SOILS, ETC. 135 



as successfully as a crop of corn upon all varieties of our 

 soil, and this question being settled in the minds of those 

 interested in the subject, it becomes necessary to consider the 

 time within which the result may be practically accomplished ; 

 because to meet the wants of the rapidly increasing popula- 

 tion, it is necessary that some almost immediate supply be 

 provided in the case of the broad prairie districts. Some 

 such districts are upon, or adjacent to the coal-fields. Some 

 are adjacent to considerable bodies of woodland, and others 

 have important deposits of peat; from all of which sources 

 immediate supplies of fuel may be obtained. But besides 

 these, there are other broad and fertile tracts that have none 

 of the advantages just named, and those who occupy them 

 must rely for their supplies of fuel upon distant sources or 

 upon its production from the soil. Railroads are being 

 rapidly constructed which will carry coal from our coal-field 

 to a large part of these prairie regions, but a large proportion 

 of the inhabitants of Iowa must depend alone for their ordi- 

 nary fuel upon the growth of trees. 



By first planting those trees which have the most rapid 

 growth, to be followed immediately by those of slower 

 growth and greater density of wood, one not acquainted 

 with the subject would be surprised to see how quickly a 

 sufficient supply of fuel may be obtained, and how a future 

 supply of the best kinds of wood can be established. The 

 principal kinds of trees indigenous to the State, which are or 

 may be used as fuel, are the following given in the order of 

 their estimated relative abundance by natural growth at 

 present in the State at large : Oaks — several species — cotton- 

 wood, elm, white maple, linden, hickory, sugar maple, black 

 walnut. 



The oaks form the greater part of the firewood now used in 

 the State. In some parts cottonwood is scarcely used at all for 

 fuel, but in others, better wood being scarce, it constitutes the 

 greater part of the fuel used by the inhabitants. Other trees, 

 such as hackberry, ash, honey -locust, slippery-elm, butternut, 

 etc., are occasionally used as fuel, but they are comparatively 



