3°4 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
WESTERN SETTLERS FACING TROUBLE. 
In the West they are very much stirred up over the proposition to 
take from the unreserved, unappropriated public domain reserved 
for settlers a vast area of 300,000,000 acres and place it in the forest 
service and lease it out for fencing and grazing for the big cattle 
barons and others whose interests are being crowded by encroach¬ 
ments of the homesteaders. 
This would shut out settlers from a pretty big strip of country— 
well, equivalent to an area 200 miles wide and over 2,000 miles long. 
This land is not included in the lands concerned in the regulation of 
streams or conservation of timber supply. This vast area has 
never been included in the forest reserves; it is part of the public 
domain awaiting settlement. 
The agricultural lands of the public domain belong not to the 
people of the West alone; they belong to the citizens of every State 
in the Union. Anybody may go out there, take up a homestead of 
160 acres, and make a home in the manner the law specifies. 
The act of June 4, 1897, which set aside timbered areas and 
mountain watersheds for forest reserves, specifically and distinctly 
forbade the including of lands good only for other purposes. The 
idea was that the interest of the settlers should have first considera¬ 
tion. Land unavailable for timber protection or reforestation or for 
conserving the flow of streams was to be kept open for farms and 
homes and communities. 
Under the proposed “leasing policy’’ any big cattle magnate may 
lease and fence up for ten years as much as 10,000 acres; his friend , 
may lease next door to him 10,000 more, and another friend the 
next, and so on. 
It is not likely that any settler would care to undertake the 
responsibility of taking a family upon a homestead within such in¬ 
closure; his life would be a sultry one at best. 
But the settler is not likely to have this opportunity, for if the 
leasehold has had one penny over $100 spent on it by the cattle 
owner (which amount is easily covered by the fence), the lessee has a 
right to debar the settler from entering. 
This movement is, in effect, a plan to “corner” the forage of and 
withdraw from settlement a domain larger than the combined areas 
of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, all of the New 
England States, and nearly all of the Southern States.— St. Louis 
Globe-Democrat. 
GRAFTING COMPETITION. 
A nursery firm at Nice, France, recently organized a grafting 
competition for workmen in that district. Each competitor was 
allotted so many rows of stocks and bundles of scions to correspond, 
the prizes going to the operator who put on the largest number of 
grafts successfully in a given time. Sufficient interval was allowed 
between the competition and the awarding of prizes to enable the 
judges to see which grafts were alive no allowance being made for the 
unsuccessful ones.— Florists' Review. 
STARTLING DISCOVERY. 
A farmer in Ohio has made a discovery that will be a great help 
to farmers during a dry season. He has found that when onions 
and potatoes are planted in the same field in alternate rows the 
onions, being so strong, bring tears to the eyes of the potatoes in 
such volumes that the roots of the vines are kept moist and a big 
crop is raised in spite of the drought. Nurserymen might use the 
same arrangement by planting nursery stock between the onions arid 
the potatoes. 
NEW USE FOR YUCCA PLANTS. 
The Japanese government has been importing large numbers of 
yucca plants from Chili. The tops of the plants are commonly said 
to contain an abundance of picric acid, which the Japs use in the 
manufacture of shimose powder, the deadly explosive employed 
with terrible effect in the war with Russia. 
Advertising is the keystone in the arch of business 
success. 
REASONS FOR TREE PLANTING. 
In a.neat concise pamphlet on this subject by the tree 
planting committee of the St. Louis Improvement Society, 
the following reasons are given why trees should be planted: 
x. They increase the value of surrounding property. 
2. They protect the pavement from the heat of the sun. 
3. They add beauty and comfort to the city streets. 
4. They cool the air in summer and radiate warmth in 
winter. 
6. They purify the air—the leaves inhale carbonic acid 
gas and exhale oxygen. 
7. They aid in counteracting the unnatural conditions 
of city life. 
The following kinds of trees are recommended: 
1. Maple, Silver Leaved or Soft. 
2. Maple, Sugar or Hard. 
3. Sycamore, or Plane. 
4. Elm, American. 
5. Birch, White. 
6. Poplar, Carolina. 
7. Poplar, Lombardy. 
8. European Cottonwood. 
9. Pin Oak. 
The committee advises the following distances for 
planting these trees: 
1. Silver or soft maple—25 to 30 feet apart. 
2. Sugar or hard maple (alternated with poplars) 15 to 
18 feet apart. 
3. Sycamore—25 to 30 feet apart. 
4. American elm (alternated with poplars)—15-to 18 
feet apart. 
5. White birch—16 to 20 feet apart. 
6. Carolina poplar—18 to 20 feet apart. 
7. European Cottonwood—18 to 20 feet apart. 
8. Lombardy poplar—16 to 18 feet apart. 
9. Pin Oak (alternated with poplar)—15 to 18 feet 
apart. 
Upon the subject of forest preservation generally 
President Roosevelt said: 
“Shall we continue the waste and destruction of our 
national resources or shall we conserve them? There is no 
other question of equal gravity before the nation.” 
ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION. 
The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition will be held at 
Seattle, Wash., from June 1 to October 15, 1909. An 
invitation has been extended to the American Association 
of Nurserymen to hold its 1909 convention at the exposi¬ 
tion. 
You may be assured that you will find something worth 
reading on each and every page of the National Nursery¬ 
man. 
The mint is the only house that makes money without 
advertising. 
The first thing for you to do if you have not already done 
it, is to fall in love with your work. 
