The Smoky Hill and Republican union. [volume] (Junction City, Kan.) 1861-1864, 1863-05-30
ESSAY ON TIMBER TREES.


ESSAY ON TIMBER TREES.
By JONATHAN HIGGINS, WOODBURY., ILL.
In accordance with your kind request
that should write an essay on aTim-
Der Trees" to be read at this meeting.
I will endeavor, in brief manner, to
throw out few thoughts on the subject.
approach the task assigned me, with
great difidence, and feel that one with
more leisure and ability should have
been selected to accomplish it.
I need not enlarge on the great utility
OF timber trees.
In the great West, where we may
often travel many miles without meeting
single tree, an immense amount of
timber is required for fuel, fencing and
building purposes and, may not add,
for shelter and wind breaks around our
orchards and buildings. GA treeless
plain, how fatiguing to the eye, while
the woods embellish the landscape"
While the great desideratum Of our
prairies is the want Of timber trees, our
timber is fast disappearing from our
streams, and the lines Of our railroads.
To rob country Of this ornament, to
destroy whole forests Of useful timber,
it seems to me, not only shows want
Of good taste, but an abundance of
heedlessness which does not care for the
future.
Much rather would / teach that every
farmer, who may be the fortunate own
er Of timber lands, should not only
reserve portion thereof from the wood
mans ak, but improve them by planting
out such varieties as experience teaches
succeeds best and are Of greatest value.
Were our prairies planted with belts
and groves Of fast growing timber trees,
doubtless the rigors Of our climate would
be greatly moderated, and become really
and in truth, the finest on earth. I
would then that every farmer, and es-
pecially every prairie farmer, should
plant timber trees.
In the language Of an eminent horti-
culturist Of Illinois, I would &C exhort,
urge and importune prairians to plant
groves for their own sake, for the sake
of their children, for their neighbors,
and for the prairie world at large-for
the present generation, and especially
for posterity."
The difference between wintering stock
in sheltered situation, and those tree
less farms we SO often find far out on
the bleak prairies, is often fifty per cent
in favor of the farm well protected by
timber trees. In short, the shelter, and
consequent comfort and happiness to
man, beast and bird afforded by groves
Of timber cannot be enumerated by dol
lars and cents.
Of the many varieties Of trees, natives
Of the Mississippi Valley, time would
fail me to speak. I shall, therefore,
only spHak Of a few native varieties of
fast growers, including, perhaps, one or
two Of foreign origin:
Locust-Robinia pseudo cassia.
White Elm-Ulmus Americana. Red
Elm-Ulmus fulva. Cypress-Taxodi-
UNI distichum. Larch Am.-Tamarix
Americana. Larch Eur. -Tamarix
Europa. Tulip-Liriodendron tulipi-
fera. Black Walnut-Juglan nigra.
White Walnut-Juglans cinerea. Su-
gar Maple-Acer Saccharineuin. Scar
let Maple-Acer dasycarpura. Golden
Willow-Salix ritellina. White Willow
-Salix alba.
The common locust is too we'll known
to need description. 1t is fast grower
and easily propagated by seed. It has
Of late years been greatly troubled with
the borer, in some parts Of the West,
and is Objectionable on that account.
do not recommend it. Better, how
ever, plant it for timber and shelter than
to plant none. s.f
The Oaks may be easily grown from
the seed. Gather and plant the acorns,
as they drop in the fall, covering them
lightly. With good cultivation, they
will make good growth, and any farm
will be improved by their presence. OF
their valuable timber qualities l need
not speak.
The White Elm is the great shade tree
Of Boston Common. It is rapid
grower under good cultivation, and a
beautiful grove tree. The seed falls the
same time as the Silver Maple, and
should be gathered and planted in the
same manner.
The Red, or Slippery, Elm is also
fast grower, although it does not attain
the magnitude of the White Elm. Prop
aQafed in like manner