38 FOKESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. 



Planting was begun in the spring of 1906, with 2-year seedlings of 

 yellow pine and 1-year seedjings of honey locust, osage orange, Rus- 

 sian mulberry, and red cedar. Twenty-seven per cent of the yellow 

 pine and 32 per cent of the honey locust survived the first season, 

 but the other species failed. A number of these first yellow pines 

 still persist and give clear evidence of having established themselves 

 permanently, though they are so scattered that their struggle with 

 native vegetation has been continuous, and they have, therefore, 

 attained a height of only about 2 feet. 



Various experiments have been made with black locust, green ash, 

 elm, and jack pine. Up to 1911 it appeared that the hardwoods 

 held greater promise than the conifers, because of the greater ease 

 with which they could be grown in the nursery, the smaller degree 

 of care required in handling, and their more rapid estabfishment in 

 the soil. However, an extreme drought in 1911 killed all but the 

 most resistant of the newly planted trees. On the basis of these 

 drought conditions the various species may be classified as reliable 

 or unreliable, the trees in each group being named in the order of 

 their value: 



Reliable species. Unreliable species. 



1. Green ash. 1. Jack pine. 



2. Yellow pine. 2 Black locust, 



3. Honey locust. 3. Cottonwood. 



4. Red cedar. 4. Osage orange. 

 American elm.^ 5. Hardy catalpa. 



Austrian pine.^ 



Only one hardwood, green ash, made a showing equal to that of 

 yellow pine. 



Because there are no distinct ridges and valleys in the Kansas 

 sand hills, the division of the planting area into types does not seem 

 practicable. In general, however, the hardwoods should be planted 

 in the lower ground where the soil is heaviest, and the conifers in the 

 lighter soil of the high ground. In the area now being planted even 

 this differentiation is neither practicable nor necessary. 



Tlie one striking feature of the planting in Kansas is the failure of 

 jack pine. This may be attributed partly to damage by rodents, but 

 is in a large measure due to the greater warmth of the region as com- 

 pared with Nebraska, the more extreme drought conditions wliich 

 may prevail, and the greater severity of the summer winds. Jack 

 pine evidently does not resist these influences. Green ash, among 

 the hardwoods, and yellow pine, among conifers, have shown, on the 

 other hand, the most surprising resistance. Green ash survived the 

 summer of 1911, even after most of the leaves had been completely 

 desiccated. 



1 Not yet tried in field planting. Value assumed from general knowledge. 



2 Not yet tried with stock of suitable size. Exact value not determined. 



