April ii, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



83 



a basin about three feet in diameter and six inclies deep ; lie 

 was flooding this with cold water in the heat of the day, and 

 threw the water with such force from the hose that the crown 

 of the roots was laid bare. I told him I thought he ought not 

 to disturb the surface so near the trunk of the tree, as the feed- 

 ing roots lay at some distance. He replied that the Mexicans 

 had irrigated for a hundred years, and he guessed they knew 

 more about it than a new-comer. I pocketed the affront, and 

 asked him how long he had lived in the State ; he said, over 

 two years. Then I wondered he had not called me a " tender- 

 foot." 



No doubt a great deal has been learned from the Mexicans, 

 yet I think our people can soon make improvements on wliat 

 they learn from them. The more I observe and study this 

 desert question, the more I become convinced that progress will 

 be made in this direction much more rapidly than the most 

 sanguine can imagine. Scientific men may attempt to prove 

 . to you that according to natural laws the thing is impossible. 

 Less than fifty years ago they said, and wrote, that valu- 

 able frees could not be grown on the Illinois prairies, until many 

 generations of Willows and Poplars were grown to fit the land 

 for the more valuable kinds ; and at that time it was the general 

 belief of prairie farmers, that trees and the "tame grasses" 

 would never succeed on prairie lands. Now we know, and 

 have long known, that our prairies grow every kind of tree 

 and grass that will bear the severity of our climate. 



You will make much more rapid advances than we made in 

 the Mississippi valley. Our settlers came in covered wagons, 

 yours come on exjiress-trains ; you have improved latior- 

 saving machinery, which was not then in-\'ented ; and last, but 

 not least, you have a stable currency, and are not left to the 

 mercy of wild-cat fianks. 



Reservoirs will be built to husband the waters that are now 

 running down the rivers into the ocean, artesian wells will be 

 used in many places, thousands of acres of forests will be 

 planted that will not grow as rapidly as if irrigated, but after 

 they are planted and cultivated, the earth will absorb a great 

 quantity of water that formerly ran off. The trees will 

 shade the ground, which will gain in both moisture andfertilitv, 

 as they will draw nutriment from an immense depth whiie 

 our forests draw their nutriment from nearer the surface. 

 The eastern farmer and horticulturist has at best only seven 

 or eight months in the year, and from this must provide 

 enough to support his family, and secure fuel and feed for his 

 stock; aside from this his land is decreasing in fertility, or kept 

 fertile at great expense and labor, wliile yours will, for a long 

 time, be increasing in fertility, if kept well cultivated and 

 worked deep. 



It will require more experience than any of us have had, to 

 decide which will be tlie most suitable trees for forest planting. 

 Many of the most profitable for Eastern planting would not 

 succeed well here. The soft foliage of the White Pine and 

 Larch would unfit them for this climate, and the tendencv to 

 run their roots near the surface of the ground would be to their 

 disadvantage. For desert planting, trees must be used that 

 can be grown cheaply from seeds, so as to come within the 

 means of the new settlers. This would seem to be a necessity. I 

 would place the Eucalyptus globulus at the head, as I have 

 seen it growing in what would seem almost impossible 

 places. It would make fuel cheaper than any other tr^e that 

 could be grown on like lands. 



The common locust, Robinia Pscudacacia, I have seen grow- 

 ing well in western Kansas and Nebraska, New Mexico, Col- 

 orado, Utah, Nevada, and at several places in this State, in every 

 case making a good gz'owth without irrigation ; and in all these 

 cases I have failed to find traces of the borer, so fatal to this 

 tree in the Eastern States. Would space admit I might name 

 other trees I should deem promising. These two, how- 

 ever, would furnish fuel and durable posts for the new settler, 

 are grown very cheaply from the seed, and transplant well. 

 For general forest planting there are two valuable trees that 

 stand out in bold relief. In this case there can be no mistake, 

 for nature has succeeded in growing them almost everywhere 

 between the eastern bases of the Rocky Mountains and the 

 Pacific coast, and man has used them more generally than any 

 othertreesoverthe whole western half of the continent. These 

 are the Yellow Pine, Pinus ponderosn, and tlie Douglas Spruce, 

 Pseudotsuga Douglasii. The former ranges all di rough the 

 mountains from British Columbia down uUo Mexico, through 

 Arizona and New Mexico to western Texas, growing on drv 

 mountain-sides through Colorado and Montana. It forms 

 over ninety percent, of all the timber in the Black Hills of 

 Dakota, reaches further out on the plains than any other tree 

 in Colorado, and is the only Pacific coast tree that runs 

 east into Nebraska. 



Next to the Douglas Spruce it is the most generally dis- 

 tributed and valuable tree of the Pacific forests. The Douglas 

 Spruce ranges through British Columbia, Oregon, Washington 

 Territory, all through the Sierra Nevada, the San Bernardino 

 Mountains, Arizona, New Mexico and on high dry ridges in 

 Colorado, through the Uinta and Wasatch Mountains and in 

 Wyoming and Montana. It is called Yellow or Red Fir by 

 lumbermen, is the most generally distributed, and said to be 

 the most valuable timljcr tree on tlie Pacific coast. 



This tree grows on high dry ridges in Colorado, Arizona and 

 Montana, which proves it to lie, like the Pine, a suitable tree 

 for planting on dry lands. Like the Pine, it is a rapid grower 

 and reaches the largest size. These two trees furnish nearlv 

 all the merchantable lumber, except redwood, from the coast 

 to the e.'istern base of the Rocky Mountains. 



The Sequoia scnipcrvirens, Redwood, is a valuable tree, but 

 only adapted to certain localities. It has a very circumscribed 

 range, only reaching from about the northern line of the State 

 to the southern boundary of Monterey County, and in a nar- 

 row belt along the coast. But experiments may prove that this 

 valuable tree will succeed far from its present locality. I 

 noticed a fine specimen in Pasadena, eight years planted and 

 over twenty feet high. Pinus insignis, although its timlier is of 

 no great value, may be named as having a very limited range — 

 only found in a sandy spot at a single point on the coast ; yet 

 we see it growing well wherever planted. We may hope from 

 this fact that other trees of limited range and more value may 

 have their limits extended under cultivation. 



Correspondence. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — A few years since I met with, in its wild state, a white- 

 Howering specimen (is it a variety ?) of Phlox divaricata, 

 which was transferred to mv wild garden, where it now flour- 

 ishes. I have been surprised at the remarkable beauty of the 

 plant. As is well known, this species, at least in its wild state, 

 is of a loosely spreading habit, and rather chary of its stems 

 and leaves, whereas the plant referred to forms a luxuriant and 

 well-rounded head, being generous in stems, leaves and 

 branches. The foliage, too, it may be remarked, is of a dis- 

 tinctly lighter shade of green, readily distinguishing it from the 

 usual form. From the middle or latter part of April until after 

 the middle of May it is covered with a snow-white bloom, 

 making it altogether a plant of striking appearance. As neither 

 Gray nor Wood, in their popular Botanies, make mention of 

 a white variety, and having seen no reference anvwhere 

 to white-flowering specimens, I am desirous of knowing 

 v.-hether they are of rare occurrence ; and if not, why has so 

 little attention been given by cultivators to so ornamental a 

 plant ? 



FairvieM-, W. Va., Marcli>oth, 1888. W. E. Hill. 



[The white form of this flower is not unknown in culti- 

 vation. It is contained in Woolson's Catalogue this year. 

 Mr, Woolson writes that it has proved unsatisfactory with 

 him on account of its stragglinggrowth. Mr. F.D.Hatfield, 

 of Wellesley, Massachusetts, considers it a good plant for 

 rock- work or the front of a border. Of course single plants 

 make little show, and it should be grown in masses. From 

 our correspondent's description it is not impossible that 

 he has chanced upon a variety of this Phlo.x which has 

 special merits. — Ed.] 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — I was glad to see the recent article in your paper about 

 Sweet Peas. There are no flowers I love better and none 

 which have given me more troulile ; and I venture to ask, 

 therefore, whether you will not now kindly give a little advice 

 with regard to the best methods of planting and treating them 

 in this part of the world. 



Lecsburg, Va. Dllcttanlc. 



[Any fairly good garden soil will give an abundant yield 

 of these flowers if the seed is only planted early enough. 

 This means just as soon as the ground can be worked iii 

 spring, a period which comes some weeks earlier in Vir- 

 ginia than in New York. No injury will come from frosts 

 or e\eii ice. Then plant deeply and plant thinly. Have the 

 soil worked to the depth of eighteen inches or two I'eot. ami 

 drop the Peas in a furrow five or si.x inches deep. Cover 

 at first with about three inches of soil, and, as the plants 

 grow, draw earth up to them until the bed is level. The 

 roots of Peas like a cool place to grow in. Then, if 



