98 Timber Planting on the Prairies and Elsewhere. 



shelter belts and groves for the protection of their crops, their cattle, 

 and themselves from the fierce blasts of winter, or from the burning 

 heats of summer. 



Others, more wise, more liberal, and more enlightened, have already 

 begun to make provision for the future needs of the country, and for 

 their own immediate comfort, by setting out timber lots, belts, and 

 groves ; some extensive plantations have also been set out with diflerent 

 kinds of trees. Some of these have already begun to assume such 

 proportions as to demand attention, and it is proposed, upon the present 

 occasion, to give a little account of one of these efforts at transforming 

 the prairie into a timber lot. 



Mr. D. C. Schofield, near Elgin, has become somewhat famous 

 among the horticulturists of Northern Illinois^ for his enthusiastic 

 efforts in this branch of rural art, and especially for his admiration of 

 the European Larch tree, of which he has some fine plantations, though 

 he has not confined himself to this species. His pines and spruces atf 

 also very thrifty, and they are especially attractive in winter, when 

 their living green, of diflerent tints, is a very striking feature of the 

 prairie landscape. 



The European Larches are from ten to twelve years old ; are very 

 regular, tall, even, and straight ; they are flanked with Norway Spruce in 

 the timber belts ; these last make a wall of green ; though not so tall 

 as the larches, they are nearly as large at the stem. The Silver Pines 

 are very vigorous, and have made a large growth in the prairie soil ; 

 the Scotch and the Austrian Pines present their usual sturdy appear- 

 ance, and are very promising as timber trees ; but none of these will 

 make so quick a return to the planter as the larch. Mr. Schofield 

 exhibited a log from his plantation that was a foot in diameter, and 

 which showed, in its section, the wonderful growth of the rings that 

 continue to carry their size, or even to increase it as the trees grow 

 older. The small proportion of sap wood is also remarkable, even in 

 young trees, and this may explain the durable nature of the timber, 

 which is proverbial, and which has been thoroughly tested in Europe. 

 From all that appears, the prairie growth bids fair to maintain this 

 character, and the rapidly growing larch is largely planted for future 

 supplies of hop-poles, fencing matei'ial, and cross-ties, for all which 

 purposes it is admirably adapted. 



Mr. Schofield has also experimented with other trees, such as soft 

 maples, white ash, elms, black walnuts, etc. None of these compare 

 with the larch in size or thrift, and the black walnut is not by any 

 (means promising as a timber tree for the prairie, except in favorable 



