April 24, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



163 



fine fruit. It is the first fruit-tree for the coming- orchard 

 of the high latitudes. I can write with much confidence 

 about the tree because it has been tried for several seasons 

 in the high latitudes of Europe above the limits of other 

 hardy fruit-trees. 



The tree is a form of the Mountain Ash, Pyrus aucu- 

 paria. The fruit, so far from being acid and rough, has 

 a deliciously sweet-sourish taste, and is twice as large as 

 that of the common type. 



Ten years ago, I accidentally saw an account of this new 

 fruit-tree in an Austrian horticultural paper, and in the be- 

 lief that it would prove a desirable acquisition for the 

 Scandinavian Peninsula, Finland and Russia, where the 

 same cold climate prevails as in the northern countries of 

 the New World, I drew the attention of the Director of the 

 Horticultural Department of the Royal Swedish Academy 

 of Agriculture, Mr. Erik Lindgren, to this valuable novelty 

 and proposed its cultivation. The tree was introduced in 

 Sweden in 1S85, and has proved to be absolutely hardy, 

 having ripened its fruit even as far north as Pitea in lati- 

 tude 66°, where no other fruit-trees can be cultivated. 



The home of this fruit-tree is the high mountain region 

 of northern Machren, in Austria. The Mountain Ash is a 

 characteristic tree of the mountains of Machren and also of 

 Schleisen, and appears there in such masses that forests are 

 formed of these trees. About ninety years ago, some boys 

 who were watching cattle near the small village of Peter- 

 wald discovered that a certain Mountain Ash in the forest 

 had unusually large and sweet fruit. A farmer, Christof 

 Harmuth, who had some knowledge of horticulture, made 

 an experiment and grafted this form upon a young wilding 

 near his farm. When the grafted tree had grown up and 

 produced fruit, he found, to his satisfaction, that it was even 

 larger and better than that of the mother tree. New grafts 

 from this improved form gave a still finer quality of fruit. 

 The new fruit-tree soon became popular in the neighbor- 

 hood of Peterwald, and trees were planted on nearly every 

 farm. The climate of Peterwald is very cold. The alti- 

 tude above the sea is nearly 2,300 feet. Oats and barley 

 can be cultivated only in the valleys, but often before the 

 harvest-time in September the oats are spoiled by the snow. 

 At the altitude of 1,750 feet the common fruit-trees fail to 

 give any regular crops, and at 2,000 feet only a kind of 

 Cherry-tree, Prunus Avium, ripens its fruit. Strangely 

 enough, "die siisse Eberesche," or the Sweet Mountain 

 Ash, as the tree is called in Peterwald, has been confined 

 to this small place until quite recently. The real impor- 

 tance of the new fruit was perceived by Mr. Franz Kroetzl 

 in 1885, who described the tree and reported on it, with 

 the result that the Minister of Agriculture paid special sums 

 for two years for the propagation and spreading of the tree 

 among the inhabitants of the high mountain regions of 

 Austria. 



In Sweden the tree has been largely distributed by Mr. 

 Lindgren, who, in a report to the Swedish Academy of 

 Agriculture, writes: "During 1892 several young trees of 

 the Mountain Ash have produced plenty of fruit, and I have 

 consequently had better opportunities than during previous 

 years to try it. I consider this fruit-tree as very valuable, 

 especially for the northern provinces, and it should be 

 grown in every district. The fruit, when slightly touched 

 by frost, has a delicious taste. Even persons that are rather 

 particular in matters of taste find this fruit very good. The 

 tree has also a more elegant appearance than the common 

 form, and the wood ripens earlier in the autumn." 



The Mountain Ash belongs as an indigenous tree to the 

 very coldest regions of the world, and this variety is un- 

 doubtedly as hardy as the type. In Europe the Mountain 

 Ash appears at the North Cape, on the coast of the Arctic 

 Ocean, although there only as a shrub ; it is also to be seen 

 in Greenland and in America. 



In the United States this fruit-tree will prove a valuable 

 acquisition to many large mining towns in the high alti- 

 tudes of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Nevada, etc. 

 In the small gardens here, where only vegetables and 



flowers are now grown, whole orchards may be planted. 

 No improvement of the soil is needed for this fruit-tree, that 

 deserves attention for use even as an ornamental park-tree. 

 The light greenish tint of the leaves is always beautiful, 

 and the white flowers in the spring, as well as the large 

 clusters of brilliant red fruit in the fall, are very attractive. 

 The fruit will serve for the same purpose as the expensive 

 cranberries bought from the east. It can also be used as 

 a preserve, in pies, etc. Served as a dessert fruit it is 

 showy and attractive in glass, and it compares favorably 

 with many other small fruits. 



Through continued culture and careful selection, still 

 finer varieties will undoubtedly be obtained from the 

 present form, as has been the case with all other fruits. 



The fruits of the Sweet Mountain Ash are almost pear- 

 shaped ; the leaves are larger than those of the common 

 Swedish form, the segments longer and narrower. 



Botanic Garden, Stockholm, Sweden. C. I . HartmaU. 



Bull Pine in the West. 



DURING the period of most rapid settlement of the 

 states west of the Mississippi River, the only Pines 

 offered in quantity by the nurserymen were the Scotch, 

 Austrian and White Pines. Of these the two former have 

 been found much better adapted to the greater part of Kan- 

 sas, Nebraska and the Dakotas than the latter, but it is 

 believed that the Rocky Mountain form of the Bull Pine, 

 Pinus ponderosa, Douglas, will prove the most useful spe- 

 cies of the genus for planting on the plains, because of its 

 ability to withstand extreme dro.ught. It is a distinctly 

 western species, ranging from the Pacific coast, where it 

 attains its greatest development in Washington and Ore- 

 gon, to the valley of the Niobrara River, in Nebraska, and 

 South Dakota. For cultivation in the Plains, seeds should 

 be secured from trees on the eastern slopes of the Rocky 

 Mountains, the western form of this, as of many other coni- 

 fers, not being hardy on this side of the continental divide. 



I was especially interested in this species as it grows 

 along the Niobrara River (longitude about 99° 45'), and at 

 Fort Robinson, in north-western Nebraska. Ten miles 

 north of the town of Ainsworth, the Bull Pine is found on 

 the slopes and crests of gulches which break from the high 

 level of the prairie to the Ni(jbrara valley. The soil is an 

 extremely fine, light-colored clay sand, with numerous 

 pockets of almost pure, rather coarse, sand. No rain had 

 fallen for months, but in all the "pockets" facing north the 

 soil is moist within two inches of the surface, even ;iear the 

 crest. The most vigorous trees are found in these pockets, 

 but isolated specimens stand in the driest, most exposed 

 southern slopes. The bottoms of the gulches are filled 

 with deciduous trees, mostly Box Elder and Green Ash. The 

 largest Pines seen were not more than eighteen inches 

 in diameter breast-high, and the tallest tree found meas- 

 ured fifty-five feet high. The gulches are fenced for pasture, 

 and no trees younger than five years were found. A very 

 few Pines were growing on the level prairie, but these were 

 near the crest of the gulch. This shows, however, that if 

 protection from fire and stock could be had, the Bull Pine 

 would seed the ground. 



At Fort Robinson this Pine occupies the slopes and crests 

 of the ridges, and even the high buttes, with precipitous 

 sides, support a sturdy growth of the Pine on their tops. 

 A careful examination of the timber reservation at Fort 

 Robinson shows the urgent need of protection against 

 stock and fire. The^settlers in the vicinity are permitted 

 to use the reservation as grazing-land. The higher slopes, 

 rising 200 to 400 feet above the valley, are covered with 

 widely spaced Bull Pines in sufficient numbers to insure 

 complete seeding and a close stand if protection could be 

 secured. The soil is a very dry sandy clay, with coarse 

 gravel, and the herbage on the hills is scanty. The growth 

 in this dry region is necessarily slow, and it is to be hoped 

 the reservation, which was established to supply the ad- 

 joining fort with fuel, can be thoroughly protected, as it 



