ed plants, while to the children such a place 
of study would be of untold value. 
Annie L. Jack. 
the whole line were excellent this year, but 
the fruit crop is wonderful. Such immense 
crops and such specimens ! Jonathans and 
Winesaps as large as Eastern Northern Spies 
and Baldwins 
I visited the "York Nurseries at Fort Scott 
last week; four wagons were hauling off the 
apples to the station. Ten thousand bushels 
sold at 40 cents per bushel, every apple a good 
specimen apparently. I examined large piles 
and didu't s^e an inferior fruit. This nursery 
compauy, by the way, demands more than a 
passing notice. Six energetic men compose 
the firm, all working harmoniously together. 
CoL York was in Texas, the other five were 
on the grounds, on the packing grounds, and 
in the office, in the hight of the shipping. 
They ship from Texas to Nebraska, and are 
extending their business up to Dakota, so that 
they can ship from January till April or May, 
and from October till December. When I 
passed Fort Scott the first week in March, 
they were shipping car loads; but I did not 
have the pleasure of visiting their nurseiies 
till last week, where i saw blocks of one and 
two-year old apple trees, numbering hun¬ 
dreds of thousands, and such beautiful trees ! 
One and two-year olds as large as two, three, 
and even four-year-olds further east. One- 
year old trees may be seen by the 100,000 three 
to five feet high; also, fine full blocks of plums, 
peaches, quinces, &c. It seemed to me impos¬ 
sible to find a market for so many trees; yet 
they refused to sell by the car-load to a gen¬ 
tleman who was there from Ohio, as they said 
they had no more than would fill their deliver¬ 
ies. From all appearances, the}' are doing bs 
large a business as any nursery in the country, 
and are doing a good work for a great extent 
of territory. They are honorable, efficient 
men, and it is a pleasure to see such men 
doing such a lucrative business. They seem 
to be located in a mu seryman’s paradise—no 
killing Winters, and a six months’ shipping 
season. 
We are taking the benefit of this mild cli- 
fall. Time may be necessary to eliminate the 
possible errors arising from cycles dependent 
upon cosmical causes that are not yet fully 
understood; but let us have credit, and let the 
judicious plantation of trees have the credit 
for their influence in modifying the local cli* 
mate of the farms, townships, counties, and 
States, where we do know that such meliorat¬ 
ing influences are sadly needed. 
Experiments have been made, and are now 
in progress at Larch-Wood, with plantations 
of the Catalpa speciosa, and with encourag¬ 
ing results, notwithstanding the severity of 
the Winter climate of north latitude 43*, on 
the high rolling prairie. So well satisfied are 
the proprietors of the plantation with this 
tree that they have contracted for 50,000 
plants, to be set out next year. 
Owing to financial troubles of the past years, 
during which these rather expensive experi¬ 
ments have been in progress, Mr. Fell and his 
associates have sold their interest at Larch- 
Wood to an English company, who are carry¬ 
ing out the plans so well begun by him. 
In a recent letter, in replying to inquiries 
as to the present status of their plantation, it 
is reported: “On 61 quarter-sections of land 
we had planted 323 acres of forest trees, that 
are now in various stages of development, 
from those newly-planted to trees nearly 40 
feet high. Further, we bad planted on the 
suivey lines, within a more limited range, 53 
68-100 miles of willow hedging and one mile 
of Osage-Orange. The latter utterly died out 
at the end of the second year.”—J. W. Fell. 
Recent correspondence with the proprietors 
of Larch-Wood represent these plantations as 
being very thrifty, and that they are extend, 
ing them annually. 
tions were selected in a solid block of three 
miles on each side, which would make 5,760 
acres, and might be divided into thirty-six 
farms of a half mile square, or a quarter-sec¬ 
tion each—a very convenient and favorite size 
for purchasers of moderate means. 
The plan adopted by the proprietors to make 
this laud attractive to settlers is now' to be 
detailed: It was the result of the studies of 
Mr. Fell, whose forethought has secured to the 
purchasers the benefit of wind-breaks, shel¬ 
ters, and growing timber already started, and 
offering their beneficial influence to the com¬ 
ing settlers. This planting which, in time, 
might have been carried out by the future 
settlers separately, as has been done to a con¬ 
siderable extent in some prairie regions, has 
this great advantage—that it has been done 
beforehand, and is ready for their enjoyment 
at the first, when they have so much to do in 
establishing anew home. But, more than this, 
all the purchasers will, from the first, have the 
full advantage of the shelter furnished by the 
trees on the adjoining tracts of the whole area 
thus planted, which is a quarter of a township 
of government survey. 
Without this unity of design and this pro¬ 
vision of planting in advance, the probabili¬ 
ties are that a diversity of views might pre¬ 
vail among the settlers, and that some would 
neglect planting altogether, actuated by a 
selfishness or niggardliness, hoping to reap the 
benefits of others’ labors, and to retain ali of 
their own land for arable purposes. 
But to the plan, and to the work. In the 
years 1870-71 the center forty acres of each 
section were broken (plowed). This would oc¬ 
cupy ten acres in the ad joining corners of each 
quarter-section. In the follow’iug two years 
these 40-acre tracts were planted with trees 
and cuttings of the hardy native trees and the 
foreign White Willow—whatever was known 
to be adapted to soil and climate. These were 
set out on the outer side of the 40-acre tract, 
so that in a future occupation here would be 
lots within a belt of sheltering timber, for the 
buildings and fruit trees of the four 
adjoining farms. 
Roads were located on all the section 
lines, being half a mile apart. On 
both sides of these lines the prairie 
sod was broken four rods wide, and r/jjjj 
VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIA 
TIONS. 
SAMUEL PARSONS, JR 
Thanks to the enterprise and public spirit 
both of individuals and communities, the 
maia ideas of village improvement associa¬ 
tions are rapidly gaining popularity and in¬ 
fluence throughout the country. Their 
work is no longer, if it ever was, a mere im¬ 
pulse or enthusiasm of the moment, a benevo¬ 
lent and beautiful theory that does little to 
change the actual order of things. All 
through New England, New York and the 
new and active towns of the Far West, we 
meet now and then the village improvement 
society doing its own peculiar work. The 
value of a shade tree planted or an untidy 
spot regulated is pa teDt and therefore many 
lend a helping hand. Shrewd, enterprising 
men realize the good effect such associations 
must exert on the value and ready sale of 
land. They know that, other things beiug 
equal, the town that has smooth, turf-bor¬ 
dered walks and fine shade trees as well as 
agreeably designed fences and tastefully ar 
ranged grounds will soonest obtain the most 
! and best population. 
I Isn’t it somewhat remarkable that a truism 
like this needs stating ? But it must need 
stating, or else why is so little attention given 
to beautifying country towns everywhere? 
Why is shade tree planting neglected, or done 
with so little judgment ? Why do we hear 
of stupid work performed by road-masters 
and Tillage trustees without efficient remon¬ 
strance from townsmen? It is simply be¬ 
cause most people have not seriously thought 
of the value of organization in beauti- 
--- tying a country town. Not for a 
moment has it occured to them how 
much could be thereby done in start¬ 
ing various improvements, and more 
than that in securing their efficient 
& and economical execution. If they 
i would only visit certain towns, both 
West and East, they would soon re¬ 
alize what can be accomplished by 
* organized effort of this sort. Fine 
^ j rows of shade trees, neat sidewalks, 
generally abated or done 
THE GROWTH OF THE WEST 
Farlington, Kansas.—York Nurseriesat Fort 
Scott, die.— A Letter from Robert Douglas. 
The West has been so well written up in 
the Rural New-Yorker that I need not tell 
5 nuisances 
j away with, and, above all, a general 
j emulation in the ornamentation and 
keeping of lawns are noticeable every- 
!( where. Seeing is believing I I am 
sure then that any one seeing a town 
thus improved and realizing bow its 
attractions have come into existence, 
will say, let every community h ive 
j A j its village improvement association 
Hg&l as it has itB scbool-bouse. Indeed, 
j, why not let the village improvement 
' association meet iu the school-house 
and its work be considered a regular 
part of public education? 
As we investigate the practical 
methods of village improvement asso- 
fiP-* ciationa we shall doubtless recognize 
the crudeness aud ill-directed enthu¬ 
siasm peculiar to young undertakings. 
But the enthusiasm, the vim is there 
and the wisdom will come with time. 
If there is no diligent collection of 
notes on undertakings of the society 
which are duly made up into re. 
ports at stated periods; if there are no 
lectures given or inspections made by com¬ 
petent experts or plans drawn up before 
commencing an undertaking, what will you 
have ? Rome was not built in a day, and 
we have already progressed far in special 
cases. We want more village improvement 
associations at once, aud we want such asso¬ 
ciations to employ practical methods which 
can alone be discovered in each individual 
case by persistent recorded experiments. 
tVho knows better than au American the 
value of associated effort? Lot, then, every 
town through associations study tree plant¬ 
ing, road making and rural architecture of 
all kinds after truly scientific methods aud 
on an organized plan. The r«4ulta of efforts 
of this kind, which might finally unite in one 
grand national organization, would be to give 
us throughout the land, und especially 
throughout the new, progressive West,a chain 
of communities attractive beyond example. 
Willow, Box-Elder, wmte mapie, pjah 
White Ash, Cottonwood, Basswood, J i iW 
Black Walnut, Honey Locust, Chest- 
nut, Osage Orange, European and 
American Larch, White and Scotch 
Pines, Arbor-Vitse, Norway and 
native Spruces, and others. 
It should have been stated that the 'Yg 
center 40 acres of the center section c 
were appropriated as town or village 
plat, and here the highways for future ^ 
streets were all planted with shade ^ ^ 
trees, in advance of the buildings, on 
the plan which had proved so success¬ 
ful when practiced by Mr. Fell years 
before in the village of Normal, 111., 
as already mentioned. This embiyo 
village was called by its founders 
Larch-Wood, and it already has its 
place in the official Postal Guide as a recog¬ 
nized office for the distribution of mails 
designed for that part of Lyons County. 
With a tract of land of even a few thousand 
acres thus planted and thus sheltered by trets 
to check the trying winds, both of Summer 
and Winter, who that has once seen and rea - 
ized the benefits of these wind-breaks will 
doubt the influence of trees upon the local 
climate, and their ageney in producing and 
retaining the humidity of the atmosphere so 
essential to our crops and to our comfort or 
that of our cattle i Let such planting become 
general, and who can say that the climate of 
a whole region may not be measurably re¬ 
claimed from the aridity and severity that 
now prevail; and who will say, in advance, 
that such a covering cf the surface, if carried 
on over still wider and more extensive regions, 
_will nnt, h ffect the average annual 
ft on* l vorkcr 
Blanketed Dutch Cow.—Fig. 425. 
mate, as we commence planting here when we 
close up our Fall business at home We begin 
plowing this week. VVe will plow, prepare 
and plant 500 acres between this and the time 
our shipping commences at home in the 
Spring. The 500 acres will require 1,360,000 
trees. R. Douglas. 
you how I was surprised, two years ago, to 
see such cities as Fargo and Jamestown away 
out on the Northern Pacific Railroad, and tbe 
immense w heat fields covering the prairies as 
far as the eye could reach, nearly out to Bis¬ 
marck ; nor how much more I was surprised 
to see these cities doubled or quadrupled m 
wealth and population when I visited them 
again last month; nor of the immense wheat 
fields on the St. Paul and Manitoba Railroad, 
extending up to and into the British Posses 
sious; nor of fire wonderful city of Winnipeg, 
with its long and fine streets, massive brick 
blocks aud hotels, and over 20,006 iuhabitauts, 
where there was but a lar-off fioutier station 
three years ago—for all of this is more than 
a “ twice-told tale.” 
I think, however, that here is a spot which 
is not stereotyped in the guide books. Far- 
lirgton is a little station on tbe Kansas City. 
Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad, 17 miles south 
of Fort Scott. When I came here three years 
ago, to commence planting a section of land 
for the railroad company, it was nearly all 
unbroken prairie, and there was no station 
here. Since that time land has increased in 
value, so that whole sections bought from the 
railroad company for $2.80 per acre two 
years ago, cannot be bought now for less than 
$10 to $20 per acre. This railroad runs through 
some of the finest farming lauds in Kansas, 
about 168 miles from Kansas City to the line 
of the Indian Teriitory. The farm crops on 
A GOOD SUGGESTION 
“ There is nothing like seeing how other 
folks manage,” said an old gentleman here the 
other day; and he added that his wife al¬ 
ways had an idea that she could havemimaged 
her own garden better if she had seen ours. 
Such is the force of example. And I often 
think that we do uot sufficiently value this 
influence on our children—this eye training 
that will last for a life time. We need in 
every large city a well-appointed arboretum, 
in some pleasant suburb, whore the young peo¬ 
ple can go for a holiday, not exactly as our 
parks are kept for recreation, but, with prop¬ 
erly grouped and classified plants, trees and 
shrubs, with common aud scientific names 
attached. Iu the missionary work of the 
future it would become a chief worker for 
good if well arranged. Country people visit¬ 
ing the city would see what Bhrubs or trees had 
been tested and had proved suitable, and 
would wUh to beautify their homes with such 
adornment; and city people would better un- 
derotand the nature of our native aud import¬ 
Bkds composed of hardy vlues are rare. 
We should like our readers to try the follow¬ 
ing combination. Lot the bed be round and 
not less that 10 feet in diameter. Plant at 
about equal distances six vines each of the 
Golden-variegated Honeysuckle, six alter¬ 
nately of the variegated vine vitls hetero- 
phyllu variegata and then plant, here aud 
there, different.colored,strong-growing clema¬ 
tis—like Jackmanul, Sophia, Lawsoniana etc. 
When the vines reach the border, clip them 
so as to preserve a well defined oval form 
bounded by the grass margin. All these 
vines are hardy and beautiful. 
