122 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 370. 



fied the wisdom of their founders, and there are many vil- 

 lages in the country which owe to them a good water-sup- 

 ply and sewage system, a general air of thrift and neatness, 

 with improved roads and sidewalks, shade-trees, sprinkled 

 streets, tree-embowered public squares and school-grounds. 

 In many of these villages the railroad station and its 

 well-planted surroundings prove a most favorable intro- 

 duction to the stranger, who will see nothing to offend 

 the eye in the way of rubbish heaps, tumble-down fences 

 or obnoxious advertisements. 



The movement is not dead or dying, and it is worth the 

 attention of any one who lives in a small town, and there- 

 fore all such persons will do well to read Mr. B. G. North- 

 rop's article in the March number of TJie Forum, entitled 

 "The Work of Village-Improvement Societies." Here they 

 will find illustrative instances of what can be done, and of 

 what has been done by the movement inaugurated forty 

 years ago with the incorporation of the Laurel Hill Associ- 

 ation of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The account of what 

 has been achieved by this association is most instructive, 

 and no one will doubt the statement that every acre of 

 land and every homestead in Stockbridge has appreciated 

 in value by reason of this society. There are rapid sketches 

 of many other societies in the western as well as in the 

 eastern states where the great benefit of concerted effort is 

 shown, not merely in the way of accomplishing certain 

 ends which are impracticable by individual effort, but 

 also of exciting public sentiment so that it reacts upon 

 individuals and prompts them, not only to improve their 

 own property, but to bestow valuable gifts upon their fel- 

 low-townsmen. 



The effectiveness of tliese societies in securing public 

 libraries and the value of similar associations in cities like 

 Springfield, Massachusetts, and New Haven are also record- 

 ed, but, perhaps, the most interesting fact which Mr. Northrop 

 brings out is the dominating part which women may play in 

 these local, and yet public, enterprises. The Laurel Hill 

 Association was originated by a woman, and the members 

 of the Honesdale Improvement Association, which is called 

 the model society of Pennsylvania, are all women, although 

 men are admitted to honorary membership, and a Young 

 People's Auxiliary Association, including school-children, 

 has been enlisted to protect flower-beds and shrubbery and 

 gather waste paper scraps into neatly painted and labeled 

 boxes. That women do not concern themselves exclu- 

 sively with the ornamental branches of village improve- 

 ment is shown by the fact that in Honesdale the first things 

 advocated were improved sewerage and sanitation ; and a 

 similar spirit has marked the work of the Woman's Town 

 Improvement Association of Montclair, New Jersey. A 

 recent report of the Honesdale Association, as quoted by 

 Mr. Northrop, says: " We did not overestimate the public 

 spirit of our townspeople and their hearty cooperation in 

 our endeavors. This is notably the attitude of our Town 

 Council in every appeal we have made to them." And it 

 is added that the citizens and the local papers, irrespective 

 of political parties, heartily support this active body, com- 

 posed of influential women of tact and zeal, who, at the 

 birth of the association, were two hundred and fifty in 

 number. 



These assertions have a peculiar interest as indicating 

 why, in this, as in many other branches of public service, 

 women may do better work than men. Being less ab- 

 sorbed by business cares, and personally free from public 

 responsibilities of a general sort, they have more time and 

 more zeal to bestow upon local public matters than men, 

 while, as a rule, their tact is finer. But the main point is 

 that, being " out of politics," they are more readily credited 

 than men with unselfishness and a pure concern for the 

 public welfare. The history of the Woman's Club of 

 Chicago and of other similar bodies in other large cities 

 has proved this fact, and it demonstrates that men and 

 newspapers of all shades of opinion will support a move- 

 ment inaugurated by women, when, had it been inau- 

 gurated by men of different political opinions, they would 



have felt moved to oppose it. What is true in large cities 

 is as true of small towns ; and we believe that if the women 

 of America will generally devote themselves to such useful 

 and fruitful public work as has been accomplished by their 

 sisters in Honesdale and Montclair, they will find that they 

 are not without influence, even though they cannot vote. 



Trees of Minor Importance for Western Planting. 



THE principal deciduous trees that succeed in the west 

 are Cottonwood, Box Elder, Russian Mulberry, Sil- 

 ver Maple, Catalpa, Black Locust, Honey Locust, White 

 Elm, Green Ash, Black Walnut, Wild Cherry and Burr Oak. 

 Besides these. White and Red Oak and Chestnut grow well 

 in certain localities, principally toward the eastern part of 

 the region south of the Dakotas. In addition to these, 

 several other well-known species can be successfully grown 

 in the Plain region. The Hackberry, or Nettle-tree, has a 

 natural distribution almost as wide as that of the Box Elder, 

 being found throughout Nebraska and South Dakota, and 

 along the streams of northern Kansas. It grows rapidly 

 under cultivation, and succeeds very well on high land. It 

 endures shade well, at least while young, and can be 

 used for mixing with Box Elder and other shade-enduring 

 species. 



Ailanthus was recommended almost without qualification 

 in the early days of Kansas tree-planting, but the past few 

 dry seasons have proved that it is worthless on high land, 

 and of little value in any-locality. Grown as coppice — that 

 is, to be cut to the ground every few years — it maizes a great 

 deal of fuel, but in close plantation it can hardly be grown 

 as a timber-tree. The species is too tender for northern 

 Nebraska and the Dakotas. 



A few Kentucky Coffee-trees at Hutchinson, Kansas, are 

 doing well, and as this species is native throughout eastern 

 Kansas, there should be no diificulty in its cultivation, 

 except in high localities. Its large decompound leaves 

 make it an interesting tree for lawn planting. 



Very fine specimens of Sycamore were also seen at 

 Hutchinson, but this tree is not successful on high ground 

 and cannot stand northern winters. Strong two-year-old 

 trees were killed to the ground at Brookings, South Dakota, 

 after making a good summer growth. 



The Russian Poplars and Willows have been quite 

 extensively planted in South Dakota, but it is doubtful if 

 they are acquisitions of special value. Mr. James Smith 

 planted them extensively at Cresbard, Faulk County, South 

 Dakota, in 1883 and 1884, and for several years they were 

 very promising, but the attacks of the Cottonwood-leaf 

 beetle, Lina scripta, followed by the excessive drought of 

 the past few years, have completely destroyed his planta- 

 tion. Populus Certinensis was largel)'- planted at Brook- 

 ings, where it failed when grown side by side with Cotton- 

 wood, a good proportion of which survived. Salix fragilis, 

 a Russian Willow, has produced a great mass of branches, 

 and cannot be grown in tree form, though introduced as a 

 forest-tree. 



The Laurel-leaved Willow, where protected from the bee- 

 tle, is a beautiful small-sized tree that can be grown 

 throughout the west. 



The Basswood, or Linn, is native along all the streams 

 in the eastern part of the plains, and would, doubtless, be 

 successful under cultivation in places not too dry. There 

 are few farm uses to which the wood can be put, however, 

 so that its principal, value in western planting would be to 

 add variety to lawn or grove. Few of our native trees 

 have such large clean leaves, and the sweet fragrance of 

 its flowers, combined witlr its luxuriant foliage and clean 

 growth, should make it an acceptable lawn-tree. The 

 Hawthorns grow well in eastern- Nebraska and Kansas, 

 but these can hardly have a place in artificial planting, as 

 ever)'- purpose they could fill would be much better served 

 by the Plums. 



The Plum is one of the native trees of the west, and 

 every farmer should plant plum-pits in the margin of his 



