The Cottonwjods. 287 



from the young plants that spring up along the sand-bars of rivers. 

 These natural nurseries are annually renewed by the seeds floated 

 down by the streams, and furnish, practically, an inexhaustible sup- 

 ply. In pulling out the young cottonwoods from the sand-bars in 

 autumn, by selecting a place but little above the level of the 

 water, they will come out very easily, and more than a thousand 

 may be pulled up in half an hour, with the fibers of the roots en- 

 tire. 



1164. When these are heeled in during the winter, and plowed 

 in early in the spring, they take a vigorous growth, and are scarcely 

 checked by the operation. In setting these young seedlings, they 

 will be sure to take an upward growth, at any angle they may hap- 

 pen to be placed. They generally begin with a new bud near the 

 base of the stock, and the part above soon perishes. 



1165. A principal reason for collecting the seedlings of cotton- 

 woods from river sand-bars m autumn is, that the bottom-lands are 

 usually flowed in spring at the time when the young trees are needed. 

 An easy method of securing an abundant supply of plants, is to 

 plow in the branches covered with the seed, or by gathering the fertile 

 catkins when ripe, rubbing them apart, and sowing on mellow, moist 

 soil, lightly covering the seeds with earth. 



1166. The Iowa Forestry Annual of 1879 recommends for Cot- 

 tonwood cuttings, pieces two or three feet long and from one to two 

 inches in diameter, sawn into uniform lengths, and the lower end 

 cut in a slope on one side with a very sharp axe. It advises that 

 poplars and willows should be set deeply and firmly in the fall, and 

 as soon as may be after they are cut. 



1167. As many as 3,000 cottonwoods may be planted in a day, 

 by two men, a boy, and a team. The ground may be cultivated as 

 for corn, for two or three years, or until the ground is well-shaded, 

 when they will need no further care beyond protection from cattle 

 and from fires. 



1168. In deep, rich soils the cottonwood may sometimes do better 

 at eight feet apart than when set at half this distance at first. This 

 subject not only in this species, but in all others, should be an ob- 

 ject of careful observation by the planter, and the conditions best 

 suited to the locality can never be fully determined excepting by 

 trial. 



1169. A variety known in the Missouri Valley as " yellow cot-. 



