2 DAKOTA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



EVERGREENS FROM SEED. 



From one-fourth to one pound of seeds of the following varieties 

 were received in March: Wite pine, Scotch pine, Balsam fir, White 

 spruce, Colorado blue epruce, Austrian pine. The seeds were kept dry 

 mntil April 30th when they were put to soak in water and allowed to 

 itand ten days. They were planted in close drills, under a well built 

 shade, and the soil was kept moist by mulching. The only variety 

 that sprouted well was white pine, and of this nearly all grew. Only 

 a few seeds of the other sorts germinated. The White pine seedlings 

 suffered very little from "damping off" (rotting at the ground) and are 

 now, at the end of the season, a little more than one inch high and in 

 good condition. 



TIMBEE CLAIMS. 



By far the greater part of the trees planted in Dakota are set on 

 timber claims, with a view to securing title to the land from the national 

 government. Comparatively few of the plantations thus made have 

 proven as successful as is desirable. Without commenting on other, 

 and possibly more important causes of failure, a few suggestions on 

 the care and management of timber claims may be pertment. 



First of all, the man who thinks a timber claim title can be secured 

 with little labor is greatly mistaken. Successful growers have found 

 that tree culture is as laborious as the care of the most exacting crop 

 the farm can produce. From a large correspondence extending to 

 nearly every county east of the Missouri river, and confined largely to 

 questions of tree growing, and from my own observations and the tes- 

 timony of successful cultivators, I am led to believe that the principal 

 causes of failure in the management of timber claims are two: lack of 

 preparation of the soil, and too little cultivation. I believe that the 

 time during which the claimant may cultivate the land before planting 

 any trees should be extended two years, so that the soil could be more 

 thoroughly subdued and the prairie grasses and other plants killed, 

 thus removing a prolific cause of failure. But under the present law 

 the settler should adopt a method of culture that will be most effectual 

 in totting the roots of the native plants and permit deep plowing for 

 his trees. The following plan has been followed with success: The 

 ground for trees was broken early in June and millet was sown on the 

 breaking. This crop was removed early in September and the land was 

 immediately back-set, cutting but an inch deeper than the breaking. 

 Late in the fall the piece was again plowed, somewhat deeper than be- 

 fore. The millet, being a rank grower, choked down the native grasses 

 during the summer, and the shallow plowing in September turned the 



