The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-12-25
TO RECLAIM THE DESERTS.
Uncle Sam to Search for Tree ant
 Plants Adapted to the Arid Zone.

idhlS @AOGpISu u lll6 EAIlu NOlS'
 "A systematic canvas of the world
 will be made in the next four years to
 be made to grow in our arid and sub
 arid regions" said Prof. B. E. Furnow.
 chief of the division of forestry of the
 agricultural department, to your cor
 respondent. While this is the particu-
 lar object in view, it is likely that the
 search will lead to a systematic attempt
 by this department to introduce here
 and acclimatize from all parts of the
 world the economically valuable plants
 In the past, to be sure, good many
 such attempts have been made, but in
 sparodic and unsystematic way. For in-
 stance, thirty or more years ago cork
 oak acorns were introduced from Spain
 and distributed by the department, but
 no effort was made to keep track of them or see what became of the trees,
 and, as a result, no one knows why the
 experiment. was not a success. I know
 of one of these tree growing in the
 United States, and that is in Georgia; some have also been found in Louis- ldlltt dIlC, Ol COuISS, III SdlllulIl DuL experience proves that the department
 needs to do more than scatter about the seeds and seedlings of some new plant and take no further oversight in the matter Such plants are lost and forgotten and, without paying more at tention to the selection of similar ch-
 matic and other conditions than has been customary in the past, a large per | centage of such introductions are bound to be failures About ten years ago some wattle trees, furnishing tan bark, were introduced from Australia and distributed through Texas and other southern states. But nothing is known by the department as to whether they
 succeeded or not or if not. why, These
 are typical of many instances. Through consular reports, the attention of the department is frequently called to some economically valuable plant which is
 unknown here, and half-hearted at tempt at it's introduction is made.
 'The United States contains more valuable species of trees now than any other part of the world. It is hardly | likely, for instance, that any introduc- | ton from foreign countries could very l much improve the forestry of Massa- chusetts; but in the arid regions of our country the number of species that can l be grown Is very limited, and it is en- | tirely possible that study of the other | arid regions of the world will produce l something better than we now have. | Our agents will make a special study of | climatic conditions in the dry regions, | here and abroad, for experience has | proved what was long matter of theo- | ry, that seeds do not flourish in lati- l tude greatly different from that in l which they were grown, even though l the species to which they belong might | flourish over much wider area, At | Grand Rapids, Mich, last year, we made an experiment with box elder,
 grown from seeds collected in various l parts of the country. At the first frost, | the elder from the seed grown in Ok i lahoma was frost killed, while a tree l of the same species frogn from an On l tario seed was in very healthy condi- 1 ton. After gathering the necessary in | formation as to comparative climates, we shall collect the plant material in l special stations under the control of the | department. At first we may cooper
 ate with the existing state experiment | stations, but that will not suffice, be-
 cause these stations are naturally To- cated in specially selected soils, and so
 the most untoward conditions are not met there.
 l Prom our present knowledge there is no tree better for the sub-arid regions | of Texas and the southwest than the
 mesquite. It provides shelter from the 1 wind furnishes fairly good fire wood, and its pods are capable of being used | as food for domestic animals. The 1 mesquite does not require very much l water, and it's roots descend to a great | depth, in that way it getting along ! where almost anything else would fail. l For the semi-arid regions a little far l ther north, the cotton wood tree is | have. It makes poor f1rewood and Is a miserable tree, but may be better than l nothing.
 1 "The Canadian experiment station 1 has introduced from Russia, or sue
 ceeded in reproducing, an apple tree
 suitable for the more northern dry re- l gions. The apple is small and poor, | but is heartily appreciated where it | can be made to grow. This suggests an 1 interesting distinction. There are weeds | among trees Just as much as among l plants. In fact, what is a weed but a | plant the use of which has not been | found out? When we find that the | sunf1ower can be used for making oil
 it then ceases to be q weed. The toma- | to and the potato were once weeds, the l former not being generally used in l America until the forties. When I was | boy my family was the only one in the town that used tomatoes, or love
 apples, and to-day in most places in ] Germany tomatoes are not for sale | Among trees the aspen Is a weed So | are some black oaks, which do not grow to a useful size, and scrub pines.
 But the whole matter is relative. The l mesquite would be a weed where more
 serviceable trees could be grown.
 "The effect of trees in a dry region
 upon the atmosphereio moisture is a
 somewhat disputed question: While
 they diminish evaporation from the soi
 by furnishing a shade and a wind.
 break, the transportation must be talk.
 en into account on the other side. The
 roots of a tree are drawing the water from a great depth, and giving it out to the atmosphere through the leaves
 and yet here again this cannot hell