MOV 48 
about 2,000,000 trees, for planting along the 
road. He dug and packed four car-loads of 
mountain evergreens. These were set in the 
cars, with their native soil, transported and 
planted at the stations successfully. Those 
planted two yean* ago are doing well, and are 
beautiful. The 250 eatalpas, set in the public 
park at Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, in a 
gravelly soil, were buddin r out when last 
visited by him. Two hundred and fifty catal- 
pas were planted at Sherman Station, on the 
mountain top, 8,000 feet above sea-level, and 
some were also set at Rawlins Station, 750 
miles west from Omaha. 
Evergreens, sir feet high, planted at Chey¬ 
enne, at Laramie City, and at Rock Creek 
Station, 60 miles further west, are reported as 
doing well; those were sot in their native soil, 
after excavating largo holes; then they were 
staked, tied and heavily mulched. On the 
sago-plains aspens were planted; 40 set at 
Rock Creek, all lived. 
“ A very large amount of planting has been 
done this year,” he writes, “and as the season 
has been very favorable, success attends the 
work, both with the fruit and the forest 
trees;”and he adds, ** The orchards of South¬ 
eastern Nebraska are laden with fruits, of 
which we now have an abundance, and of su¬ 
perior quality.” 
Arbor-Day, from the early years of Nebras¬ 
ka’s history, has been an important occasion: 
its annual occurrence proclaimed by the 
Governors, has resulted in the planting of in¬ 
numerable trees. This holiday was suggested 
and inaugurated by the Hon. J. Sterling Mor¬ 
ton, a Territorial Governor, who set the noble 
example by surrounding his own farm and 
residence, called Arbor Lodge, with trees that 
have given him grateful shade and shelter. 
The successive Governors have continued to 
cause this festival to be observed, and His 
Excellency, Albinus Nance, proclaimed the 
19tb day of last April as the Arbor Da for 
1882. Some other States have followed the 
example, and still others might find it to their 
advantage to do so. 
By way of encouragement to others to plant 
trees, let me cite a few examples reportedby 
Mr. Allan: Wm. Stolley, who was one of the 
first settlers at Grand Island Station,,has Cot¬ 
tonwood trees, 18 years old, that are 70 feet 
high, and seven feet in circumference; Green 
Ash, 15 years, two feet six inches ; Honey Lo¬ 
cust, five years, 20 inches; White Ash, six 
years, 16 inches; American Larch, five years, 
20 inches; Wild-Cherry, four years (from 
seed,) 15 feet high; Black-walnut, 15 years, 
have a girth of two feet six inches, and White 
Elm, of six yearB, are 14 inches in circumfer¬ 
ence. Wm. Stolley has 20 acres planted in 
timber, and his farm is surrounded with 
White Willows that are from 15 to 20 feet high, 
A row of Cottonwoods, in Omaha, planted 
in 18G1, have grown to be saw-log3, some 
being seven-and a-half feet in circumference; 
a Soft Maple tree is more than six feet, and 
some White Pines, 16 years old, measure 30 
inches near the ground. 
Mr. John Hollenback, who began planting 
in 1861, near Omaha, now has 160 acres of 
trees—“ a wood to get lost in”—that are worth 
more to-day than the grain he might have 
raised on the ground. He began with the 
Cottonwood, then he planted the Soft Maple, 
walnut and ash. He has already sold 150 cords 
of wood, besides poles. Forty acres are cov¬ 
ered with walnuts grown from seeds planted 
in 1864 among Cottonwoods, that were used as 
nurse plants. 
Mr. Wilson Reynolds, of Fremont, Dodge 
County, Nebraska, planted 40 acres nine years 
ago, which are now appraised at $100 per 
acre for the wood alone; that is, $4,000 for 
nine years’ use of 40 acres of land—a pretty 
fair rental for what was wild prairie a few 
years ago. Mr. Reynolds esteems the White 
Willow the most valuable for wind-breaks, 
believing that it pays 100 per cent, annually 
on its cost. With thiee years’ growth and 
one wire it makes an effective fence. Mr. 
Reynolds is an extensive stock raiser, and last 
Spring ho prepared, on some new farms, a 
strip of land six miles in length for planting 
White Willows as a hedge fence. 
Mr. John Bryant, of Elkhorn, Nebraska, 
8ays there is no better crop than trees. In 
1860 he sowed a pound of locust seed; in 10 
years, and ever since, he has been selling 
posts and wood; when the trees are cut down 
they are reproduced. Walnuts of his own 
planting already yield a profit. He has sold 
1,500 posts at IS cents each. He reports that 
since the prairie fires have ceased Burr Oaks 
spring up spontaneously on the bluffs. The 
success with the locusts on this farm, and 
their escape from the borers, are attributed to 
the presence of great numbers of the red¬ 
headed woodpecker. 
Among many others who have planted in 
Nebraska, Mr. Allan deservedly selects the 
work of Dr. George L. Miller, who, as the ed¬ 
itor of the Omaha Herald, has ably advocated 
tree-planting on the plains, not only by pre¬ 
cept, line upon line, but by practice also. He 
THE BUBAL HEW-Y0BB1B. 
has 190 acres of planted trees, which are 
growing in a way to encourage others to go' 
and do likewise. 
Mr. Miller's selection of varieties is good, 
witness: 38,00*1 Catalpas, 22,000 Wild Cherries, 
60,000 Black-Walnuts, 23,000 ashes, with 25,000 
Cottonwoods protecting the wholsi, besides 
elms, larches. Box Elders and other species. 
A recent inspection of this plantation enabled 
the expert visitors to declare that its condi¬ 
tion was eminently satisfactory. 
In reference to the Bombers of trees planted 
within 20 years in the two great States lying 
west of the Missouri River, it appears from 
the correspondence of Mr. George C. Brackett, 
the devoted Secretary of the Kansas Horti¬ 
cultural Society, that 92,839 acres are now 
covered with planted trees in Kansas— 
as follows : 
ACRES. 
Black-Walnut. 5.895 
Maples. 6,453 
Honey-Locust. 1,215 
Cottonwood. 39,108 
Osage Orange. 617 
Catalpa. 788 
Other kinds, and miscellaneous. 38,763 
Total acres. 92,839 
Mr. Daniel H. Wheeler, the efficient Secre¬ 
tary of the Board of Agriculture 
of Nebraska, writes; 
“ I believe we were the first 
State that officially made a 
holiday for the purpose of plant¬ 
ing trees. Reparts already re¬ 
ceived are very satisfactory for 
this year’B work. 
“Under the auspices of Arbor- 
Days we have planted more 
than 20,000,000 trees, and our 
State is now receiving much 
benefit from our early work in 
tree-planting.” 
Mr. Allan estimates 58,000,000 
as the grand total planted since 
the good work began in Nebras¬ 
ka, and these are now shading 
100,000 acres of her prairie soil 
Mr. Allan closes enthusiastic¬ 
ally thus, after regretting his 
inability to meet with ns: “ Suc¬ 
cess to the American Forestry 
Association, which was organ¬ 
ized in 1875! We, who then, and 
ever since, have to the best of our 
ability worked with you, shoul¬ 
der to shoulder, can now look back with pride 
to the day of our organizati n, and with satis¬ 
faction can we survey the influence that has 
been exerted in arousing the spirit of the peo¬ 
ple who have planted so many millions of trees 
on the naked plains of Kansas and Nebraska, 
and in exciting, all over the country, so great 
an interest in forestry as to^render possible 
such a gathering as that which assembled last 
Spring in the city of Cincinnati! 
“ May all of you, my friends, who are able 
to meet with our Canadian cousins (some of 
whom were with us at the first meeting), may 
you all continue the good work which has 
been so nobly begun, and which is now in the 
way of being carried forward by a united 
band, whether under the old flag or the new ! 
In either event, let it be recorded that the 
thanks of the people of a continent are due to 
those who originated the movement at Chi¬ 
cago in the year of grace 1875! ’’ 
Nor is Minnesota behind her sisters in the 
energy of her tree-planting, as will appear 
from the published statistics of 18S0—where 
the following table occurs on page 67: 
Acres planted on Arbor-Day. 419 
Acres, total of 1880 . 4,082 
Acres, total now growing. 25 331 
Rods of trees on roads and farms. 329,800 
Rods of hedge rows— 
5 counties have from 14,000 to 20,000 rods 
3 “ “ over....22 000 11 
Fillmore County has.44.886 “ 
Faribault “ “.49,300 “ 
There are 10 counties that have 1,000 acres, 
or more, and in one, Faribault, there are 2,543 
acres of young timber plantation. 
Dakota is rapidly filling up with energetic 
settlers, most of whom are planting more or 
less extensively, and they will 60 on change 
the aspect of the open prairies. 
iiXiscHUtt terns. 
Dutch Mlgnorme Apple. 
Doctor Hoskins, of Vermont, is good 
authority on apples, and his “Notes” in the 
Rural must be interesting to all its readers. 
I wish to add to his remarks on that fine old 
apple, the Dutch Mjgnoune, that there is much 
explanatory as to its origin in“BritiHh Fruits.’ 
The author says: “Under the name of Reinette 
Dor«5e, or Garden Reinette are confounded 
four distinct varieties; first, the true Golden 
Reinette of Eugland; second, Reinette Dor£e 
of some Dutch gardens; third, Reinette Dor 
of Mayer’s Pomona Franoonia, which is Dutch 
Mignonne; fourth, Reinette Dorce of Duha- 
mel, Knoop, and others, which is Spate Gelbe 
Reinette of the Germans.” Downing’s latest 
edition says, ripe from December to March. 
Newburgh, N. Y. A. A. Bensel. 
-—-- 
Sorghum Sugar.— Concerning the recent 
satisfactory experiments made by Professors 
Weber and Scovell at Champaign, Ill., in 
manufacturing sugar from sorghum cane, 
Colman’s Rural World has this to say: “It 
was an experiment to settle the question 
whether sugar could be made in the North 
as well as in the South, in such quantity as to 
make it pay. The season had been exceedingly 
unpropitious for the growth of cane. The 
latitude was Northern Illinois, and the plant¬ 
ing was on the level prairie. The Spring had 
been very cold and wet, and seed lay in the 
ground a month or more without germinating. 
Seed planted on the 23d of June matured its 
cane as early as that planted a month or six 
weeks before. The rainfall throughout the 
three Summer months in the vicinity of 
Champaign was 18 inches, while in usual 
seasons it has not been half that, and the 
sorgo crop needs but little rain, and revels in 
drouth. The mean temperature during these 
same months was six to eight degrees lower 
than usual, while hot weather is needed to 
develop the greatest amount of saccharine. 
And yet, notwithstanding all these unfavor¬ 
able circumstances, on the very first trial, 
before the seed was fairly ripe, the company 
were iu possession of several thousand pounds 
of most excellent sugar, and from that time 
to this, there has not been a single failure in 
obtaining sugar, at least 40 per cent of the 
entire amount of sirup crystallizing, and the 
balance of course making a number one 
article of molasses, commanding fully the 
prices of the New Orleans commodity.” 
These experiments have proved that there 
is abundant erystallizable sugar in the North¬ 
ern cane, after becoming ripe, the whole Fall, 
unless injured by freezing, and In the most 
unfavorable season for the development of 
sugar in cane, that one could expect. There 
need be no longer any fears of embarking in 
the business. It is as safe, reliable and certain 
as any other business, and we believe more 
remunerative, for the seed raised on an acre 
of cane is nearly equal in value for feeding 
purposes for all kinds of stock, to corn raised 
on the same amount of land. The value of 
the seed will pay for raising the cane, and 
delivering it at the mill, if near at hand, so 
there is no cost in production, as with the 
sugar beet or the ribbon cane, neither having 
any value whatever, except for making sugar. 
How Sugar is Obtained:— In the first 
place the acid in the juice is neutralized by 
lime, as practiced by most sirup makers—the 
litmus paper being used as a test. This is 
done in the cold juice in the defecating tanks, 
just before defecation, which consists in 
bringing the juice to a boil and thoroughly 
skimming. No other substance is used for 
defecation at any other stage. The juice is 
now drawn off through pipes to the evapor¬ 
ator, where it is reduced to a semi-sirup, then 
filtered through bone-black, then pumped 
into the vacuum-pan, where it is reduced to 
sugar, and when cooled swung out through 
the centrifugal. That is all there is of it. 
The most particular point is in using the lime 
properly, so as to neutralize the acid. This 
part needs close attention. No solutions, 
powders or chemicals of any kind are used. 
Of course, the vacuum pan plays a very im¬ 
portant part, as the sirup is boiled at a lower 
temperature. There is no caramelizing, no 
inverting to grape sugar, and all the crystal- 
lizable sugar is preserved. 
->4$--— 
Another sorghum sugar factory is located 
at Rio Grande, N. J. To supply this one 
thousand acres were planted in sorghum, 
most of which was the Early Amber variety, 
although 200 acres or more were devoted to 
Early Orange, Honduras and Link’s Hybrid. 
Without entering into details it is sufficient 
tu say that the results this year have been 
highly satisfactory, says the Prairie Farmer. 
The company will plant 2,000 acres of sorghum 
next year and double the capacity of this mill. 
- »♦» 
The seeds of the sorghum, it appears, sell 
readily at 65 cents per bushel, and at that 
price it appears that they will pay all ex¬ 
penses of producing the cane up to the time 
when cutting begins. The Rio Grande com¬ 
pany have housed their seed—amounting to 
20,000 bushels—which at the above price will 
aggregate $13,000. There is yet another pro¬ 
duct of the cane which it is proposed to 
utilize, to wit: the fiber left after the juice is 
expressed. A paper manufacturer in Phila¬ 
delphia is testing the bagasse for paper. 
Experiments made by Prof. Collier, of the 
Department of Agriculture, with that view, 
have already shown that an excellent quality 
of paper pulp can be made from it. 
-- 
A Bonanza in Silk Farming. —A couple 
of weeks ago we announced the projected 
establishment of a New Jersey Silk Colony 
by the New York Silk Exchange, and the pro¬ 
ject has now advanced so far that the New 
York Sim is able to furnish some details of 
the undertaking. At Park Ridge, N. J., 
“twenty-three miles out, and only ten minutes 
from the depot,” the model silk farm is to be 
established. The originators “desire to locate 
on it intelligent parties wao wish to go into 
silk culture.” They propose to divide a farm 
into lots of two to five acres each, and sell 
them at an average of “$165 an acre, half 
cash, balance on easy terms.” “Every acre 
planted in mulberry trees will yield from $300 
to $1,100 per acre, according to course pur¬ 
sued.” Now, after having given the projec¬ 
tors of this enterprise so much advertising 
gratis, we may be allowed to suggest that the 
northern part of New Jersey, adjoining the 
New York boundary, is about as well adapted 
for silk culture as it is for orange groves. We 
pass over the price named for the land, “$165 
an acre on the average, half cash,” because 
intelligent persons would be likely to satisfy 
themselves if quite as good could not be ob¬ 
tained in the neighborhood for the cash part 
alone. In seeking for a place to engage in 
silk culture as a business one should select a 
location where two or three crops of worms 
can be raised in a season, which is simply im¬ 
possible in the region above referred to. 
Whatever may be the results of this enter¬ 
prise to the “silk” farmers, if the projectors 
can get rid of their laud on the proposed terms 
they are likely to find in it a bonanza. 
Northern taste in the matter of potatoes 
has become so vitiated that the sugary Georgia 
yam, most delicious of tubers, is rejected in 
favo *■* of the “punky” product of New Jersey. 
Such is the lamentation of the Atlanta Consti¬ 
tution, which urges Georgia farmers to send 
small lots of yams to families in the North 
as samples. 
-- 
A correspondent of the London Live- 
Stock Journal says that the fact that a con¬ 
siderable quantity of milk is now watered to 
a greater or less degree, and does not keep, 
owing to the stagnant ditch and pond water 
that cattle are allowed to drink in many 
dairy farms all over the country, tends to 
lessen the consumption. It is not at all unus¬ 
ual to see milch cows drinking the soakings 
from the manure yards. This is the reason 
why many people do not care to drink milk, 
the writer say?, as they canuot be certain that 
it has not been elaborated from sewage and 
filthy water; and as they are afraid to drink 
water from improper filtration and other 
causes, they have been induce! to drink beer, 
as the water m-ed in its manufacture is re¬ 
markably pure. 
Seeds from Tip, Middle and Butt of 
Corn Ears. —Bulletin No. XIII. (New York 
Ag. Ex. Station) gives the results of planting 
corn from the tip. middle and butt of the ear, 
a summary of which isas follows:—1. The tip 
kernels were the most prolific of good corn. 
2. The butt kernels were more prolific of good 
corn than the central kernels. 3. The tip ker¬ 
nels bore longer ears than Hie other kernels, 
the butt kernels next, and the central kernels 
the shortest. This fact was apparent to the 
sight as the corn lay upou the ground after 
husking. 4. The merchantable ears from the 
butt were distinctly heavier than those from 
the tip, and distinctly heavier than those from 
the central kernels. 4. The butt kernels fur¬ 
nished more unmerchantable corn than did 
the central kernels, and the central kernels 
more than did the tip kernels. 
SKETCH OF THE AVERAGE CHAMPION QUINCE AS RAISED 
AT RURAL GROUNDS.—[See Editorial Fauk,—Fig. 436. 
