296 specialties for Nurserymen. 



only, that any one desiring to commence the cultivation of orchids may 

 select from without being disappointed. 



[The above closes Mr. Barker's series of articles on Orchid Culture, 

 for which we feel sure he will receive the hearty thanks of the daily 

 increasing number of orchid growers ; and no one who likes practical 

 articles can fail to be pleased with them, for all the directions given are 

 derived from his daily practice, the results of which we have often seen 

 and admired. To those who wish to get the best book on the subject 

 we would recommend Williams's Orchid Grower's Manual, as the 

 most practical work published ; or if there is any point on which any 

 of our readers would like fuller information, if they will mention it to 

 us, Mr. Barker will be happy to give such information through our 

 pages. — Ed.] 



SPECIALTIES FOR NURSERYMEN. — TIMBER PLANT- 

 ING AT THE WEST. 



By SuEL Foster, Muscatine, Iowa. 



■ In the Journal for June, 1870, page 354, you say, " such establishments 

 as R. Douglas & Son's at Waukegan, Illinois, who grow annually from 

 three to five millions of evergreens." In August, 1868, I v/as at their 

 nursery, and saw six acres covered with seed-beds of evergreens, all 

 shaded and protected from the scorching sun. The seed-beds were four 

 feet wide, rounded up a very little, with an eighteen-inch walk between. 

 The seeds were sown broadcast, and lightly raked in. The little trees 

 were up at that time sufficiently to look green like grass. Mr. Douglas 

 had counted average pieces of beds, from which he made a careful cal- 

 culation amounting to about one million to the acre. This was three 

 years ago. We are all on tiptoe for planting our treeless prairies. The 

 Douglases could not fill their orders with six millions ; so they enlarged 

 their planting for 1S66. The ad interim committee of the Illinois 

 State Horticultural Society visited the Douglas nursery in 1S69, and 

 report that they found \hQxe. fftcen milliojis of evergreens and European 

 larch. 



At the meeting of our Iowa Eastern Horticultural Society at Iowa 

 City, June 22 and 23, 1S70, while we had the subject of tree-planting 

 before us, Mr. Douglas was asked to tell us how many evergreens and 



