HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 
i 9 i i . 
UTILITY TREES 
To supply fuel 
and fence - posts 
the hardy catalpa 
is the best tree for 
this section. It 
grows rapidly and 
has lasting quali¬ 
ties that are lack¬ 
ing in other rapid¬ 
growing woods. As 
a shade tree it is 
not very desirable, 
although the abun¬ 
dance of showy 
flowers are attrac¬ 
tive for a time in 
spring. For the 
woodlot the catal¬ 
pa has no equal. 
Some that I have, 
seen planted in the 
spring of 1904 are 
now six or seven 
inches in diameter 
and twenty or 
more feet high. 
BARE WESTERN 
CITIES 
Not only is the 
country short of 
desirable trees, but 
the cities and 
towns as well. 
While there are 
many fine trees in 
the cities of the 
Middle West, that 
have been planted 
within the past fif¬ 
teen or twenty 
years, most of the 
trees that line the 
streets are of such 
sorts as soft maple 
and box elder. The 
writer has noticed 
many streets dur¬ 
ing the past few 
months, in Chica¬ 
go, Lincoln, Des 
Moines and Omaha, on which hardly a really fine tree was to be 
seen. It is fortunate, however, that the plantings now being 
made are for the most part better suited to the purpose. 
The American elm is the one rapid-growing 
tree of long life suited to all conditions. 
A ten-year-old specimen furnishes good 
shade 
fine as those about 
the boyhood home 
in the East. 
SHELTER TREES 
The first need to be met by the settler on the Western prairie 
was a shelter from the high winds, and naturally something that 
would serve the purpose as quickly as possible was selected. As 
a result most of the groves are composed of rapid-growing trees. 
Instead of making a shelter-belt of red cedar, which is almost as 
impenetrable as a stone wall, the pioneer chose willow, which could 
be started from cuttings without expense beyond the labor of 
planting. An accompanying photograph shows a cedar windbreak 
about twenty years old, that makes several degrees difference in 
the temperature of the barnyard to the south of it. 
SHADE TREES 
If I were to plant trees for shade or for ornament, then, I 
should plant elm, black walnut and sugar maple, all fine trees 
that should live for centuries; for shelter, red cedar, white and 
Austrian pine, with about ninety per cent, red cedar. On the 
above mentioned farm, where perhaps a hundred fine cedars are 
growing, only one of an equal number of spruce, planted under 
the same conditions, has survived. For wood, posts, poles and 
other utilitarian purposes, I would plant catalpa only, and all 
the time. This is not a very formidable list, but a desirable one 
for Iowa conditions. Other trees that thrive here have no 
qualities for use about the farmhouse proper not possessed by 
those named — many of them are lacking in some essential that 
would make them available or advantageous in meeting the con¬ 
ditions of Western life. 
FOR THE PASTURE 
The black walnut is a shapely tree when 
given room to develop. It has no superior 
for shade, though its leaves appear late 
and fall early 
TREES FOR ORNAMENT 
For shade, the American elm is best suited to all situations. 
There is one on the old homestead whose top is seventy-five feet 
in diameter, and whose trunk is about ten feet in circumference. 
If given plenty of room it makes magnificent shade, and is as well 
suited to conditions in the Mis¬ 
sissippi valley as to the Eastern 
States. The black walnut is an¬ 
other fine shade tree, although 
of rather slow growth. When 
grown as specimen trees they 
are very symmetrical. Being a 
little difficult to transplant, a 
good way to start them is by 
planting a few nuts where the 
trees are wanted, removing all 
but one when the trees are well 
started. Flard maple is another 
fine tree which is being generally 
planted as a street tree in the 
cities, and has demonstrated its 
success in the rural districts as 
well. 
It is fitting, however, to mention a phase of tree planting that 
is an attraction and advantage to the business of the farm that 
is, trees for the pasture land. Although the willow may not be of 
value about the house itself, it has its place beside the pasture pool. 
Quick growing and of no ex¬ 
pense to plant, it soon gives 
grateful shade to the grazing 
animals, protecting them during 
the hot summer months. Twigs 
simply stuck into the moist soil 
take root in no time and produce 
hardy trees. The black willow 
(Salix nigra ) is a good type to 
plant for this purpose. Where 
the farm borders a river of 
crumbling mud banks or shifting 
sands, the sand-bar willow ren¬ 
ders good service in holding up 
the banks and keeping a body of 
drift in place that would be 
moved by spring floods and un¬ 
usual tides. 
A group of red cedars, twenty years old. There is no finer 
tree for the construction of a windbreak to shield the barn 
lot or the early garden 
