acre. Many of our farmers have planted cottonwood grove?, which 

 have proved a success, and of much benefit as windbreaks. — ( Wm. Pachen, Williams- 

 ville, Richardson County, Nebraska.) 



During the last four years a large amount of Osuge hedge has been set in Richardson 

 County, and it answers every expectation. — {Trans. 2\eb. St. Hort. Soc, 1877, j). 68.) 



'The writer claims great advantages from this custom of devoting one day to tree 

 planting, of which he is the inventor and founder, and with the resulta of which hois 

 quite satisfied. 



