The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1901-10-31
AND GARDEN.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO AGRI-
CULTURISTS.
some Up-to-Date Hints About Guilt
walton of the Soil and Yields
Observation-Disclosures, viticuIture and
Horticulture.
Hortlcultural ohservatIona

swers than one that will be given. The
one view Of the subject: ut is a fact
not generally known that trees may
readily be killed by smothering the
roots-that is, by covering them so
deeply with soil or other material, that
the supply OF air is unduly cut off n
the tree dies. Such instances have fire.
quently come under the observation OF
the writer in connection with land
scape gardening improvements. lie
recalls especially the case in a Western
New York town, where. on a certain
street, the front part of the lots laid
SO much higher than the streets that 1t
was desirable to cut the soil down be-
fore buildings were erected thereon.
Now the rear of the same lots sloped
away so low that better shaped build
ing sites could be created by filing IN
earth in these parts. The conclusion
was easily reached that by moving
soil from front TO rear in the lot the
surface would be about the right shape
and this plan was carried out. In the
/ UdCh VI LAESG 1ObS, nOWONOA "ONN
some vigorous old orchard and other
trees, which were highly priced. The
filing in of earth to improve the grade
called for a depth of as much as three
and four feet of soil over the roots OF
these trees. In most cases the owners
before moving in the earth made boxes
of plank about four feet across around
the trees, to keep the soil away from
the trunks, thinking that this was all
the provision needed for their safety.
Now for the lesson: The result OF that
filing in of earth was that after hve
years, not one of the former healthy
trees was alive wherever the soil was
deeply filled in. The trees had been
smothered effectually. So far as The
fnal outcome was concerned, the box
ing of the trunks to keep back the soil
might as well not have been per-
formed"
Now for a little on the other side or
the question. The writer of this para
graph knows a good many instances
where dirt has beer filled in" over the
roots of trees, in this case forest and
shade trees. In every case the trees
have remained vigorous. Some OF
these cases are on railroad grounds
and some on school grounds. Near
the home of the writer the hickory
trees have been dying for the last five
years. On his own lot all the hick-
cries and most of the oaks have died
$1,000 49, 49, @a-%I hos hnnn H1lnA
in over the roots and hickory whose
roots are buried the deepest is the
healthiest of all. These latter trees
are not aver boxed to keep the earth
from the trees. How much value there
may be to the boxing we do not know.
We have seen boxes put around large
oak trees whose roots must have x
tended Is or more feet from the trees.
The active parts of the roots are near
the extremities and are the parts that
need the air. The boxes around the
trees admit the air only to the trunks
and not the active areas of roots. II
is evident to any thinking person that
the air in the box would have to pass
through more earth to reach the roots
than from the surface to the ground.
There is without doubt a possibility oil
, killing roots by burying them too deep
but the smothering out is not by any
means as likely in one locality as in
another.
J. P. Brown, secretary of the Inter
national Society of Arboriculture, pre-
! diets that fifty years hence Kansas
! and the states today planting trees will
I be supplying California and the Pacific
} coast states with timber" He says
: further that with a continuation of the
I present rate of timber cutting there
will o o be a great dearth Of
forests west of the Rocky noun
: tains. He suggests government
ownership of these forests as the
only mean Of preserving them
Tree planting is now going on quite
> extensively in the states west of the
. Mississippi river, but not so fast as il
would be done were the plantations
= owned by the state. The individual
. planters say that they canno hope tt
: reap any returns and do not like to in.
= vest too much of their own money il
= posterity. The state is perpetual ant
can afford to invest in forest planta
lions even though they will not Civ
p returns till the next generation. TIL,
q hard woods, the most valuable of all
O are not favorites for planting, taking
I as they do, such long periods of tim,
e for development. This is a question
in which the public is deeply inter