The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1907-12-06
Is Opinion of AL German, Land
scape Artist, Flour City.
Moving of Big Trees and Re-
planting His Speciality.
What Can Be Done to Beautify
SibIey Park; His Plan.

81 am surprised that the people of
Mankato do not use the handsome
stone that is quarried here for building
remarked A. l.. Cornman,
a landscape artist from Minneapolis,
today. He had seen the excellent quail
ity of stone taken from the local quar-
ries, and had noticed so few stores or
residences constructed of it that it
caused him amazement. He said that
the stone is of color that will make
a much handsomer residence than
pressed brick, and the material would
all come from Mankato.
Setting Out Large Trees.
Mr.. Cornman is spending few
weeks in Mankato identifying some of
the residence grounds by moving large
trees and setting them out. This is
a part of his business, and he has done
it in Minneapolis for years, and for
seven years past has done it at Wa
SEGA, but strange to say neither he
nor anyone else engaged in his line
has come to Mankato, where the OPP
portunities for business ought to be
far greater than in town of the
size of Waseca. Mr.. Cornman's rec
concentrations are of the best, and as
sisting him is his brother and one OF
two others from Minneapolis, but the
rest of the labor is hired in Man
kato.
"The moving of large trees is moth
ing new, it having been done for forty
years past" remarked Mr. Cornman
when asked about this work. 'Lone
before the Worlds Fair at Chicago
when giant trees were transplanted in
winter and used to beautify the ex-
position grounds, the moving of trees
was successfully accomplished. Now a
good many people are engaged in the
business in the large cities. In Min
neapolis a great deal of this work is
done, and I have five outfits at work
The machine with which I uproot and
transport the trees is of my own in
vention. I take trees up to sixteen
inches in diameter, remove them with
the dirt in solid mass about the
roots, take them to where they are
to be planted, and then set them up
If the ball of dirt on the roots breaks
I abandon the tree and get another
for the secret of success lies in main
tanning this ball of dirt, so that the
little fiberous roots are preserved. AS
hard naples are scarce about the Twin
Cities, it is often necessary to trans
port them forty or fifty miles, which
is done by team. The fine hard ma
pie trees bring 500 to $3.50, set out
whereas here they can be supplied for
$25, as they are so near at hand
The regular price is $25 for a six
inch tree, and S. extra for each addi-
tional inch of diameter"
Improve Sibley Park.
Speaking of the improvement of the
city parks, Mr.. Cornman outlined a
very nice plan for the improvement of
the lower part of Sibley park, where
the race track was, and said that this
ought to be made the very finest part
of the park. "The first impression
should be the BEST" said he. 'For
this reason the portion of the park
Just inside of the main entrance should
be made a thing of beauty. AS to the
top of the mound, the trees there are
too thick for their own good, and
ought to be thinned out"
Mr.. COrnman is believer in the i'm
of the boulevards, but
would have larger trees planted than
has been the pratice. He argues that
a good many years are wasted in
waiting for little trees to grow, when
the people might just as well be en-
Toying large trees.
Tree to Court House Grounds.
Mr.. Cornman, whose headquarters
are at the Commercial House, has been
busy ever since he came to the city,
and expects to visit Mankato every
fall after this He has donated a fine
hard maple tree on the court house
square, and the county commissioners
are thinking of having him do con-
siderable work there next year, as the
square looks bare. Mr.. Cornman has
also donated tree to the Baptist
church, and at the request of the
church authorities has placed it in the
boulevard in front of the parsonage.
This is also a fine hard maple. Mr..
Cornman uses plenty of black dirt,
cuts back the trees, and agrees to re-
place any that do not live, but says
that he only loses about one in a