TREE TOPICS. 15 



Can the cotton wood be depended on ? No ; it is utterly worthless 

 as a rule. 



What do you know of the elm and oak ? Our soil does not aver- 

 age hardly enough moisture to support the elm properly; the oak is 

 very slow in starting and remains stunted for years. 



How about box-elder? It is a native of this locality, which is in 

 its favor ; it does not grow to be a stately forest tree as we would like, 

 yet it is not without merit. 



What varieties do you place next after black locust for timber 

 planting? The honey locust and hackberry ; these three varieties 

 form a trio which cannot be dug up or burned off by ordinary meth- 

 ods, and will stand more abuse and neglect than any other kinds. 



Is the ash a valuable timber tree? It is a native, and as such is the 

 very best we have ; it requires rich land to hasten its growth. Our 

 native here along the creek banks is the green ash instead of what is 

 known as white ash. 



When do you plant honey locust seed? In the fall. 



Will the chestnut succeed here? No; it is more worthless than 

 the oak. 



Does the catalpa make a good forest tree ? It has some objections. 



Would it make good firewood, the same as the ailanthus? No; it 

 makes about one-half as much growth. 



What do you know about the hard and soft maples? The hard or 

 sugar maple will not grow at all and should never be planted; the 

 soft maple succeeds fairly well in certain places. 



Is the Russian mulberry desirable? Very highly for wind-breaks; 

 it varies greatly in form and foliage and needs more time to define it 

 as a forest tree; one of the very best to stand drouth. 



How can we protect our fruit trees against the borers ? Prune low 

 so that the tops will shade their own trunks, leaving the lowest limb 

 on the south side of the tree; the high, bare trunk of a tree devoid 

 of side branches is very apt to sun-scald, which makes a favorite spot 

 for the borer to burrow in; the borer cannot work in the shade, but 

 must have the full heat of a noonday sun to get its appetite and 

 blood to circulating rightly, when they delight to infest trees whose 

 vitality has been debilitated by various causes ; nineteen-twentieths of 

 all the apple trees set out in the prairie states have succumbed to the 

 ravages of the flat-headed borer. 



