PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 411 
slowly, and with little heat, and here the young growth of timber encroached on 
the prairies in proportion as the moisture extinguished the burning grass. 
Almost every plant has been strewn by nature in such location as it is found, 
but apparently by accidental circumstances. If a squirrel did not happen to carry 
the nuts and drop them in good soil there might not be hickory, walnut, oak or 
beeches in that particular place; or if the birds did not have a good limb to perch 
upon while eating the fruit, there might not be fruit-bearing trees or shrubs there. 
But this is no reason that nut and fruit trees should not be planted where they 
are wanted, for man has succeeded everywhere in growing them when he pro- 
vides the necessary conditions. 
China, Japan, India, Australia, Europe, as well as America, have vegetation 
peculiar to each location, and found in nature nowhere else, yet the botanist, the 
nurseryman, the fruit grower, have brought many thousands of our finest trees and 
plants from their distant lands and acclimated them in America, where the soil and 
climate are very different from that of their native habitat. 
And so if proper efforts are made by the general government, the States, the 
railwavs and land owners, the Western prairies and the ‘desert plains” may be 
made to produce abundant vegetation. 
Some of the great nurseries of the West have large orchards in full bearing 
on the arid lands of Colorado and other States without artificial irrigation. 
Simply a thorough cultivation by stirring the surface soil during the summer 
months. Where the apple, pear and peach grow, most forest trees will thrive, 
but neither will succeed if neglected. 
How shall the proper condition be secured ? 
The land, of course, should be fenced against stock. If it has a dense sod of 
grass, that must ke subdued by plowing and allowing the sod to decay. If in the 
arid lands, the deep-rooted sage should be destroyed to admit of cultivation with 
the plow. The land should be prepared as for a farm crop. There is always 
moisture present in the atmosphere, and to some extent in the apparently dry 
desert sands, and if the surface is frequently stirred, it will absorb moisture from 
the air and deeper soil, so that plants may obtain nourishment. 
If water can be brought to the locality and irrigation practiced, a moderate 
supply will be beneficial, but will not take the place of cultivation entirely. 
In some locations there is insufficient vegetable mould for many plants, and 
the burning sands, without shade, will soon destroy tender vegetation, while in 
winter the strong winds and driving storms may greatly injure the young trees. 
In such localities it may be necessary to have “nurses,” or hardy shrub growth that 
will in time form a soil by the action of the network of rootlets penetrating the 
surface soil, and the mulching and fertilizing secured by the falling leaves, while 
these “nurses” shade the small and valuable trees, break the force of the storms 
and temper it to them. 
There are many plants of easy growth having little valuation perhaps in 
themselves, but important, as they provide those conditions required by succeeding 
trees. 
Sumach, Ris, a common, low-growing shrub, which spreads rapidly from 
the roots that run near the surface, forming a mass of rootlets and growing in 
nearly all soils where it obtains a foothold. In Europe this Rhus is an important 
