Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1872-03-14
TREES on The WESTERN PLAINS.

TREES ON THE WESTERN PLAINS.
A Pepper Read ny Judge J. G. X nopp.
Before the vviaco nsin Academy of
Science. Arts and Lettcra, and High.
~ Approved by that Body
First Published in The Chicago Evening
Journal
ARE THE WESTERN PLAINS To BE ALWAYS
~ TREELEss?
is question more easily asked than
answered. Those who in former
days, with OK and mule trains, cross
ed these plains, and who have found
on them only grass and weeds, saw
no tree or bush on the swelling
ridges, or in the valleys for hundreds
OF miles; who were surrounded by
sand hills, salt flats and dry ridges,
where hot winds scorched and parch-
ed, and cold ones dried and troze
blood end sap; where tornadocs rag
ed, Clouds burst in rain and hail, and
sheet ghtnings ran along the ground,
stoutly asseverate that this is the
"great American desert" and is al
ways to be the home of the bison,
the antelope, the jack-rabblt, coyote
and the gray wolf. The idea of grow
ing trees OH this treelcsa region is, in
their estimation, too absurd to be
tolerated for moment.
On the otter hand, those who have
never seen the short nutritious gram
ma, or the bunch grass, the hard, dry
weeds Of these dry hills, and the
very sedges OF the salt plains, as
stontly assert that thcse plains can be
covered with groves that tall trees
Will flourish in soil richer in all in
gradients that constitute plant-food
than any other portion oithis Union;
aud they suppose they prove their as
sortion by referring TO the enormous
growth OF the large wild sunflowers
wherever the ground has been brok
en-. They also insist that when trees
shall once cover these plans, the eli
mate will change, as to the heat, cold,
winds, rams and storms.
BOTH OF THESE ARE RIGHT, AND ncTn
ARE WRONG.
The first, in asserting that neither
trees nor cultivated crops can be
in ayerring that all trees and crops
will grow by the use of only the
same means as grow trees and crops
in other and different regions; aud
that when they are grown, the eli
mate will be changed 70 correspond
with the climate OF the regions now
covered by trees, lying farther east.
TREES DO NOT NATURALLY GROW ON THE
Sufficient water does not penetrate
into the surface Of the ground to
feed and nourish them. II that def
cienc. can be rcmeaicd, if moisture
in the soil can he secured, then not
only trees bat crops will grow.
IRRIGATION OF THE PLAINS.
Along streams, where the banks
are sufficiently low to permit the wa
tcring bitches to lead tue water from
the streams to the dry lands, the
needed moisture can be secured.
Water may also be obtained in many
other places, where clay snbstrat-
UNI is found in valley, and where
embankments can be constructed
across the valley, through which the
waters tlom til. rains and melted
SHOWS are drained over the surface.
Thus artificial lakes. ponds and pools,
that may be drained to their bottoms,
during the dry. hot, and growing
periods, can be formed and filled, as
was done in former times in Pales-
tine and other Oriental countries, OF
which we read in the Scriptures,
and the remnants OF which are still
seen by travellers. Locations where
such surface water may he caught
and saved are more numerous than is
generally supposed; and they may
aud should be turned to economical
account. BY means OF irrigation,
any tree or crop that the summer
will ripen, or the winter permit to
survive, can be grown on these
plans. At present the roots of the
native grasses and weeds have shin
gled the ground, until the surface is
as imDervious to moistening showers
AS hard and compact streets.
SOMETHING MAY BE DONE DY FLOWING.
Kill these Singing roots by plow-
ing mellow the soil and subsoil, so
that the summer rains can penetrate
the ea.th, more than a foot below
the surface, instead of running away;
then certain plants and trees will
grow, where neither tree nor bush
row grows. If, after such openings
OF the surface have been made by the
pillow and subsoiler, mulci,ings of
straw, grass Or leaves are applied, all
the water which falls will be retain.
ed in the soil, and trees and plants
can then be made TO shade and FRO
tect the surface from the rays OF the
sun and the effects OF the winds. On
soils moderately free from alkali, and
TIN treated, the roots Of trees will
soon penetrate tho rich earth to
depths below the drying influence Of
the climate, and with such firm
foothpla, If The surface rainfall he re-.
tanned, the trees will flourish Their
leaves will at,erward supply the
needed mulch, retain and carry water
into the soil, and the living trees will
form shelters from the violence
Ct the winds and storms, and Weld
their produce tor the use of men.