65 EVERGREENS. 



Hunting the PIcea Pungens. 



One Fall an order came from an Eastern Arm for three 

 thousand pungens of selected bright colors. While fall planting 

 will do well enough in the Bast it is seldom practiced In the 

 West, although here in York, In selling a piece of ground, I 

 had to remove a lot of little two-year-old trees. I did it under 

 protest quite late in the fall. The ground was moist and I 

 covered them with cornstalks to secure a good ventilation and 

 they all lived. 



To secure those brightl Silver Spruce I had to get up at 

 four o'clock and start out at five, riding a burro and how slow 

 he was. It was only by feeding him up like a horse that I 

 could get any speed at all out of him. It took about half the 

 time to go and come. Strange, Is it not,- that in this age things 

 of real merit will come to the front? Three thousand trees 

 were a great. many. They went to a nursery near Boston where 

 choice things are appreciated. If I found an exceptionally bright 

 one I would say, "Here, my little fellow, you must not lose your 

 charms in this wilderness. You were born to shine." Some 

 of these trees sold for $12.00 and $15.00 each. Most of them 

 went at from $2.00 to $5.00 and today you will And some in 

 the Arnold Arboretum, some in the Hunnewell estate but most 

 of them in the private homes of prosperous people and those long 

 donkey rides had much to do in adding to the beauty of the 

 old Bay State. Thus it is in this age, the rich draw the choic- 

 est things from all parts of the world and if there is a tree 

 or shrub of real merit it must come to the front. 



Most plants and trees do best under good cultivation. Take 

 the Pungens. In its own habitat it drew the 'attention of the 

 traveler. Hundreds were taken into the Western states and 

 planted In the East. I have know instances where $100.00 was 

 refused for a single tree and some of them at their best 

 estate are almost priceless. The hunter delights in finding and 

 shooting game but I have found joy more intense In hunting 

 beautiful trees and sending them to their destination where as 

 courtly sentinels they stand on dress parade — the admiration 

 of the beholder. 



Hunting the Black Hills Spruce. 

 The hunter delights in the trophies of the chase. The skin 

 of the bear or horns of the elk are witnesses of his skill and 

 prowess. Before me as I write there are a couple of Black Hills 

 Spruce which, with thousands of others, are my trophies. These 

 are the genuine White Spruce — a, section of the family swinging 

 around into the Black Hills where the climate Is something 

 like that of the contiguous regions and being but a few hundred 

 miles away they can be successfully moved. Here the same 

 precautions are used as in the Rockies. For years the wardens 

 of that section have made themselves obnoxious by refusing 

 to allow any trees to be removed, even prosecuting thofee who 



