The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-10-31
Forest Culture ON the Prairies.

Forest Culture ON the PraIries.
The planting and cultivation of forest
trees on the prairies has received fire.
quent attention through these columns,
and the subject, one of vital import
ance to the Western farmer, is attract
ing more attention as the country set
ties up and homes are being made
where all was wild waste few years
ago. Forest trees, when properly
planted and cared for, grow with amaz-
ing rapidity in the rich soil of the prai-
ries. The success which has attended
tree-planting since 1874-5, which,
owing to drought and grasshOppers,
proved very disastrous to young trees,
has been very encouraging.
Accompanying the report of the
Commissioners of Forest Park, St.
Louis, is circular to the press, and
one also addressed to railroad Presi-
dents, earnestly inviting their aid in
giving an impulse to the important
matter of providing trees for the
plains. Mr.. M. G. Kern, the author of
these circulars, gives many valuable
suggestions on the subject. Being a
landscape gardener, and having made
tree-planting and culture life study,
he speaks with confidence and earnest
ness in advocacy of this important
branch of cultivation, which must
mainly devolve upon the farmers, who
make tilling the soil the business of
their lives.
Adjoining the home with groves of
forest trees should be among the first
cares of the settler on the prairie. He
will thus provide comfort for the fam
lily and invite the birds to come and
build in the branches, and make cheer
full the otherwise quiet, monOtOnous
landscape of praire farm. All appre-
ciate the value and beauty of fruit
trees, but fruit trees will not supply
the place of the taller and longer-lived
and more pleasing forest trees. Mr..
Kern, in the circular before us, truth
fully says:
"Can vacant property, held for flu
ture sale, be made inviting and en-
HANGED in value by any simpler means
than by converting its barren waste in
to a verdant grove? The bright ex-
ample of many prairie towns nestled
most beautifully beneath a canopy of
shade, should surely suffice to dispel
the cruel Indifference of the majority of
Western towns. Another step, and q
most important one, would be the en-
terprise of planting public groves and
small forests in the immediate vicinity
of towns and infant cities. Few years
only would be required to make these
plantations the pleasant places of rec
reation of the inhabitants, soon linked
most intimately into the history of the
town and its people. In many cases,
the suitable ground on which SO noble
an enterprise could be attempted
would be freely given by some public
spirited citizen. Villages in time will
grow into cities, their groves and for
csts would follow suit and be converted
into public parks, and here imagina-
ton might see sure and cheap found
alton of a chain of ornamental
grounds, stretching throughout the
land, for which the coming generations
would bless the memory of the pioneers
Of our day. Judicious enterprise in
this direction might WELD a decided in
iluencc on the future fate and outcome
of many prairie town. The rural
Improvements may be the means of its
rapid growth, and consequently of the
enhancement of its real estate and
commerce.
We might amplify, at much greater
length, the intrinsic value to farms of
belts of forest timber, serving as wind
breaks and shelter to stock, but these
and other facts are all familiar to every
farmer. Groves invite the birds of pas
sage on their northern flight in the
spring, to tarry and build, and rear
their brood, and become an invaluable
aid to the farmer in assisting to destroy
the myriads of insect enemies which
prey upon and devour his crops.
Where trees are numerous, insectiver-
GUS birds will always be found, enliven-
ing groves and hedges with their songs
and making unceasing war on insect
enemies.
The pecuniary value which judicious-
IMPLANTED and carefully cultivated
groves contribute to farm in a prairie
country, can scarcely be estimated.
They will enhance the value of farm
property, as no other improvement for
like outlay can possibly do. We
heartily join Mr.. Kern in exhorting
farmers to make tree planting, on a
well-defined plan, one Of the first inn
provements on their prairie farms.
Planting shade trees in the streets of
towns has never received that system
attic attention which its Importance de-
mands. The work has been left to the
option of the owners of property, while
it has been made obligatory on the Off
GERS of the corporation to see that
proper sidewalks are built, with power
to assess taxes to defray the expense.
The same power should be delegated to
the officers of q town and the work
made obligatory on them, to plant
trees on every street, and properly
protect and prune them. They are as
essential to the health and comfort of q
town as clean and well-ordered streets.
kansas Farmer.