i68 



lawn or for hedges and windbreaks. But after an evergreen 

 has attained a height of three feet the growth is very much 

 more rapid and with proper care there will be no complaint 

 as to slow growth at least in the case of pines. Some will 

 say that two or three thousand young seedlings are too many 

 to start with. It must be remembered that this makes 

 allowance for accidents and early mortality. Furthermore, 

 evergreens should be planted in quantity by the hundred, 

 rather than by the half dozen. 



Winter-Killing. 



Ordinary winters do not give us accurate ideas as to the 

 relative hardiness of evergreens. Species of far southern 

 origin of course are killed even by mild winters, but with 

 those of more northern origin we must wait for the occasional 

 test winters before passing final judgment. The term "hard- 

 iness" as ordinarily used means ability to resist cold; but in 

 reality it includes many factors, such as resistance to drouth, 

 open exposure, drying winds and intense sunlight, and 

 adaptability to prairie soils; in fact, to say that a plant is 

 hardy in any locality means the ability to succeed under the 

 ordinary environment as to climate, soil and method of cul- 

 tivation, of that region. 



A. Norby, of Madison, S. D., writes as follows on the win- 

 ter-killing of young evergreens : 



"Test winters, as before mentioned, the winter of 1894-5 

 was specially trying on evergreens. Then 75 per cent 

 of two-foot red pines went out, and about 25 per cent of the 

 young ponderosa (Black Hills) pine. Six to i8-inch white 

 spruce also killed more or less, while the blue spruce came 

 out fine as usual. 



"The exceptionally cold winter of 1898-9, damaged the 

 red, Austrian and Scotch pines in color, and balsam firs and 

 white spruce also discolored and cedars killed back some. 

 Black Hills and blue spruce escaped any visible injury. 



"And now the last winter (1905-6) proved the most dis- 



