150 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tree, where everything is considered, but I would advise planting 

 box-elder and catalpa along with it. 



President — The hackberry is a good tree, and should be planted 

 on every farm. 



Carpenter — A year or so ago we bought some Scotch elm from 

 a European nursery, and after we planted them, they proved to be 

 nothing but our common hackberry. 



Reed — Is not the hackberry a western tree ? 



Carpenter — No other tree covers as large an area as it does ; we 

 find it in the eastern states, and in every state from there to the Rocky 

 mountains. 



Camp — The hickory is a splendid tree, and I find it generally 

 neglected. 



Carpenter — I think the pecan is our best hickory, and it is a 

 very profitable tree to plant ; it is very hardy in this state, and pro- 

 duces excellent nuts. 



FOREST TREES FOR THE PLAINS. 



BY JAMES A. GAGE. 



I have made a few notes but have not prepared a regular paper. 



The main thing is to tell what we have learned. We plant trees 

 for posts, wind-breaks, and fuel, and the question is to find the best 

 trees for each use. We have two trees that excel for fence posts, ca- 

 talpa and black locust. These are better than any other varieties, 

 but they have their faults. Many people are afraid to plant black 

 locust on account of borers, but there does not seem to be the same 

 difficulty here in this respect as in Illinois and states further east. 



Catalpa is uncertain in the west and northwest parts of Nebraska, 

 but it is a trying climate there on any tree; western Nebraska has an 

 elevation of 5,000 feet above the sea and this makes a wonderful dif- 

 ference on tree-growing. Catalpa is grown successfully over a good 

 portion of the state, but I would not advise planting whole groves of 

 it alone; a mixture of several varieties is better. 



Ash is the tree for fuel ; although not a fast grower it is sure and 

 persistent, and if cut in its dormant state makes good fence posts. 



