GROWING TREES AND FRUITS IN DRY AREAS 371 



the cedar and yellow pine may be grown. The oak, cedar 

 and yellow pine are all of slow growth. Poplar trees 

 grow quickly but are not usually long lived. The catal- 

 pa and black locust grow quickly and the box-elder 

 fairly so, but these are not long lived. The green ash 

 grows somewhat slowly, but all in all it is one of the 

 most satisfactory trees that can be grown. The catalpa 

 and the black locust are not to be relied on in the Great 

 Plains area north of the parallel 43 north latitude. 



For fence posts, the white willow, the diamond wil- 

 low, the catalpa, the black locust and the green ash may 

 all be grown, also the cedar, but the latter is of very 

 slow growth. The white willow will furnish posts more 

 quickly and in greater number than any of the other 

 trees mentioned. They are not durable if cut and set at 

 once, but will last for several years if the bark is re- 

 moved and the posts are dried before planting them. If 

 treated with creosote it would seem safe to infer that 

 they would last still longer, and that the same would be 

 true of all posts. The diamond willow is very durable 

 as a post, but it does not grow so quickly nor so erectly 

 and straight as the white willow. Moreover, it has high- 

 er adaptation for damp ground, hence the aim should be 

 to grow it with the aid of applied water, or at least on 

 land with more than the usual amount of moisture. The 

 catalpa and the black locust are both durable, especially 

 the latter, and both grow well in the central and southern 

 areas of the dry belt. The green ash will grow straight 

 and tall if put in between other trees, as the poplar, the 

 branches of which crowd it, as it were. If the posts are 

 peeled and dried before planting, they will last for sev- 

 eral years. 



It will doubtless be found quite practicable to grow 

 ornamental hedges when the time comes for such plant- 

 ing. The Caragana and the Russian olive have much 

 adaptation for furnishing such hedges. There are also 



