
CAPABILITIES WITH REFERENCE TO SETTLEMENT. 319 
as this, on the climate of the western part of the continent generally, 
cannot but be very great; and if in the course of time, any considerable 
fraction of it can be planted with trees, or brought under the plough, the 
resulting amelioration in climate will be remarkable. 
746. Mr. Elliott in his report, makes the following very suggestive 
remarks :—“ Were it possible to break up the surface to a depth of two 
feet, from the ninety-seventh meridian to the mountains, and from the 
thirty-fifth tc the forty-fifth parallel, we should have in a single season a 
growth of taller herbage over the entire area, less reflection of the sun’s 
heat, more humidity in the atmosphere, more constancy in springs, pools, 
and streams, more frequent showers, fewer violent storms, and _ less 
caprice and fury in the winds. A single year would witness a changed 
vegetation and a newclimate. In three years (fires kept out) there would 
be young trees in numerous places, and in twenty years there would be 
fair young forests. — The limited area which it is in our power to turn up 
by the plough, will have the same results in kind, to follow a breaking of 
the entire surface, but less effective than if the operation were universal. 
Yet a beginning can be made by the Railway Company, and by indivi- 
duals. — A few acres at intervals across the plains, or only a few clumps 
of trees growing without regularity will be a demonstratiop more effective 
than theory.’”’* 
The possibility of the successful growth of trees on the prairie, 
when the most suitable localities are chosen, and proper care given to 
their planting and cultivation, has already been demonstrated in many 
parts of the West. Many interesting facts on this point, and on the ra- 
pidity of growth of the trees, will be found scattered through the various 
reports on the Western Territories of the United States. Dr. Hayden 
gives the following statistics of growth of plantations in Nebraska, some 
of them situated on the higher level prairie, six hundred feet above the 
Missouri River.f Cotton-wood (Populus monilifera) of seven years growth, 
with 2 circumference of 2 feet; ten years growth, 2 feet 4 inches to 2 
feet 11 inches, and 25 to 30 feet high. Soft maple (Acer rubrum) of seven 
years growth, with a circumference of 1 foot 10 inches, to 2 feet 1 inch, 
and 15 feet high; ten years growth 2 feet 8 inches. Box-elder (egundo 
aceroides) ten years old with a circumference of 2 feet 2 inches. And 
other varieties of trees showing similar rapid increase in size. Dr. 
Hayden is of opinion that within thirty to fifty years forest trees may be 
* Toc. cit., p, 457. + U. S. Geol. Surv, Territ., 1867-69. 
