44 THE GOLD MINE 



Scotch pine is a good tree for the north, but it cannot 

 live where the hot winds sweep the great plains. On 

 the other hand the Austrian pine for adaptability leads 

 all the conifers in most of the states west of the Missou- 

 ri river. I have seen splendid specimens in Oklahoma, 

 and on the dry Kansas and I^Tebraska plains, x^orway 

 spruce and white pines do well in Eastern Minnesota, 

 Avhile in the western part of the state and in the Da- 

 kotas they would be very uncertain. Again there are 

 some foreign trees that surprise us by their adaptation 

 to most of our conditions. The European mountain ash 

 is a success if you can keep the body from sunscald. 

 European w^hite birch in most of the west does better 

 than the American type. The Russian olive is one of 

 the hardiest trees for the semi-arid west and northwest. 

 For 15 years under the 100th meridian in Nebraska it 

 took the lead for size and vigor of all the native trees. 

 After that it gave attention to producing seed in im- 

 mense quantities, which dwarfed it and allowed other 

 trees to get ahead of it. Eor a time it headed the list 

 as the best forest tree for the plains. The JSTorway 

 maples seem hardy in our Northwestern states. There 

 are often freaks also among our ornamental shrubs. 



While in Manitoba I was surprised to see the spiraea 

 opulifolia, which I supposed the tenderest of the whole 

 family, doing well. We are a little fearful of things that 

 come from China and Japan, yet at Brandon there was 

 the villosa lilac, which I thought would prove the most 

 tender of all. The Japanese tree lilac is a great suc- 

 cess on the Minnesota experiment grounds and Prof. 



