hardiness of the young plants on the northern 
prairies make it indispensable in all wind¬ 
breaks and shelter plantations, at least in the 
opinion of men engaged in selling the plants to 
settlers. 
The Austriau Pine (Pinus Austriaea), less 
widely planted and less thoroughly tried in 
Massachusetts than the Scotch Pine, promises 
also to prove a total failure there. The young 
plants grow rapidly and are very hardy, but 
they begin to fail early, and will probably dis 
appear entirely before they are 50 yeara 
old. The cultivation of the Austrian Pine in 
Massachusetts should now be abandoned, and 
our native Red Piue (Pinus resinosa), a more 
beautiful and in every way more valuable 
tree, be substituted for it. 
The Norway Spruce (Picea excelsa) has for 
many years been the most widely distributed 
and most geuerally cultivated foreign tree in 
Massachusetts, This tree, 80 years ago, had 
much, apparently, to recommend it to Amer¬ 
ican planters. It is cheaply raised and easily 
transplanted; the young plants grow with sur¬ 
prising rapidity and vigor, and are hardly 
surpassed in grace and beauty by the young 
of any other of the spruces which will thrive 
in our climate. The general introduction of 
this tree into our plantations must neverthe¬ 
less be regarded as a public misfortune. It 
has added nothing to their permanent value, 
aud it has interfered with the cultivation of 
more valuable native trees, like the White 
Pine and White Spruce. The Norway Spi'uce, 
in spite of its early promise, must be ackuow- 
Massachusetto never reached there by any 
other foreign tree, with the exception, per¬ 
haps, of the White Willow ; while the Dutch 
Elm (IT. montana), now everywhere, repro¬ 
duces itself from seed, and will doubtlass 
eventually become completely naturalized in 
our woods. 
The European Oak (Quercus robur) has al¬ 
ways been a favorite tree among Massachu¬ 
setts planters of a certain class. This tree 
grows there very rapidly when young; it can 
be easily raised aud very easily transplanted; 
Its habit, is excellent, aud it carries its gfeen 
foliage into early Winter,long after our native 
trees have shed their leaves. It is, perhaps, 
however, the most unsatisfactory deciduous 
tree which has ever beeu planted in Massachu¬ 
setts, The promise of its early life is never 
realized. The European Oak begins to fail in 
Massachusetts when about 30 years old, with 
the cracking of the main stem, and then,after 
dragging out a wretched existence for a few 
years longer, miserably perishes. Tens of thou¬ 
sands of these trees have been planted in the 
State during the last century, but it is now 
almost impossible to find anywhere a healthy 
specimen more than 80 years old, while all the 
older trees have now almost entirely disap¬ 
peared from the neighborhood. 
The European Beech (and its varieties), al¬ 
though, perhaps, less beautiful and certainly 
less graceful than its American prototype, 
grows and thrives in Massachusetts, if not as 
freely as in Europe,yet sufficiently well to make 
it an interesting and valuable addition to all 
ornamental plantations there. The European 
birch, very like one of our smaller American 
species, aud its numerous varieties, are grace¬ 
ful additions to our garden sylva, although 
not to be compared in beauty, vigor, and in 
economic value with several of the birches 
native of Massachusetts. 
If Europe has given us few valuable deci¬ 
duous trees, its contribution of conifers to 
our plantations is still less important. It was 
once believed, and no one, perhaps, was more 
firmly impressed with this belief than Prof. S., 
that the Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris), one of 
the great timber trees of Northern Europe, 
was destined to become an important economic 
factor in New England forests and plantations. 
This opinion, based upon the deceptive and in- 
and she was lowered to the ground and the 
ropes were removed. In a short time she was 
upon her feet, apparently but little the worse 
for the accident. It frequently happens in 
accidents of this kind that animals are in dau- 
ger of drowning, or of beating their heads 
against the wall. In such cases a halter or 
rope should always be put ou the animal’s 
head to hold it untiljhelp can be brought. 
matted. Strong plants that have received 
good cultivation are comparatively free from 
the attacks of the fungus. Certain varieties 
suffer more from the effects of the disease than 
Fig. 347. 
others. Downing, Cumberland, Captain Jack, 
and Wilson usually blight badly; while Cres¬ 
cent, Bid well, Jersey Queen, Monarch and 
Manchester are comparatively free from its 
attacks. Lime is one of the best known 
remedies; it should be applied when the 
leaves are wet, commencing early in Spring, 
and repeating the operation every two or 
three weeks. b. t. galloway. 
Columbia, Mo. 
Trees and Thee Planting.— The Annual 
Report of the Mass. Board of Agriculture 
publishes “Some Additional Notes upon Trees 
aud Tree Plantiug,” by Prof. C. S. Sargent. 
The other notes were printed in 1875 aud 1878. 
Many of the conclusions then reached have 
not been substantiated by further investiga¬ 
tions. Prof. Sargent was then impressed with 
the value of certain foreign trees for general 
cultivation in Massachusetts. He is now con¬ 
vinced that the native trees are better suited 
to that State than any exotic trees can be. 
The European lindens, of which two or three 
species are cultivated, arc in every way infe¬ 
rior, except in perfume of flower, to our native 
species. They suffer greatly from the attacks 
of various wood-borers, aud usually perish 
before reaching any great age. The Syca¬ 
more Maple (Acer pseudo-platanus), a common 
European species, largely cultivated there for 
its valuable timber, and early and quite gen¬ 
erally planted in Eastern Massachusetts, grows, 
like many European trees, very rapidly while 
young, but is soon unsightly here, short-lived, 
aud quite worthless for any economic pur" 
poses. 
The Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) is a 
more valuable tree in Mass , although greatly 
inferior to our native Sugar and Red Maples in 
beauty and general usefulness. It grows 
rapidly and vigorously, especially near the 
sea, reproducing itself freely, and giving 
every promise of reaching as great develop¬ 
ment as in its native land. The European 
The design for the berry tray shown at Fig. 
351 was sent us by Mr. Da}'ton McCollum, of 
Mahoning Co., Ohio. The end pieces are four 
erica. It has passed us prime mere aim is 
almost decrepid before it is half a century old; 
if will never produce timber here, aud it be¬ 
comes unsightly just at that period of life 
when trees should become really handsome in 
full and free development. 
It remains to speak of the European Larch. 
Something more Ls known of this tree in Mass¬ 
achusetts than was known 10 years ago, but 
not enough yet to speak with anything like 
certainty of its real and permanent value in 
Massachusetts plantations. The European 
Larch, at least during the first 50 years of its 
life, grows more rapidly than our American 
Larch, and more rapidly than most conifer¬ 
ous trees of equal economic value. 
The European Larch grows rapidly upon 
the poorest soil of Massachusetts; it has begun 
to reproduce itself spontaneously, and there is 
good reason for believing that it will become 
a long-lived and valuable -tree. The wood 
which it produces is hard, solid and durable, 
and well suited for fencing and railway ties. 
Sufficient time has not. elapsed, however, since 
its first general cultivation in New England 
to make it certain that the larch will not, be¬ 
fore reaching full maturity, like so many 
other European trees, utterly disappoint the 
planter. It is doubtful, too, in spite of all 
that has beeu written—aud no one has spoken 
more strongly upon this subject than Prof. S. 
—about the advantage to be derived from cul¬ 
tivating this tree in 
Massachusetts, whether 
the European Larch cun 
properly have any per- 
— manent place in our 
forests. Indeed, it seems 
to be more evident 
every year that the 
. European Larch can do 
- - nothing for us which 
our native trees cannot 
\ do better and more 
\ ^ economically. The larch 
—-- 17 will grow and make 
\ t timber rapidly upon 
_ poor soil; but soil which 
5 fet- will produce good larch 
ft-M-'X' timber will produce 
White Pine, and White 
Pine is a far more valu- 
able article commercial¬ 
ly than larch. Larch 
Fig. 361, 
inches wide. 16 )4 inches long, and one inch 
thick. There are two laths for each side, two 
feet long, and six laths for the bottom. The 
bottom laths are sunk their thickness in the 
end pieces by plowing out one-half inch 
wide, and the thickness of the laths which 
makes the bottom laths one inch shorter than 
those at the side. A space one-half inch wide, 
one-half inch deep and four inches long is 
scooped out of each end to be used as a handle 
in lifting. A three-eighths-inch hole is bored in 
the top and bottom of each end piece. Pius 
put in at the top will fit in these holes and hold 
the trays when placed one on top of the other. 
The trays are designed for a home market and 
can be piled as high as desired, or three or 
more, with a cover, can be fastened together 
for shipping. To make trays holding eight 
quart baskets, make the end pieces 11 inchas 
long. 
DRAWING A COW FROM A WELL. 
Messrs. R. & P. Gregg, of Dearborn Co., 
Ind., send us the facts concerning the incident 
which our artist lias il¬ 
lustrated at Fig. 250. 
In a country where wells 
and cisterns abound it is 
not uncommon for ani¬ 
mals to fall into these - 
openings. In a large cis¬ 
tern, it is frequently pos- " ' 
sible to build a track up —__ 
which the prisoner may V 
safely walk to the 
ground, or to throw in jr 
hay or straw for the 
animal to trample until 
it is raised high enough VI Ar 
to jump out. When the __._- fik 
animal is imprisoned in '^yf 
a small well so that it it 
cannot turn, it is neees- ''- l l ty, 
sary to pull it straight 
out. In the case which / ^ 
we illustrate a hiefer 
weighing 1,000 pounds, broke into the yard 
during the night and fell into a well 33 
feet deep. She fell to the bottom with her 
head just above the water, where she lay look¬ 
ing up as though imploring aid. It seemed at 
first a hopeless case, but at last, a plan was pro¬ 
posed that proved successful. Three strong 
poles 16 feet long, were raised over the well, 
chained together at the top, so that they stood 
over the well like a three-legged stool. Two 
sets of hay-fork ropes and tackles were ob¬ 
tained and made fast to the chain at the top. 
One rope was passed round the heifer, just 
back of the fore legs, and fastened. The other 
end was brought down through a pulley, as 
shown in the picture. A span of strong mules 
provided the motive power at the end of the 
rope. The other rope was fastened about the 
heifer’s horns. A group of men pulled at this, 
and thus kept the animal’s head from falling 
to one side and catching on the stones. A 
steady pull by the mules brought the heifer 
out without injury. As soon as she cleared 
the well curb, a door was pushed under her 
DRAWING A COW FI 
Ash (Fraxinus excelsior), and its innumerable 
varieties, once largely and now occasionally 
planted in Massachusetts, are short-lived, brit¬ 
tle and utterly worthless trees, which should 
be exterminated in every Massachusetts plan¬ 
tation, to make room for our noble White Ash 
(Fraxinus Americana), which nowhere thrives 
with greater vigor or yields better returns to 
the planter. 
It is too soon, perhaps, to speak with any 
degree of certainty in regard to the future of 
tbe European Sycamore (Platanus orieutalis) 
in Massachusetts. Young trees, however, 
forty or fifty years old, grow with a vigor 
now never attained by our native species, aud 
certainly give promise of long life and full 
development. Two species of elm (Ulraus 
eampestris and U. montana), natives of Eu¬ 
rope, thrive as well or nearly as well in Mas¬ 
sachusetts as any of our native species. Spe¬ 
cimens of the former attain a size in Eastern 
M A WELL. Fig. 350. 
sufficient evidence of the early promise of this 
tree, was reached too hastily. The past 10 
years have shown that the Scotch Pine is a 
failure in New England as an ornamental and 
as a timber tree. It is very hardy; it grows 
quickly and easily from seed, and young plants 
can lie raised and sold more cheaply, perhaps, 
than the seedlings of any other coniferous tree. 
They are not fastidious about soil and are 
proof against any exposure or hardship. The 
young trees, duriug the first 30 years of their 
life, grow with astonishing rapidity, and then 
either die outright, from some as yet inex¬ 
plicable cause, or begin to fail gradually, and 
perish long before reaching maturity. It has 
cost American planters something in money 
and a great deal in disappointed hopes to dis¬ 
cover the worthlessness of the Scotch Pino in 
this country. The Scotch Pine is still raised 
and sold in great numbers in some parts of 
the West, where rapid growth and perfect 
timber is valuable for fence posts, railway 
ties, and similar purposes, where durability 
with contact with the soil is necessary. The 
wood of our native chestnut possesses these 
qualities to an admirable degree, and the 
chestnut will flourish ou land not much butter 
than that which will produce larch. It is now 
known that chestnut railway ties are far more 
valuable than larch ties, and the chestnut can 
be more cheaply and easily grown than the 
larch, and will make timber more rapidly. In 
a State, therefore, whore the native White 
Pine will thrive upon its poorest land, and the 
native chestnut can bo depended upon to fur¬ 
nish posts and ties economically, it does not 
seem necessary to introduce u foreign tree, 
especially when no more is known ubout it 
than is now kuown about the larch, whoso 
only merits arc that it will flourish upon poor 
soil and produce durable timber. This tree 
can perhaps, however, be profitably grown iu 
the region north of Massachusetts, beyond the 
natural range of the chestnut, and where no 
native tree producing such durable wood as 
