4 io PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 



The inferior portions are used for crates where some cheap, rough lumber 

 is required. The best barrel hoops are made of elm, being far better than hoop 

 poles of young hickory, chestnut, etc. 



Besides, it is an extremely wasteful practice to destroy millions of young 

 thrifty trees which, when split, make but two poles each, of five trees to every 

 slack barrel made, when one Elm tree will supply enough hoops for a carload of 

 barrels, as well as being superior. 



Another important use is for carriage hubs, for which it is well adapted ; also 

 barrel staves, heads, etc. 



Naturally the Elm prefers a moist, rich location, and it is commonly found 

 along the banks of streams. Here the seed, which is small and winged, is blown 

 by the winds and carried by the water until it finds lodgement in muddy or moist 

 places, soon springing up and making several inches growth the first year. The 

 young tree grows quite rapidly, and if planted closely in rows four feet apart, and 

 thinned by cutting out from time to time, will make tall, upright trees of consid- 

 erable value in two decades, the thinnings being of utility for fuel, hoops and 

 other uses. 



Young trees may be purchased very cheaply at the nurseries, but if it is pre- 

 ferred to grow them from seed these should be thickly planted in good garden soil 

 in rows one foot apart, covered very slightly, and kept free from weeds and grass 

 by frequent hoeing. 



It would be well to allow the seedlings to remain in the seed bed two years. 



The Elm is easily transplanted, even when quite large trees. Under no cir- 

 cumstances should forest trees of any kind be neglected, for if weeds and grass 

 once get a start they absorb the moisture and impoverish the ground, soon chok- 

 ing and stunting the young tree. It is far more important that a young forest 

 be well cultivated and kept free from weed growths than it is for an annual crop, 

 such as corn, potatoes, etc., because of its greater value and permanence. 



TREES FOR THE PRAIRIES AND SEMI-ARID REGIONS. 



Any portion of our prairies, and a large area in the semi-arid belt, may be 

 brought into cultivation and a variety of forest trees grown, if an effort is made 

 and proper conditions maintained. 



Because certain plants have not grown wild in such locations is no argument 

 to discourage their cultivation ; neither is it convincing to say that there is insuf- 

 ficient moisture for anything but sage brush and cactus. The prairies are such 

 simply and solely on account of the annual prairie fires with which the Indians 

 were accustomed to drive the game to points where they could slay them in multi- 

 tudes, and frontiersmen have kept up the custom to enable the young grass to 

 spring up and afford pasturage for their stock, and, as well, to protect their homes 

 from fire which might come unexpectedly. 



This is shown by the fringe of timber and brush along the banks of streams 

 and on damp or dry rocky places on which but little wild grass would grow, not 

 enough to burn out the growing shrubbery. In damp places and along the bot- 

 toms where timber is found, the annual grasses could not be burned, or but 



