THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
103 
the antelope, they will be confined to public parks and 
private grounds. 
THE FUTURE OF THE WESTERN PLAINS. 
C. S. Harrison, Franklin, Neb. 
That portion of the country in Kansas, Nebraska 
and Dakota lying west of the looth meridian to the 
Rockies is a bleak, dry, wind swept region, lying at an 
elevation of about 3,000 feet above the sea level. The 
land for the most part is fertile—some portions extreme¬ 
ly so. The rains are very uncertain. There will often 
be a long period of drought broken by violent cloud 
bursts and often fearful hail storms. It takes a good 
deal of courage to settle in this region, though it has 
some advantages. It is generally very healthy and a 
man can work about twice as much land there as in 
Illinois, At the eastern limit of this region one will 
average a fair crop every two years. Sometimes if rain 
is abundant the yield will be enormous. Further west a 
man may not get a good crop oftener than once in three 
years. Irrigation is out of the question. There are few 
streams, and artesian wells are uncertain. Protracted 
drouths seem to dry up every living thing. Often those 
trying to raise timber on timber claims have paid more 
to raise trees than the land was worth. Yet it is too good 
a country to be wholly abandoned. What shall we do 
with it ? How can we protect it and adorn it and make 
it home-like ? 
It is hard to make even deciduous trees grow in this 
region. Many a poor fellow has worked hard for his 
full complement of trees, to prove up on his claim and 
has lost them all. My experiments have proved that the 
most of this vast section can be made beautiful and at¬ 
tractive. The tree of all others to solve this problem is 
the Pinus Ponderosa. This pine grows along the foot 
hills which border on the dry belt. You find them on 
the high bold bluffs of Northwestern Nebraska where it 
would seem nothing could live. Often they cling to the 
verge of towering precipices and wave defiance to 
drought or storm. How they can ever be propagated 
or grow is a wonder. But there they stand on the skirts 
of this vast region ready to invade it on the slightest en¬ 
couragement. Ordinarily they are hard to transplant. 
Taken from the mountains and planted in open ground, 
75 per cent, will die. The better way is first to put 
them under a screen for a couple of years. They are 
readily raised from seed, though they have a bad ten¬ 
dency for damping off. But careful experiments will 
prevent this. Then at the age of three years they may 
be planted in the open ground to grow two years longer, 
when they will do for wind break and forest planting. 
Success, however, will depend largely on the season. 
They must not be planted in a very dry time ; wait till 
the ground is well soaked, and there is a cloudy season; 
then you will succeed. I have planted hundreds at a 
time without the loss of 5 per cent. 
Under the looth meridian the Scotch and Austrian 
and even White pine will succeed for a time, but I know 
they are doomed. The Ponderosa will attend the fun¬ 
eral of every other pine tree on the plains, and then go 
on to a grand old age The tree seems endowed with a 
marvelous intelligence. I have known it to throw out a 
root 200 feet after water, and often I have noticed 
groves on barren mountain sides, where the trees seemed 
in danger of drying up. With great prudence they 
take in sail, dropping sometimes three-fourths of their 
long needles, retaining just enough to pull through with. 
They do not do well in a wet climate If they did they 
would be a great attraction. I have trees growing within 
sight of writing this, which are of the richest green, and 
have needles 10 inches in length. Under good cultivation 
they are very rapid growers, and are destined to be the 
saw-log of the plains. 
Next to them is the Silver cedar of the Rockies. 
This is a branch of the great Red cedar family, but for 
ages it has been accustomed to hardship, growing on the 
ledges. Let these trees once be fairly started and well 
cultivated for a few years and they will take care of 
themselves. With care also, many things will thrive, 
which we thought could not grow. I have 40 kinds of 
lilacs, but they do not bloom every year. But once in 
a while they come out in their full glory. The Chinese 
Weeping lilac is a late bloomer, and now (the 5th of 
June) is preparing for a magnificent display, while none 
of the others have succeeded, owing to high winds, and 
a very dry time. I have spent thousands of dollars 
4 
finding out what I couldn’t do, and have been compen¬ 
sated with finding out what will succeed. Jackson Daw¬ 
son, that prince of horticulturists, who has charge of the 
great Boston parks, has sent me many choice things, 
and I find many things that do well. Snow balls, 
syringas, and honeysuckles do well. A patch of iris 
which can be irrigated from the well, does finely. For 
ten years I have been on the verge of this great Ameri¬ 
can thirst land, trying this and that, having at this ex¬ 
periment station perhaps 500 trees and plants, common 
and rare, and I love to think what can be done in this 
region. Eastern Nebraska has been deemed the para¬ 
dise of the horticulturists. But 200 miles west of the 
Missouri river conditions change rapidly. Yet I think 
men will arise equal to the occasion. The governor 
should take the matter in hand. Hon. E. B. Fernow, 
chief of the National Division of Forestry has been out 
to visit me. He took a trip with me in the mountains, 
and he was so much impressed with the Ponderosa that 
he bought several thousand seedlings for planting in the 
Western sand hills and was rewarded with fair success. 
If the governor could suspend “river and harbor” 
for a year and give the proceeds to these vast regions it 
woidd be a wise thing. The heroes of the vast plains 
need some encouragement. 
