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1863 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



It 



The cost is notbing, no matter what the'price 

 is. These prairies can never attain their full 

 value till they are protected by belts of trees. 

 Let us move cautiously and recommend it for its 

 true purposes only, and so far as we know 

 them. 



Mr. Stimpson— One use to which this has been 

 put with us, and for which no other answers, is 

 the construction of racks, for feeding, and 

 hurdle fences. We drive down the posts and in- 

 terlace them with the twigs. I can build twenty 

 rods of garden fence, four or five feet high, in a 

 day, that a rabbit cannot git through, and orna- 

 mental enough for a lawn. We cut the wood in 

 the winter and do the work in the spring. The 

 poplar or the maple will not do for it ; nothing 

 answers the purpose but that long, thrifty, tough, 

 bending willow. 



Mr. Eelsey — I don't know about this planting 

 timber to dry up a slough. 



Mr. Minier — Nor I ; it makes them wet. 



Mr. Overman — Land speculators will change 

 their character. Instead of seeking the edge of 

 the prairie he will seek the middle. He will 

 break his 160 acres — break it well. He will put 

 five furrows around to protect the cuter rows. 

 He will put in his willow cuttings about four 

 feet apart, and then go about his business. Sev- 

 en years after he will return to gaze upon a for- 

 est. Nothing will have disturbed it but gophers. 

 The fire won't penetrate it. Allowing for the 

 gopherage, and calling each tree worth ten cents, 

 you can make the calculation for yourself. 



Mr. Colman of Mo. — I am converted. Mr. 

 Overman, however, is mistaken in regard to the 

 drying up of sloughs by timber. It is the oppo. 

 site. By shading the ground you prevent the 

 evaporation caused by the rays of the sun. 



Mr. Bliss— The farmers tell me that wheat 

 grows heavier near the timber than in the mid- 

 dle of the field. They think it is because the 

 ground there is dryer. In sloughs the roots 

 would interlace and cleg the water. I think they 

 will absorb the water in some way — I can't say 

 how. As regards the rapidity of growth, I have 

 one species of the yellow willow which will out- 

 grow the white willow. The yellow will not 

 split so easily as the white. I think the white 

 breaks easily, and that the yellow willow I speak 

 of is tougher. While the ice might strip the 

 white willow down to a bare pole, it will not af- 

 fect the yellow. 



Mr. Dunlap. — As to rapidity of growth, I have 

 carefully compared the white, golden and weep- 



ing willows, and the others outgrew the white 

 willow ; but this when grown is the most valua- 

 ble. It has one valuable characteristic, uniform- 

 ity of size. The weeping willow will grow more 

 rapidly for two or three years, but it has not the 

 upward tendency possessed by this. This is the 

 more natural forest tree, and it is very hardy. 

 Hard winds will break off limbs, but they can be 

 spared. I regard the wood as of a character 

 similar to white wood, and, like it, not fit for ex- 

 posure to weather. It will answer, however, for 

 many building purposes, especially in that new 

 order of building which makes use of lighter 

 timbei", well spiked together, instead of the old 

 style of heavy timber. It will answer for all 

 frame works, and it may become so cheap, and, 

 in other woods, so dear, that it will be most eco- 

 nomical for outside purposes, even if obliged to 

 replenish often. 



Mr. Huggins. — My experience and observation 

 differ fron; others as to the rapidity of its growth 

 compared with the golden willow. I have them 

 growing side by side, two years from cuttings, 

 and the white is the more rapid. I have grown 

 this for five years, and am convinced of its -value 

 for many purposes. I have it two years from 

 cuttings, eighteen feet long and thirteen inches 

 in circumference at the butt. This one shown 

 you is the same age. Last year it was cut down 

 and forty sprouts came up, averaging ten and 

 twelve feet iu length. 



Mr- Fell. — I am glad to see that prejudice is 

 melting away. Mr. Minier thinks it is not good 

 for shingles, but gives no practical reason. If, as 

 a fence rail it will last thirty years in the open air, 

 why will it not last as shingles? The rail does 

 not rot, and the only effect seems to be that it 

 grows a little lighter. 



Mr. Dunlap — Basswood lasts ten years as a 

 rail, not two as a shingle. 



Mr. Minier — I put out cuttings of the white, 

 yellow and weeping willow, and the last out- 

 grew both the others. 



Mr. Huggins — With me the white willow went 

 ahead at the end of two years. 



Dr. Warder — We Lave with us other willows 

 superior as an ozier or basket willows. In Penn- 

 sylvania, they used to make of this, shovels, 

 scoops and wooden ware. 



So far evidence has been adduced in its favor, 

 but no objections have been urged, or difficulties. 

 Let me name one. If when we came out on the 

 prairies with the noble locust, the borer still kept 

 ahead of us, we may find •. similar difficulty with 

 this. There are two insects that feed on this 



