( Che Lt f ryt Dak NEP EAT Met ts t Het were y Out ti vy A Paani Sa ai re ui P PGRN i Hey Si Mecees Tet ie ‘ y nh 4 c iain ab sath p wate ee’ J rh es a att nay tees tern Ss ee oe ee ae ee ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New YorRK STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY a 43 Cornell University Library 32 1906 ‘o grow them including ini” 19 ‘ii how t 3 i EVERGREENS HOW TO GROW THEM QA Including varieties and characteristics of the principal Evergreens of the United States By C. S. HARRISON President of Nebraska ‘Park and Forest Asso- ciation. The Author of “Paeony Manual” and ‘The Gold Mine in the Front Yard” and “Phlox Manual” REVISED EDITION ST. PAUL, MINN. WEBB PUBLISHING CO. 1906 Vv, COPYRIGHT 1906 BY WEBB PUBLISHING CO INDEX TO CHAPTERS CHAPTER I.—A MUTILATED LAND:— Primeval America; glorious forests; lakes and_ rivers; protected springs and streams; the magnificent prairies; forests of the North; the trees of the Rockies. the Sierras and the Western Slope; the swift, needless and terrible destruction wrought by man. The Restoration—Aided By Nature, by the United States and State Governments and by individuals. CHAPTER II.—THE MISSION OF THE CONIFERS. Their freshness and cheerfulness; storm in the. Rockies: intent of the tree; first beauty, next use. The Winter Foliage Garden; formal plantings; the Thurlow farm; Prof. Green’s for- ests; topiary work in Nebraska; the Hunnewell Italian Garden; Evergreen shrubs; Berberis Repens. CHAPTER III].—EVERGREENS FOR PROFIT. Impatient American - farmers; our foreign born farmers ahead; the waste of unplanted land; sandy land made produc- tive; value of forests; of wind breaks and of individual trees; evergreen barns. CHAPTER IV.—RAISING EVERGREENS FROM SEEDS. Difference between nursery grown and collected trees; plant kinds adapted to your locality; and those that can be easily grown; Ponderosa an exception; better without a screen; the right kind of soil; the high and low screens; trees grown from western slope seed worthless; seed from eastern slope of the Rockies desirable; raise trees from seed grown nearest to you; damping off and the remedies; making lath sections; grafting and raising from cuttings. CHAPTER V.—DIGGING AND HANDLING EVERGREENS. ‘Little evergreens truthful ‘“tell-tales;’’ difference in han- dling and packing; Mr. W’s methods; trees must be cleated solid; case of Jack Pines; wet feet and dry tops in shipping; how to treat trees on arrival; when to plant and how; the ball of earth. 1v INDEX. CHAPTER VI—HOW MR. SANFORD PLANTED HIS EVER- GREEN FORESTS. Danger from fire; wonderful transformation in progress. CHAPTER VII.—IN THE SAND HILLS. Planting the sand dunes of France; the original plantings in Holt Co., Nebraska; remarkable success with Jack pines; Mr. Charles A. Scott. . CHAPTER VIII.—OUR NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN CONI- FERS. Pinus Divaricata; Pinus Virginiana; Table Mountain Pine; Norway Pine; Pinus Rigida; White Pine; the Hemlock and the Spruces; the Balsam Fir and the Cedars; trailing Juniper; the Cypress and American Larch; trees of the South; the Palustris or Long Leaved Pine; the Short Leaved Pine; the Loblolly Pine. CHAPTER IX.—THE EVERGREEN OF THE SIERRAS. The marvelous Tuberculata; Pinus Albicaulus; Pinus Lam- bertiana or Sugar Pine; Pinus Monticola; Monterey Pine; the Concolor and Magnifica Firs; Douglas Spruce; the Incense Cedar Hemlock of the Sierras; the Marvelous Nut Pines; the Giant Redwoods and Sequoias. CHAPTER X—COLLECTING EVERGREENS IN THE ROCK- IES. Ride over the plains; the coquetry of Nature; glorious views; visiting with the clouds; climbing the mountain; digging and packing; shipping and planting; hunting the Silver spruce; col- lecting in the Black Hills. CHAPTER XI.—THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN EVERGREENS. Their silver sheen; gathering seeds; the Picea Pungens and Picea, Engelmani the Silver Cedar; Juniperus Scopulorum; the Sub Alpina and Concolor Firs; the Douglas Spruce; Pinus Pon- derosi; Pinus, Flexilis; the Pinon Pines, Aristarta; Pinus Con- torta. CHAPTER XI1I.—FOREIGN EVERGREENS GROWN IN AM- ERICA. The Irish and Swedish Junipers; Siberian and Chinese Ar- bor Vitaes; Norway Spruce; Alcocks Spruce; Nordmann’s Fir; Scotch and Austrian Pines; European Larch; Japan Evergreens. CONCLUSION. INTRODUCTION. EVERGREENS—HOW TO GROW THEM. This work, like its predecessor, ‘‘The Gold Mine in the Front Yard,” is designed chiefly for the great Prairie States. The writer having raised evergreens by the million under adverse circumstances, and being acquainted with leading growers East and West, has the pleasure of presenting facts and he is sure he has made instructions so plain that the intelligent farmer ean do his own planting successfully. This is written for the common people and not for experts. In the main he has used English names, and why not? For instance, over eighty names are given to the Douglas Spruce and its varieties. How much better off would one be for piling up lumber which would never be used? So we give you the Doug- las Spruce straight and you will know it just as well as if we piled a ton of names on it. The Real Riches. a The Real Riches:—How greedy men are for gold! Let a mine b2 opened at the North Pole, and adventurers would go there no matter what risks or discomforts they would have to encounter. Strange that men cannot see wealth all around them. There are values rising into untold millions to be had for the taking. They are safe. You incur no danger in pos- sessing them. The farmer lives in the very midst of gifts that have been waiting patiently for him. I think much of the pos- sibilities of the prairie. Since 1844 I have lived in six of our western states and have seen them grow up from babyhood. I find myself dreaming often of the possibilities of these western homes. Soon the farmer will turn a little from the mere money getting department of his work and give more attention to the comforts, conveniences, and pleasures of life. So many improve- ments are being madein grain growing and stockraising that mil- lions will be added to farm values and beautiful homes will rise like magic from our fertile soil. Our farms will be like the splendid estates of the rich in the suburbs of our great cities. So much adornment will surround the home that living in the country will be like living with God. vi INTRODUCTION. There is no spot on earth so susceptible of improvement as the prairie farm. It is a broad canvas on which you can paint any picture you please. It has an advantage in being bar- ren of trees at first, so you can lay out your grounds to suit yourself. The soil is absolutely hungry for trees and has an affinity for evergreens if the proper varieties are selected. The Conifers are an extensive family. Not all of them are adapted to one locality. Each has its preference of soil and climate. Out of their own habitat they seem to pine and die of homesick- ness, The stalwart Ponderosa, the hero of the arid west wav- ing defiance to ‘drouth and storm out in the foothills of the Rockies, becomes a pitiful and helpless thing down on the At- lantic coast. Though we have not as wide a range of varieties in the west as in the east, yet we have enough for a fine selection. Take a home on a bleak windswept plain with no protection and it is ua picture of desolation. It is bombarded by the storms and the snows swirl around it. There is the barn out in the open. Turn the stock out to water when the cutting north wind is below zero, and they stand shivering as they drink. The ter- rible cold eats their flesh away. To them winter is a martyrdom, But all this can easily be changed. We have given years of study to this subject and have made tedious and expensive experiments in the semi-arid regions of the west, and we are sure we can give our readers such information as will enable them to have homes of comfort on our bleakest prairies; even the Dakotas can be dotted with farms which will be as Elysians of beauty dropped down amid the winter dreariness. To me there comes at times a sort-of second sight. I see beautiful groves, myriads of flowers, charming trees, splendid landscapes floating like flocks in the air, waiting to alight and glorify the farm. When the farmer is ready for them he can have them. His land lies on the borders of marvelous wealth and amazing beauty. CHAPTER I. A MUTILATED LAND. When God turned America over to the Anglo Saxon race it was a series of splendid forests, magnificent parks, broad prairies, with views unsurpassed by any land or age. When_the Pilgrims landed in that dreary December, they were in the midst of a winter desolation, and disease carried off half their number in a few months. But when spring came, scenes of wonderful beauty opened all around them. The trees put on their robes of green, the ground was covered with flowers and the air was laden with their fragrance and tremu- lous with the blithesome songs of the birds. Nature gave them genial welcome to a new world. They stood on the margin of a@ vast empire which unfolded before them scenes of beauty and grandeur unknown before. Look at the condition. In New England there were great forests of spruce, pine, and noble deciduous trees, oaks of mammoth size in rich variety, the differ- ent families of the ash, and the stately and wide-spreading elms in all their majesty. Away in the North were magnificent forests waiting to welcome the settlers, furnish material for his home, and defend Lim from the storms. Here were broad rivers lined with trees languidly seeking the ocean. Charming brooks, fringed with ferns and flowers, were murmuring songs of content. Beautiful lakes were flashing like diamonds in the bosom of fair Mother Earth. The inland waters were margined with trees whose majestic forms and drooping branch- es were mirrored in their placid faces. There were mountains clothed with verdure to their very summits, and from their sides springs were gushing, carefully protected by treo: sheltering bushes so they cquld not run dry. To the West great prairies spread out into a vastness which was sublime. They were God’s great parks on which He had bestowed es- pecial care and forethought for long milleniums, They were 2 EVERGREENG. carpeted with a rich covering of green, interwoven with flowers. How broad and grand they were! Their emerald horizons touched the sapphire of the heavens and the vast expanse was domed with that arch kalsomined with deepest blue, un- stained, untarnished with the smoke and dust of our modern civilization. At night how glorious when the moon came out and the stars were lighted, when the silence came down upon you, and you could listen to the stillness and,feel that you were tenting with God. Further to the West are the great plains—not al] a desola- tion, for those wide expanses have charms peculiarly their own. Yonder, on the borders of the vastness, mighty mountains are lifted against the sky,—the hoary Rockies, seamed with age. What tremendous convulsions in those far-off eons, when those masses of granite were torn from their resting places and hurled skyward! The horizontal transformed to the perpendicular— rugged rocks torn and rent from earth’s bosom. are tossed heav- enward—great turrets, domes and steeples, thousands of feet high, pointing giant fingers of stone to the Creator whose power upheaved them. Let us go among them. Here are furrows a thousand feet deep, plowed among the rocks. Listen to the roaring of the streams as they leap over the falls and rush down the rapids in their mad race to reach the plains. See all those mountain sides covered with trees; the unsightly brown of the somber rocks covered with green. What wonderful conifers, with sheen of emeralds and ermine, softest green and sapphire, noble sen- tinels are they, standing in robes of state waiting, in Nature's courts, to receive and welcome the visitor. How patiently and wisely faithful Nature has been toiling all the long eons, grind- ing up the rocks, mixing them with the leaf mould to give sus- tenance to the tree. Yonder is a grove of the Engelman spruce, like a fringe around the brow of a bald mountain rising above the timber line. On that sharp peak, pointing skyward, there are trees clinging to the fissures in the rocks. Little nourishment they get but they are there; brave trees, adding their part to the beauty of the scenery. All those steep mount- ain sides are covered with forests, the work of ages. Stand on that lofty peak and overlook it all, and it is like some mighty sea tossed with the fury of the wildest storm, with billows thrown to dizzy heights and all turned to stone and covered with green. Go further West and you see other mountains tossed out of the arid plains likeSinai, ‘the Mount that might be touched.” Their crests are crowned with forests; their sides are covered with grass; bushes fasten the soil like flesh to the rocky ribs. Go further and you see the Yellowstone Park wedged and packed with the Lodge Pole Pine, where the brave trees grow even in the spray of the geysers. Go further still and you A MUTILATED LAND, 3 reach the finest ever seen on this old earth of ours, There the Douglas Spruce, like a forest of masts crowded together; there the Giant Redwood the Sugar Pine, the king of all the race and the mighty Sequoias, emperors of the forest kingdom. There are trees standing strong and vigorous today that were giants when the mysterious Babe lay in the manger at Bethlehem. With the wisdom of God and the forethought which looked down through the ages, Nature had planned against deluges and catastrophes. Rains might fall in floods but they were held in check by millions of dams formed by the roots of the trees, fallen branches and leaf mould, which, like sponges, retained the moisture, compelling it to filter out slow- ly to the rivers. On the prairies the floods were held in check by the rank grasses so they could not wash away the soil. If there were heavy snows in the North, God had it so planned that the thick trees spread out their branches as protection against the sun, so that they must thaw slowly, and then the myriad dams beneath were ready to hold the released waters in check. Under such 'a wise provision all the rivers and streams would have an even flow. Till vandalism stepped in, the Mis- sissippi was navigable to the falls of St. Anthony and the Ohio was an artery pulsating with a busy commerce. Such the primal condition, beautiful forests of noble trees, hill and moun- tain sides and rolling prairies were guarded against the wash- ing of the soil. No one could depict the beauty of the virgin jand which was adorned as a bride for her husband. And the husband came, commencing a system of cruelty, persecution, and indignities which present to us today the spectacle of a murdered land. In the East the forests were cut away. No thought or care was given to the hillsides and the rich soil was carried out into the ocean, only bare and stony fields remained. Farm- ers said the stones seemed to grow. No; they gathered them up year by year, releasing more earth to be carried away. In a generation or two the soil was gone, the stones remained and the land would no longer support the family. The forests were cut from the sources of the rivers; Na- ture’s dams were swept away and the mighty Hudson and the Connecticut feel the wrong and yearly swell with anger at the indignities inflicted. Often rich valley farms,.that never were troubled before, were overwhelmed with floods and desolation took the place of beauty. Take the Appalachian range in the South. It was a region of marvelous beauty. The mountains and_hill- sides were covered with noble trees and flowering shrubs, the streams had an even flow, the valleys were defended from the floods by the rich vegetation which clothed all the sources of the streams. Then fools climbed those steep declivities with their axes. In some cases they girdled the trees and planted 4 EVERGREENS. corn and before the great trees fell the soil was swept away- Then they moved higher up and continued the work of destruc- tion. What was the result? Those rich farms in the fertile valleys were ruined. Great masses of sand and rock were hurled upon them, houses and barns were swept away. The valley of the noble Catawba river became a scene of awful desolation. In the southern Appalachian region, in a little over a year, the damage was estimated at over eighteen millions of dollars, and this only the beginning of the ruin which must goon. Did the vandals get eighteen millions out of the forests they destroyed? ‘This thoughtlessness is like children playing with dynamite, lighting the fuse and throwing it into a neigh- bor’s yard. Hundreds of lives and hundreds of millions have been destroyed by this fearful heedlessness and wanton disre- gard of the wise provisions of Nature. God can work thou- sands of years to adorn a land with marvelous beauty and in a short time civilized barbarians can destroy it all. In Arizona the streams which flow through Texas have their beginnings. Greed drove in great herds of cattle and horses and vast flocks of sheep. These destroyed the grass and bushes which bound the.soil to the mountain sides. The for- ests were cut from the mountains, only a small portion of the timber was used, the rest was left to invite the fires. The young timber was ruined, leaving a track of desolation. The floods came, There was nothing to hola them back. Na- ture’s dams were all torn away. The rains ripped the soil from the rocks and poured avalanches of mud into the streams. They plowed great furrows thirty feet deep through the rich valleys. The beds of the rivers were filled with mud and rock. Of course they overflowed. Then they poured into Texas; hun- dreds of lives were lost and millions of property destroyed. All because men, heedless as a drove of donkeys, could not see the result of such diabolical indifference. Look at our northern forests. A casual observer would have said, ‘‘They will last forever.’ They might have done so if eared for, giving a perpetual harvest. But to the lumberman there was no future—only a today, and into that the work of destruction must be crowded as fast as possible. The ax, firebrand and railroad engine found ‘‘a Garden of Eden before them, and left a desolate wilderness behind them.” Go to the West and how the forests have been stripped from the mountains of Colorado! Further West the track of civil- ization has been the track of ruin. As fast as human ingen- uity can devise, God's noblest work and the grandest forests which ever sprung from earth are doomed to destruction. Only a little while and blackened stumps will be all that is left of God’s richest legacy to man. Fortunately the Govern- ment has stepped in and is saving shreds and patches’ here and there—oases left in the desolation. A MUTILATED LAND. 5 The South suffers every year from Northern heedlessness. The headwaters of our great rivers have been denuded. The bottom of the Mississippi is constantly filling up. There must be great expense in keeping those banks from breaking and pouring the floods over vast areas. Almost every spring there is danger of an overflow. And all this is the result of the self- ish indifference of men who cannot look beyond their own pock- ets. As the result of this barbarism a mighty timber famine is upon us. With the growth of our civilization more and more “timber will be needed when there will be less and less. The loam from our rich prairie farms is being rapidly washed away, and there is no thought of retaining the escaping soil. Stand by any .of our western streams after a heavy rain, and they are thick with mud. They are bearing the very cream of the land down to the gulf. I have known a heavy rain to carry away the entire furrow, just leaving the marks of the plow behind. Strange that the farmer should join the lumberman in the awful mutilation. In the future the devastation from the floods will be greater rather than less. And when we think that all this could be prevented, there comes a stinging sense of wrong. This is a dark picture, but it is true. In some respects our vaunted civilization is double distilled barbarism. The wild Indian in the darkest depths of savagery neve dreamed of such soulless, heartless murder. He would-not think of charring dear old Mother Earth to cinders—stabbing, scar- ring and scalping her, despoiling her of her glorious beauty, making her sit in dust and ashes. The Restoration. The Restoration—When we think of these awful] devasta- tions wrought in so short a time, there is no wonder that in the last few years a strong forestry department has arisen which will soon demand the services of thousands of skilled men. No wonder that forestry societies spring up in almost every state and that men with soul aflame would, if possible, dip their pens in liquid fire and write words that would burn. Though this picture is so dark and the desolation wrought in a short time is so fearful yet we need not despair. Suddenly the eyes of the nation have been opened and an interest un- known has been awakened. After ages of loss and waste the nations of Europe awoke. Forests were replaced and millions of acres of drifting sands were crowned with woodland beauty. The conditions today are better than ever. We have an efficient forest bureau, a Pres-= ident who loves our mountains and trees, and a Secretary of Agriculture who reflects the will of the people. We have forest reserves of millions of acres. The Government holds sole jurisdiction over immense tracts which are the sources of our streams and rivers; with the splendid system of irrigation now inaugurated the forests, which are the mothers of the fountains and streams, must be preserved. Many states are now replant- 6 EVERGREENS. ing the denuded lands and many private owners see the need of saving the young trees that there may be a perpetual lumber harvest. The Government from now on will retain the timber lands and have the lumbering done under their own supervision, cutting out the ripe trees and saving the younger ones. One of the most powerful factors in this work of restoration is the persistent and tremendous energy of Nature, which with a.motherly forethought hastens to the rescue. If you visit the Rockies or the Black Hills you will notice that everywhere she is following up the ax and the firebrand with an alertness which is remarkable. Here is a vast tract; every tree sound enough for use is cut away. A few charred and marred ones are left standing. Threaten a tree with death and what does it do? It is in tremendous haste to reproduce itself. No tree believes in “race suicide.’’ Apple trees are threatened with death by root pruning and girdling and in alarm at the danger of extinction they load themselves with fruit. So these charred remnants of the forest are laden with seeds and the seeds have wings. The strong autumn winds whirl them out over the ground. They come up by the million and grow like weeds. You visit one of these young forests—the ground is covered with vigorous little trees from twelve to twenty-four inches tall. Ten years after you go again and they are twenty feet high. They are busy day and night, eager to restore the waste. Nature has so arranged that some varieties retain the seeds locked up in the cones with a vicelike grip, and they are not released til] a fire passes over, when the cones are unlocked, and the seeds shoot out to take root in the ashes— springing up by the million. When Nature is aided by man the work of restoration is soon under way. In the East, farms are often worn out and deserted. The soil is washed away, and the people have gone. Then Nature moves in. The seeds of the White Pine come merrily whirling and dancing through the air, with hop, skip and jump, they take their places among the chips, stones and brush and lo, in a year or two there are thousands of thrifty little pines. They grow rapidly. In thirty or forty years those fields have made better returns than they made in the sume period with all the grubbing and stone gath- ering, all the sweat and toil which the owner gave to those re- luctant acres, You have noticed a peculiar kind of lumber used for shoe boxes. It is harder, and the grain is coarser than the common White Pine from the northern forests while there are a great many sound knots in it. This is the vigorous second growth of the White Pine of New England. The logs are sawed up three or four feet long. They are cut into thin boards and then are edged so as to save all the lumber possible. I think one of the finest spectacles in the old Bay State is to see these young and thrifty groves with their bright green foliage taking A MUTILATED LAND, 7 possession of a worn-out farm. There is much White Pine inthe East, but I think you seldom see a grove with trees of a cen- tury’s growth. Old as the country is and crowded with eventful history, it does look refreshing to see kindly Nature cleaning up after men and making the country new and fresh again. The same condition is found in the South. The old wornout plantations are buried with fresh forests; everywhere the trees are edging into the fields and there is a constant warfare be- tween the forest and the plow. Again, the soil of the’ great prairies is absolutely hungry for trees. I came to this place, where the city of York now stands, in 1871. There was not a bush or a tree growing then. We began immediately’to plant. Now ours is called the Forest City. In comparatively few years we have trees three feet through, and some of them would make 500 feet of lumber. Conifers planted in the early days have done remarkably well. and if, thirty or forty years ago, forests of Ponderosa and Austrian Pines had been planted by this time they would have brought fabulous returns, Every farmer on his own place can help in this universal work of restoration. He can stop the wash from the side hills by planting them to trees. He can dam up the ravines and catch and hold the soil which would otherwise go to the gulf. He can plant his lowlands to cottonwoods where nothing else will grow and those trees will pump gold out of the rich mud. CHAPTER II. THE MISSION OF THE CONIFERS. In the economy of a kind Providence these trees stand well to the front among our benefactors. The wonder is that men do not surround themselves with these faithful sentinels which in great armies, would stand guard around their homes, defending them from the fierce storms and icy blasts. Evergreens bring the freshness and beauty of summer into the dreariness of winter. For mingling of color the green and the white form the most beautiful blending. I was once in the heart of the Rockies when a great snow storm fell the last of August. The green branches were laden with the purest white. Above, the sky was of the deepest blue. The sun shone out in his splendor. Whichever way we turned there was the harmonious blending and it seemed as if we were riding through an enchanted land. The snow crystals were sparkling in the light. Every tree, large or small, was wrapped in its mantle of richest ermine. What an important part our evergreen forests have played in the building of a great nation. The apparent intent of these trees seems to be, first beauty, and then use. First, the tree is a pyramid of green, the branches pushing outward as the main stem aspires upward. Then in after years it loses its low- er branches and gives its attention to developing the trunk. While visiting the home of Professor Sargent, who has giv- en us that monumental work on the ‘Silva of North America,” and walking in his beautiful grounds he said to me: “I am disgusted with most of our evergreens. They will not hold their lower limbs. The Picea Pungens is a disappointment. The Norway Spruce and White Pines will lose their branches. They are unsatisfactory. I want a tree that will retain its branches down to old age and be a great pyramid of green.’ I replied, ‘‘Professor, a tree seems endowed with a sense of beauty and forethought. First comes beauty. We all know that a young evergreen is one of the most charming of trees. The next stage is usefulness. Its ultimate uestiny is a sawlog. It seems endowed with a conscience as if it knew its mission and wanted to be faithful to it. All along its history it is in- tent to please and benefit." The marvel {fs that when these might be raised by the mil- THE MISSION OF THE CONIFERS, 9 lions, when the very claracter of our somber landscapes might be changed, giving waves of health and healing to the air and perennial freshness all around us, we pay so little heed to them, > A Winter Foliage Garden. A Winter Foliage Garden.—We love to have a rich variety in summer. Each tree has an individuality. The effect of the various shadings of color is always pleasing. Some have bril- liant leaves of varnished green, others have a softer tone. Some have large leaves, and others very small ones. Among the elms many of our natives show a very rank and vigorous growth, while the Japanese, the English, and the Scotch vari- eties will have extremely delicate foliage. Some are of yel- lowish green, others have so deep a color as to be almost blue. The effect is enhanced if we have now and then a Silver Pop- lar or a Russian Olive with its various shadings. In autumn our mountains and forests are gorgeous in their brilliant robes, when all Nature goes into a carnival of display before the sober Lent of winter. In planning our landscapes we should always study autumn effect, so that, when our choice summer flowers succumb to the frosts for a brief season, all the trees around us should break forth in a wondrous profusion of beauty. : But who ever plans for a Winter Foliage Garden, thus mak- ing beauty perennial, with charms that encircle the year? When we study the individuality of our evergreens we are im- pressed with the fact that there is a vast empire of attractive- ness which is as yet hardly touched. Live among these trees, study them closely, and you will be delighted with their variety. The rich and various colorings of our Rocky mountain trees give effects unknown before, as though the great Horticulturist had held in reserve the very choicest things with which to en- rich our landscapes. Here we have a marvelous diversity in form, in growth and foliage, which makes a collection of Coni- fers a perpetual joy. In the trying climate of the West we can- not have so wide a range of variety as in the moister air of the East. Trees from the northeastern states and the charm- ing evergreens of Japan cannot endure our winter drouths, and yet we do have a rich variety which will add much to our com- fort and pleasure. Tastes differ: In the East I have seen men at great expense move the Rocky mountain trees away from the native Ever- green, as though their presence was a contamination. You can plant these choice trees together or you can have them in groups. As, for instance, you can have a Rocky Mountain sec- tion, a space devoted to our northern trees, and one to the trees of Europe and Asia. In your winter garden what'an amazing and rich diversity you will have! There are a dozen forms and shades of foliage in the Douglas Spruce alone. This is true also of the Picea Pungens and Picea Engelmani. The Aus- Io EVERGREENS. ; T. C. Thurlow. : West Newbury, Mass. THE MISSION OF THE CONIFERS, It trian Pine has a color so deep that it is a vivid green bordering on blue. The Scotch Pine is much lighter. The Concolor ts simply radiant in its blending of silver and emerald. Here you have the long glazed needles of the Ponderosa and the charm- ing foliage of the Sub-Alpina. The Scopulorum looks as if sprayed with the moonlight, while the sturdy Brown Cedar is solid green. Many of the spruces of our northern Minnesota and Black Hills forests have a silvery sheen which often is very clearly pronounced. So you take all these trees and there are now at least fifteen varieties which do well on our prairies, and you have material out of which « garden of glorious beauty can be made and the kindly sentinels which keep guard around you will not stand there in shabby and ragged garments but they will be attired in uniforms fit to grace thé palaces of kings. The Formal Planting of Conifers——We love the informal- ity of Nature as she sows the seeds broadcast and they come up in groves and forests. And yet, when art aids Nature and we have the long, straight rows, the effect is fine. You can plant as Nature does and mix them all together or you can use the straight rows which, for convenience of cultivating, will be far preferable. At the home of T. C. Thurlow in West New- bury, Mass., there is a formal plantation of Norway Spruce— the rows about eight feet apart each way. The trees growing so thickly have trimmed themselves as they do in the native forests. The bodies are like pillars in a grand cathedral. Above, the branches have woven a canopy of green, so dense as to shut out the sun. Was there ever a more delightful place? What a resort for children in the heat of summer—playhouses scattered all around and plenty of seats and carpets of needles on which they can frolic and tumble. How the joy of child- hood is enhanced by such a delightful retreat, and what a contrast to the wind-swept and sun-scorched plains of the treeless west! Isaac Pollard of Nehawka, Nebr., has an evergreen forest of marvelous beauty. It is wonderful how so mpich attractive- ness can spring up out of the dull earth. There we saw a clump of Douglas Spruce in its perfection and stately rows of White and Austrian Pines with here and there the Silver Pun- gens flashing in the sun. What one man has done, another can do. J. Stirling Morton has a famous formal grove of White Pines. His home is near the Missouri river where they could thrive. A hundred miles west they would have failed, but the Austrian would have succeeded admirably. Prof. Green, at St. Anthony Park, Minn., has given fine examples of formal planting. What a place for a nooning when a man is tired! Those rows are as straight as a line can draw them. The stems are like rows of posts sustaining a roof of green. The sun is shut out and the cool breeze, laden with the aroma of the pines, wanders through, fanning you into drowsiness. What an ideal place for 12 EVERGREENS. consumptives! There is no such sanitarium on earth as that the Great Physician has devised, if men will only carry out his plans. What a charming place for tired mothers; even the childless new woman could find here’a sweet rest after her struggles to reach fame instead of home. Prof. Green’s grove, I think, is fifteen years old. What will it be in twenty-five years? These columns will be taller and the green roof will be raised higher and a sense of grandeur will grow on you as you walk through it. Here are conditions every farmer can have at a little cost. But too often he wants the cattle and hog pens near the door. The barn yard smells are sweeter than the odors of the pines. He prefers the broad prairie to the charming forest. He lets the blizzard rage and the storms howl, and the northwind sting with his cruel lash instead of such a shelter as the waiting evergreens would give. Strange, when a man might have a heaven of peace and beauty he chooses a very purgatory of storm revels, where tempests hold their high carnivals of fury. Topiary Work Among Evergreens. Topiary Work Among Evergreens.—This term refers to or- Showing topiary work in Red Cedars. namental work or trees shaped by shearing or clipping. We see too many attempts at this work which amount to mutila- tion or distortion. A little will go a long way. If your trees are healthy and will stand clipping, and are not overshadowed by others of ranker growth which will rob them of their sym- THE MISSION OF THE CONIFERS. 13 metry, then you can try it on a small scale. Of all evergreens the Cedar is adapted to this style of ornamentation. Some men seem born with an instinctive skill in this di- rection. Mr. Robinson, a farmer in Fillmore Co., Nebr., had some vigorous Platte Cedars in his yard which he commenced Red Cedar Trained in the Form of a Lantern. 14 EVERGREENS. trimming. He has the eye of an artist. the skill of a sculptor, and we give you in these illustrations a sample of his work. On the famous estate of H. H. Hunnewell, opposite that charming lake at Wellesley college, Mass., you will see an Ital- ian garden in which this topiary work isprominent. One tree is cut into the shape of ahouse. One hasa watch dog lying in its branches. On another tree 1s a rooster in tne act of crowing. Mr. Robinson has given several forms. The most conspicuous is a lantern near his door. In some instances you will see the art carried to extremes. One tree is cut into the form of a horse. Another is clipped to represent a cow. Another is a sheep. It is needless to say that this work requires the high- est skill, and the most delicate touch and constant care. For in the growing season that rooster must be watched, or he will get out of shape, and the dog will have a tree growing out of his back, and the horse will have horns. Where the White Pine is used it can be more easily managed as it makes all its growth in a month. But the Red Cedar grows all summer and if not constantly watched will play some jokes on your designs. Evergreen Shrubs and Plants. Evergreen Shrubs and Plants.—As we reach the drier air of the West, these for the most part disappear. They may live through the summer but the winter drouth will wipe them out. Rhododendrons, Kalmias, Azaleas, Hollies, creeping Euonymus, and most evergreen shrubs which do so well in the East cannot live in the West. Even the hardy Lonicera Sempervirens will often lose both leaves and branches. And yet, we need something to enliven the winter dreariness if pos- sible. Yuccas are all right, and continue green the year round. I have been experimenting for years with the Berberis Repens or creeping Berberry of the Black Hills and the Rockies. This, in a measure, promises to meet the want. It often covers the ground in its native forests. The leaves are like the Holly. Those from the Black Hills are the hardiest. In the spring they bear great trusses of sweetly scented yellow flowers. They are so fragrant they fill all the air so completely, you feel that you are wading in their perfume. The blossoms are fol- lowed by purple berries. These plants are known as the Ore- gon Grape. In the mountains when the fruit is ripe you will see women and children gathering them in immense quantities for jams and jellies. They have a somewhat rank taste but I think if Professor Hansen could get hold of them and im- prove them as he has the sand cherry we then would have one of the finest of ornamental plants that we can depend on. Without doubt it will thrive all over the northwest. The Holly THE MISSION OF THE CONIFERS, 15 is almost indispensable for Christmas time, and the foliage of this plant so much resembles it that it can take its place. Berberis Repens. Add to this its glorious bloom with delicious fragrance and its great masses of fruit and you have a combination seldom gathered in one plant. We are fortunate in having a cut to represent this berberry. CHAPTER III. ‘ EVERGREENS FOR PROFIT. One serious trouble with Americans is that they are im- patient and cannot wait for results. Too often anything that will last longer than a corn stalk or a straw stack is not to be taken into account. Then we are too restless, inclined to sell and move. In this respect our foreign-born farmers far surpass us. They do not sell; and, strange as it may seem, the nurserymen have more calls for trees, shrubs and flowers from them than from the American born. The mem- ories of the fatherland come over with the emigrant. He remembers the permanence and beauty of the old estates of the rich, and when he becomes rich himself and owns those broad and fertile acres he remembers how it was in the old country. His land becomes his home and he plans accordingly. Too often the ‘‘get-rich-quick” spirit invades the farm and nothing must be thought of which does not bring in quick returns. Too often the rich lands of the West have been push- ed and crowded like slaves. They have been forced to their utmost without any returns made—no manure—no fertiliza- tion; simply pushed to the point of exhaustion. But few men sit down and plan for the future or look ahead for half a century. Often there will be low, wet places which produce nothing but weeds. I frequently ride on a road which separates two farms. On one side is a grove of cotton woods, which are making a splendid growth, and in 30 years there willbe lumber enoughon anacreto build a good barn. The other side has a piece of land just as rich, with loam 10 feet deep, and it has never raised anything but weeds. and those wceds might have been turned into splendid trees which in time would have been worth $200.00 to the acre, It pays to have a little planning. Farms are all ihe while ris- ing in value and every nook and corner should be put to some use, Plant groves and windbreaks, Those side hills will be ideal places for evergreens. They will hold the soil that re- mains and their needles will form a new humus. There is profit in evergreens. Millions of acres of worth- less sand in Nebraska and the great West can be made worth $100.00 per acre in twenty-five or thirty years, and more in fifty years. This seems a long time to wait for sawlogs but EVERGREENS FOR PROFIT. 17 a young man can have no better life insurance, much safer than the great institutions in the grasp of frenzied financiers. You need not wait very long for assured returns. You see them growing and they are valuable assets. In the Nebraska sandhills in fifteen years Jack pines made a growth at the rate of thirteen cords to the acre. No one would cut them at that stage. But there was the actual value—$40 worth of wood to the acre in fifteen years. They are costing nothing. They just rent the land and do all the work, you simply look on and they will pay you a rental of four to five dollars a year, So in jime you or your children will get so much per acre from land which, unimproved, would not be worth $5.00 per acre. The United States government, taking this matter in hand, has now commenced planting an immense reserve of hundreds of acres with every assurance of success, Many portions of © Europe, which were nothing but drifting sands, are now bear- ing grand forests of conifers. How can a young man make surer, safer provision for his children or for old age than by planting trees? If the timber lands of the North had been kept from fires, there might have been a continual harvest every few years by cutting out the larger trees and saving the smaller ones. It takes about 1000 Jack Pines to plant an acre, and these set down will cost about $4.00. Surely not a large outlay con- sidering the future which lies before them. The money a man pays to insure his life, if laid out judiciously in tree planting, would bring in greater and surer returns. A good healthy tree knows how to figure a high rate of interest. Remember that lumber is going to be much higherin the future than now. When I was a boy we used to buy fencing in Chicago for $5.00 per 1000 feet. Such times are past forever. I have known men to build fine houses almost entirely from: trees they had planted twenty-five years before. There is nothing visionary or chimerical about this proposi- tion of tree planting. In hansas there is a grove of Austrian Pines twenty-five years old, that would turn out a good deal of lumber. The amount of evergreen planting in the west has been ridiculously small, and yet what little has been done gives encouragement to go on on a larger scale. While the most bar- ren and unproductive lands can be made beautiful and profitable by planting them, the richest lands would bring in much larger returns. So plant evergreens. Remember that beauty is wealth, and when a piece of brown earth is covered with forests of that deep, rich green which retains its freshness summer and winter, the view is a perpetual delight. Then these groves arrest the fury of the storms, check the hot winds and stop the fearful evaporation they cause, and in this way protect the land. You cannot estimate the indirect value of whole sections planted to Ponderosa Pines out on the 18 RVERGREENS. plains, How much they would add to the beauty of the land- scape! The reflection of the heat would be light compared with that which fairly burns from the bare earth where the fierce hot winds are generated. All these things, with the intrinsic value, give strong incentives for planting on a large scale. Value of Individual Trees.—For instance, the Picea Pungens, with its peculiar and lustrous bloom, is like a rare flower in itself. I have known $100. to be refused for a single tree. Look at it. In shape, a glistening pyramid of mingled blue and silver, the joy of the beholder, the delight of the owner. I have seen single specimens of the northern White Spruce which would add $100 value to a front yard. Often you see the silver type, and with its perfect proportions this makes it an ideal tree. I have seen the stately Concolor so beautiful in foliage and imposing in form that money could not buy it. Often the Austrian Pine, where it has a chance to put out its branches, will present a fine spectacle. The Silver Cedar with its trim form, cone-like in shape, as if run in a mould, scintillating with those frostings of silver, wins your admiration, and if growing in your own yard would be above price. And where it will thrive the White Fine is a great favorite, healthy in growth, shapely in form, ‘and its colors pleasing to the eye. Incidental Values.—There are many things you cannot put into dollars and cents. A tree is worth more than its cash value in cordwood and boards, just as a fine, thorough-bred Jersey is worth more than the price of beef. If you have a forest of evergreens on the north side of your house you can put no estimate on its worth as a retreat from the burning sun in sum- mer, or a defense it gives you from the fierce attacks of old Boreas, The Evergreen Barn.—In many places in the West the air is so dry in the winter that if cattle can be sheltered from the winds they will do-well without a roof over them. In fact, there are thousands of feeders who give their stock no shelter whatever. save a burbed wire fence. The gruwing scarcity of lumber makes the buiiding of a large barn very expensive. I hereby yresent a feasible plan for the shelter of ztock cat- tle. Lay out one-iourth, or an acre, as the case demands. Have it well cultivated. Plant around it two rows of Cedar Austrian, or Ponderosa Pines. Have your rows eight feet apart and plant eight feet apart in the rew. Plant so as to break joints. In about five years you have a snug enclosure, and your harn is getting beiter every year. Ags your trees grow larzer, trim off the limbs on the inside. By the way, a word about trimming evergreens. Never cut the limbs close to the tree. It will bleed pitch and turpentine so as to enfeeble it. Cut off leaving a stub six to eight inches long. Let this die and become dry, then saw off close to the tree. In only a few years you will have quite EVERGREENS FOR PROFIT. 19 an evergreen roof over your stock. Your hay barn and tacks can be put in the center of the lot, just a movable roof is all that will be needed for the hay as your growing trees will shelter it from the driving rains. This enclosure should be cleaned out and plowed every spring, and perhaps sowed to something which could be used for fodder. Here you have a building which is alive, growing better all the while. It has cost but little. You ‘do not have to insure it and after 15 years, when a lumber barn begins to show age, your evergreen barn will be a beauty, and it would take several hundred dollars to buy it. Ten dollars would be all the frame would cost, and il will put on the sides and do the shingling itself. The Wind Break.—I have noted in those years when the hot winds raged that while whole fields of corn in the open were burned up in August, those places sheltered by trees or bluffs produced good crops. It is well known that heavy windstorms often injure and lodge thegrain. Suppose in the North you have a hedge row of White Spruce, and further South the Ponderosa. When once established they grow about two feet a year. Think of the beauty of a farm thus enclosed, with these staunch de- fenders, growing taller and stronger every year. They would soon be so large as to baffle the winds. It is well known that in a hot, drying wind, raging at the rate of thirty miles an hour. the evaporation is six times as great as during a calm. So we must devise some way to encourage the ealm and discourage the wind. Here then are your groves, shelter belts and evergreen enclosures. Each year gives you greater protection and comfort till it seems as if your northern home was moved several hun- dred miles to the South. CHAPTER IV. RAISING EVERGREENS FROM SEEDS. This is a broad subject and there are many points to be taken into consideration. In the first place, the question comes up ‘‘What is the dif- ference between collected and nursery-grown trees?’ That depends on the condition of the wild trees, and how and where they grow. For instance, the Concolor Fir and thé Ponderosa Pine are difficult to transplant from the wild state. But if you find them growing in gravel or disintegrated granite, where you can get all the fibrous roots, there is but little trouble. If they grow on rocky ground, let them alone. The Douglas Spruce and Picea Pungens, if growing in favorable conditions, trans- plant very readily. Of the 3,000 of the latter sent to a firm in Massachusetts 95 per cent lived. Perhaps it takes a year longer for them to be fully es- tablished, yet there is quite a gain by using them, and then you have a chance to pick the choicest colors. The Ponderosa are raised so easily from seed and they grow so rapidly, there is no use in trying collected ones; though of these I generally save fifty per cent and gain a year or two of time. As to Jack Pines, they generally grow in sand and often in the open; in which case there is little difference between the wild and nursery-grown. In raising from seed it makes a great difference what kinds you plant and where you get the seed. If you wish to raise Ponderosa for the semi-arid regions, get the seed from the Colorado foot-hills, where it is usually hot and dry. But these will not do so well in Minnesota or the Dakotas. If you are raising for those states, get the seed from the high altitudes of the Rockies or from the highest sections of the Black Hills. J am convinced that this tree has more to do than any other in foresting the great, bleak West. In the first place it is the most easily grown; besides it is best adapted to all that re- gion. In scores of instances I have seen the soil scraped off by the railroads down to the hard pan and the whole s,ace would be filled with little trees; the seeds having been whirled .there by the winds in the fall. They were covered with snow RAISING EVERGREENS FROM SEED. 21 in winter and in the spring they sprouted in the mud and threw down that taproot for which they are famous, and defied the blistering sun and the hot winds with no protection whatever. For years I sowed them in the spring and under the screen along with other Conifer seeds. But they should be sown in the fall without any screen, or if you have one take it off as soon as they come up. I found they damped off much more under the screen than in the open. Here you have it then: You buy the seed which will not exceed two dollars a pound, sow in the fall, protect from birds and squirrels, be sure they do not dry while germinating, and you can raise them by the thousand. And where you make a business of it they will cost you about $1.00 a thousand. If you have a section of the sand- hills, raise your own planis, Let them grow two or three years; then plant them out, about a thousand to the acre, and your expense is light. You lay the foundation for a fine forest; only, have a good fireguard and keep out the fires. If you are raising seedlings, much depends on the quality of the soil. In Franklin County, Nehraska, under the 100th meridian, the soil was fine and porous and full of humus. I could get river sand to cover with and I had splendid success, though that section bordered on the semi-arid regions. Here in York the conditions are different. The original humus is worn out of the soil, and it takes time to restore it by arti- ficial means; then, too, those pests of prairie loam, the angleworms, have come in. They work over the soil and leave it tough and waxy, and when it dries it is like a brickbat. Then we have nothing -but bank sand, and if this is spread over the beds, there are impurities enough in it to form a hard cement. So under these circumstances we will discontinue raising any- thing but the sturdy Ponderosa. : In central Nebraska, and in the other western states, build- ings should be constructed for raising evergreens from the smaller seeds, for by no known process can you raise Pun- gens, Engelman Spruce, or Jack Pines, as- you would other Conifers. Again, you cannot put these trees in the open till they have obtained some size. I have often lost two-year-old Ponderosa by planting in the open; the reflection of the sun in a dry, hot summer would burn them. When three years old they would do better and you should, not lose more than 5 per cent in planting. We must have more evergreens for the Prairie States, and each state should have stations to attend to the growing of them. It is most too much to expect that the average nurseryman can attend to it besides all his other work. I think this a good rule to follow: Instead of trying to raise Jack Pines in Nebraska from seed, let them be grown in their own habitat. An open space of sand in the woods is the 22 EVERGREENS. ideal place where they could be raised by the million. I once planted 2,000 two-year-olds. They looked insignificant enough, but I failed to find a dead one in the whole lot. So with Pun- gens and Engelman, raise them where they grow naturally. I know scores of rich valleys in the Rockies where seedlings - could be raised by the ton for I have dug them by the thous- ands there. And nature will do better, assisted by art. There are sections where they do well elsewhere. Tine &creen: This is a sort of artificial forest to give, if possible, the conditions of nature out on the prairies. This was devised by Robert Douglas, the father of the modern system of Evergreen growing. He told me of his experience. He first bought a bushel of White Pine seed. They were carefully sown and came up beautifully. The beds were fairly green with them. Then came a heavy thunder storm with a deluge of rain. Then the bright sun came out, and his little trees were mowed down with the damps. Then he thought ‘I must have forest conditions.” so he devised the screen. He covered acres, putting up posts and then cross pieces covering with brush. In this way he raised them by the millions and gave an im- petus to the business by showing others how to do it. While living in western Nebraska, I had half an acre of screen. I put up poles, 8 feet apart each way, strips of corn- cribbing 1x4 inches were nailed to the tops of the posts, so they would be four feet apart. Growing on the river bottom were large groves of fine, straight willows about eight or nine feet tall. These were cut, bound in bundles, placed on these cross joists and fastened on with binding twine or baling wire. This made a good covering. In some respects it was better than lath, for the drip from the rains was not so heavy. In building a screen always have your lath or brush run north and south, for if you have them east or west, the sun will strike through the same cracks all day and some of your plants will be in the shade all the time and some in the sun. There is one trouble with a permanent screen of this kind. After a year or two a fungus seems to creep in, and there is a black cut-worm that works fearful havoc, mowing down whole beds in a short time. You need a lot of toads to take care of them, and then you will have to furnish wings for your toads, for the great lubberly fellows will crush down your little plants. A good way is to sow lettuce and then poison that. The worms will leave the trees for this. The Tall or Low Screen: Your tall screen should be 7 feet high, so that you can walk under it without any trouble. I have always had the best success with the low screen. Build a pen 8x32 feet, about eighteen inches high. Run a cross piece through the center lengthwise to catch the ends of your lath squares, which we RAISING EVERGREENS FROM SEED, 23 mention later. Prepare the ground thoroughly, level it down carefully, and sow the seed at the rate of a pound to an 8x8 foot space. If the seeds are very small much more space will be needed. Cover the seed with river sand or sand and loam. In a close pen like this there will be but little evapora- tion. You can remove the lath squares for watering and weed- ing, and then replace them. You have two advantages by this temporary screen system. The drip from’ the high screen is often a serious matter, and by this plan you can have fresh ground for each planting. In this way I have raised immense quantities of fine trees and could dig up a hundred at a single spadeful. If you have plenty of screen room you can transplant when the trees are two years old. Have them covered the first year and uncover the second year. Then put them in the open for a couple of years, and they are ready to sell or to plant, as you like. Please note these points; Ponderosa Pine, Concolor Fir, and other beautiful evergreens, grow in the Sierras and on the Western Slope, but you cannot grow them in the Fast or Cen- tral West. The finest evergreens in all the world grow on the Western Slope, but let them alone. One of the leading nurseries of Pennsylvania, some thirty years ago, secured a fine lot of seed and had a good stand of plants, and had great hopes of them, but when they were about four years old there came one of those mysterious northwest death waves which wiped them from the earth. I think there are a few Sequoias grow- ing in Rochester, New York, and I think there are some in dif- ferent portions of the East, but they are uncertain and by no means can they be made to grow in the blistering suns of the West. Time and again collected trees, handled with the great- est care, have been planted in Nebraska, but one might as well try to raise oranges. On the other hand, trees from the east- ern slope of the Rockies do remarkably well on our western prairies. For remember that vast system of mountains was lifted out of the great burning plains and the climate and con- ditions are much alike. This is the case also with trees from the Black Hills. They generally do well on the western prairies. So if you want to raise White Spruce get the seed or trees from the Black Hills. Those raised from seed grown in Maine cannot grow in Minnesota or Nebraska to advantage. For the extreme north and Manitoba secure seed and trees from the northern forests. Going on the cars west of Winnipeg I saw beautiful White Spruce growing in the dunes of drifting sands. They were self-planted and in several instances those trees had been planted around the homes on the bleak prairies. They were doing well, but because they are a success in Manitoba don’t think you can move them into Kansas or Oklahoma, for there they would sunburn. You cannot move southern Conifirs far north. The beautiful long leafed pine of Alabama is not 24 EVERGREENS. hardy and cannot be made to grow as far north as Nebraska.- If you want to raise White Pine get seed from the native belt nearest you. And now have a care; for the White Pine, no matter what the brand, cannot be made to grow west of the 100th meridian. I had a beautiful lot of fine thrifty ones, 6 feet tall, that grew there, and it seemed as if they would succeed, but with the American Sirocco blowing a gale, with the mercury 112 in the shade, you could smell them as they were cooking. Yet in the eastern part of Nebraska there are fine groves of them, but as you get 100 miles west of the river the conditions grow more unfavorable. There are, perhaps, 20 in York County to- day, remnants of the thousands that have been planted. It don’t pay to plant a hundred trees to get one to live. The Scotch Pine will grow in the eastern part of many of our west- ern states, but beware how you try to move it too far West. Experts found fine groves of this tree growing in western Kan- sas, and recommended it for that region. How does this hap- pen? The wet and dry seasons move in cycles. There will be a succession of wet ones, as we have had for the last four years, and are deluded with the thought that it will always be so. In these wet years Scotch Pine, and perhaps Norway Spruce, and even White Pine may grow a few years and then come the dry and scorching winds and the mercury soaring—so‘hot you can smell the scorching prairie grass,and down go your hopesand your groves of White Spruce, White Pine, Norway Spruce. But the Ponderosa will be there with its long plumes waving de- fiance to all that comes, and beside it will stand the Austrian Pine unmoved. But take care how far north you move this same Austrian. While the Scotch Pine with its soft foliage cannot endure the intense heat of the plains, it is hardier in the north than the Austrian, or the foot-hills Ponderosa. As a general rule trees with hard, stiff needles will endure the heat better than those with soft foliage. Red Cedars from southern Illinois are not hardy in Nebraska and the Platte Cedars are not hardy in North Dakota, though they are of the same species. The dclicate and heautiful evergreen of Japan—the Retinisporas—do well in Massachusetts, but what bedraggled, despondent and homesick-looking things they become when moved to Kansas. So, take Pinus Ponderosa to the eastern sea coast and it is the picture of despair. These suggestions are the result of years of close observa- ticns, and if you are going to raise evergreens there are always some kinds that are waiting for you and will succeed in your locality. But be sure of them before you begin to raise them ona large scale. 1 can imagine a man from the Fast coming to a western prairie farm. He is all enthusiasm, he will show the natives how it is done. He has had a thorough training in a first-class agricultural college and he knows just what to RAISING EVERGREENS FROM SEED, 25 plant. He loves Birch and Maple; he likes the Norway and White Spruce and White Pine, and he orders them from the East and plants them all in the best manner. But there comes in a year or two one of those hot waves which kills every tree on his place. Such attempts have been often made with like results, yet, if the right kinds had been planted there would have been no failure. Damping Off: This is the terror of despair of the Ever- green grower. The seeds will come up all right, and he be- gins to figure his profits, when there will come a heavy rain followed by a bright sun and his trees go down by the thou- sand. This usually happens when the trees are quite tender and the stem is weak and before the second set of leaves has form- ed and the stem has become woody. After this there is not much danger. It is then highly important to give the trees as early a start as possible, so they can harden up before the ex- cessive heat of summer. Many kinds will do best planted in the fall, or they may first be sprouted in warm water, and then planted quite early. Many plans have been devised for circumventing this dif- ficulty. We must follow the lines of nature. I have often watched seedlings in the forest. How are they started there? The cones open and the seed falls in the leaf mould. Deciduous trees are often near and when the seed falls they are covered with needles and the leaves of the neighboring trees. The point of danger, where the damps attack the seedling, is just between the air and earth. Nature guards this point careful- ly. One cause of the trouble in the nursery is that the rain spatiers the mud on the tender plant and this in some way in- duces the damps. I have found Nature’s plan to work well, and after sowing the seed have covered the beds with a coat of moss or crushed leives, worked up fine so that the seedlings could come up through them; pine needles also may be used. Mr. Scott, of the Dismal River station, has devised this plan: he carefully sows the seeds and covers them with fine gravel. This prevents the spattering of the mud when it rains and he finds the danger with this method comparatively small. So there are several things to be taken into consideration: ist: There should be a location chosen with congenial soil and climate. ‘While you cannot raise trees from the smallest seeds like the Pungens, Engelman and Jack Pine in Kansas and Nebraska, yet in many parts of Illinois, Ohio and the eastern states they can be grown to advantage. 2nd: In the West plant those kinds which are the least liable to damp off, mainly Ponderosa, the Chinese and Siberian Arborvitaes, and with care you can grow the Austrian Pine, Douglas Spruce and Concolor Fir. 26 EVERGREENS, 8rd: Defend in some way the seedlings most liable to the damps or blight. Many growers have dry sand ready to use with the first symptoms of the trouble. How to Make Lath Sections: After using various methods for years, I finally adopted the following plan, which has the approval of Prof. Green and others: Lay aside sixteen com- mon lath for a square. Take three picket lath, about a half an inch thick, put one in the center and one at each end. As you nail them on, push every other lath about two inches be- yond your end cross piece. This makes your section a little over four feet wide, so that it will readily catch on the four foot sides of your pen. Understand, your pen is made 8x32 feet with a strip running through the center, whicn really makes two- spaces, 4x32. It takes eight lath squares to cover one space and sixteen to cover the whole. As the sides will sometimes spread you will see the need of having your squares a little more than four feet wide. Saw one of your thick laths in two, and brace your square or it will work all out of shape. One thick lath will make a brace for two squares. I often have a dozen of these pens and squares to match. When not in use the squares should be stored. These pens with their coverings are just the thing for raising perennials or starting early gar- den vegetables, as by their use you avoid the drying winds of spring. If you use the tall screen system, these squares can be placed overhead, and you can fasten them with binding twine so you can remove them and let in more sun, if you choose. They are good things for the average farmer or gar- dener to have. You can make your pens 4xl2 or 4x16, or use the double pen mentioned above. Other Modes of Propagation: While Conifers are mostly raised from: seeds, in some cases grafting is done. .For in- stance, the Pungens is put on the Norway Spruce. The work is usually done with potted plants in a greenhouse and none but an expert need attempt it. Grafting evergreens out of doors, as in the case of the deciduous trees, would be an utter waste of time. There are an almost infinite number of types and variations in the different species. Take for instance the Chinese, Siberian, and American Arborvitaes, their name is legion. These sports are propagated by bottom heat in green- houses, but it takes great skill and care and I have known hundreds‘ to be killed by a slight oversight. Some claim they can raise any kind of an evergreen by cutting off small thrifty shoots in the fall, shearing off the low- er leaves and putting in cold storage, or in a cold place for two or three months, and then subjecting them to bottom heat; but the process will seldom work. 7 CHAPTER V. DIGGING AND HANDLING EVERGREENS. One great obstacle in the way of growing these beautiful and profitable trees is the way in which they are too often dug and shipped. A man who grows them should have a tender conscience and do business with the Golden Rule. The great- est deception is often practiced but there is no more truthful “tell tale’ than the little evergreen. It always speaks the truth. Often the largest growers are at fault. When the rush is on, there is so much to do that inexperienced help will often be used, the roots will be exposed only for a short time and the tree is killed.