TREES AND SHRUBS Ill 
name from the fluff of white hairs that cover its seeds. Many 
critics consider it and the box elder the most valuable trees 
of the Dakotas and adjacent territory. They grow rapidly 
and will survive more abuse and neglect than any other 
species. The cottonwood is a comparatively short-lived 
tree. We plant it for quick results, and we should at the 
same time set out more permanent trees that may eventually 
take its place. 
The Box Elder belongs to the maple family and is often 
called the ash-leaved maple. Its great value is referred to 
LEAVES OF TREES 
a, Cottonwood; 6, Box-elder; c, Green Ash. 
in connection with the preceding species. It is not so tall 
as the cottonwood, and is more irregular in form. 
The Green Ash does not keep pace with the box elder in 
its effort to get up in the world, but it is by no means a slow 
grower, and some even claim that after the first fifteen years, 
it will overtake the other tree. It withstands a dry climate 
remarkably well, it lives longer than the cottonwood and 
box elder, and it makes far more valuable wood. The white 
ash is also a great favorite, but it is not so hardy as the green 
ash. 
