American citizen., 1876-02-26
Trees for Home Use.

What trees shall we plant the coming
spring? is question pressing upon the
minds of thousands of men who have late
ly settled on the productive and beautiful
prairie lands of the great West. That
there is in many parts of the Northwest
lack of timber no sane man can deny.
Millions of acres would remain a barren
waste were it not for the untold richness
and productiveness of the soil. Timber
is the one great thing necdful, and almost
the only thing lacking to make the great
Northwest an earthly paradise. Every
settler -admits this fact: that we must
grow more timber or suffer in thousand
ways for our negligence. Now comes the
all. important question: What can we do?
l would say, what man has done two men
can do, and thousands, too, can go and do
likewise. Three miles east of st. Ansger,
in this State, and three miles out on the
black prairie soil stand most delightful
groves of walnut and buiternut trees.
They were set out seventeen years ago,
fifteen feet apart each way, the ground be-
ing thoroughly cultivated both before and
after setting them out. They were set out
when one year old. The bodies now are
not more than four and five feet high,
while they are about ten inches in Diane
ter. The trees have branched out very
thick and low, and already they nearly
beautiful home would accept 81 900 for
these trees and have them removed. l
have planted the nuts both in spring and
in the fall with equal success. The nuts
should not be dried, heated, or water
soaked, but kept a little damp and planted
early in the spring, not more than three or
four feet apart if wanted for timber. There
need be no fear that they will not flourish
when planted close together. If they
have a deep, loose soil and are pro
tected from the bleak winds and culti
waited two or three years thoroughly as
corn would be, their rapid growth will
be assured.
The first settlers here mostly neglected
growing timber We have few groves
(mostly cottonwood) that are sixteen and
seventeen years old, which are much
thicker than hills of covn and fifty or sixty
feet high. Ten acres of these groves at
ten years of age will supp y a farm with
all the material for fencing and fuel. We
have one cottonwood here, seventeen years
old, that is twenty-one inches in diameter.
Thousands of men now are paying 800
per acre for timber, besides drawing it ten
and fifteen miles, who could have had by
this time all needful timber within a few
rods of their doors, which would not only
have proved a source of great wealth and
convenience but secured to themselves
anu StOCk pTOltCllOu lIOlu tuC W lutCi
storms The best grove we have, mostly
cottonwood, set sixteen years ago, fur
nishes now an abundance of poles forty
feet long. All prairie settlers could have
done as we'll, with a little we'll directed
energy in the start. The gray willow was
set out here some twelve years ago and
has proved successful, making a good
fence when properly cared for, and pro-
ducing an abundance of poles to fence
with, as we'll as wood for fuel. They
have grown nearly equal to the cotton,
woods. The third tree in value
here for common prairie planting
is the Lombardy poplar. 1t is not
only very useful but ornamental. l have
seen long rows Of these trees, forty feet
high, growing in straight lines
along our roadsides, each tree standing
erect in its place like an arrow pointing
skyward In autumn, when all other
trees have lost their rich foliage by frost,
the poplar remains green and beau
tiful, seemingly smiling on though
nothing serious had happened. l wish
to mention that this is the only tree that |
know OF which, when set out singly, will
not branch out and form low, bushy
head, unless trimmed from time to time.
This tree has its own peculiar style, and,
unless set very thick, will send out small,
whip-like branches, very regular and true
all the way up; but it will never have
branches of any size growing up true and
remarkably fast. Although the black
walnut will not succeed if neglected, |
wondered often why this tree is not cult
waited, both for its rich nuts and Its valua-
BILE timber. know OF no tree that Will