f
Conservative ,
TIIK TWO CHOICEST KVKIIGKKKNS.
It has boon my privilege to spend
much time iti the Rocky Mountains , and
also in the finest parks ahd private
grounds of the East , where there is the
choicest collection of conifers the world
affords. And , after seeing them so
often in their own habitat and under
many varying circumstances , I must say
that for hardiness and beauty the abies
concolor and the picea pungens take the
load. The pungons is most generally
known. It is precocious and shows off
well while young. It has a fitting place
in parks , lawns and cemeteries. The
glauca typo , so much admired , is a sport
of the species. "When they are of the
right color they wear royal robes of sil
ver and sapphire.
Take those of established color , give
them good cultivation , and do not let
them be too much exposed to the sun
and wind , and they are without a rival.
I have seen them shimmering and flash
ing in the sun like burnished silver.
The sheen is composed of a delicate
bloom which coats the needles. You
may talc * the choicest pungent , plant it
in the sod and treat it with neglect , and
it will take the sulks and turn green.
The first year after transplanting it
generally grows dim Those who buy
trees do not understand this , and think
they have been imposed upon. Onre
fine specimens were set in Copley square.
Boston , but they look like poor hungry
things. The finest specimens while
young are poisoned by dogs.
You may take the brightest trees and
let them be planted on a bleak Nebraska
prairie , where they will bo whipped by
siroccos and cuffed by blizzards , and
they lose their beauty except while
growing.
Yet I have seen very fine specimens ,
where they have been well cultivated
and receive a little shelter. It is strange
that this tree , taken from a high alti
tude and on the north side of the moun
tains , will do well in every state in the
Union , I think , as it has been tested in
most of them. This tree does far better
in the nursery than in the mountains.
I have seen thousands growing in their
native wilds , but they bear no compari
son to those under good cultivation both
East and West.
After they recover from the change
the needles become much longer , larger
and brighter. There is no evergreen
that can so well resist the dust and
smoke of cities. One winter I was in
Denver. The weather had been quiet
and trees were laden with dust and coal
smoke. But on shaking the pungens
they were as bright as ever. City con
ditions are fatal to soft leaved conifers.
There are many notable specimens of
this tree in the East. Some fine ones
stand sentinel at the gateway of Forest
Hills , near Boston. Probably the finest
in America is on the grounds of O. H
Unuy , of Methueu. It is the chief at
traction in his magnificent collection.
It is the joy of the old gardener. I
apked him how ho made it so compact.
Ho answered "by often transplanting. "
Give this tree the best of care , and until
it is thirty years old it will bo of supreme
beauty.
The concolor is a tree on a grander
scale. I spent two days with Dr. Fer-
now while ho was chief of forestry. Wo
studied them where they grow wild in
the mountains.
It is worth a journey half across a
continent for a lover of trees to see a
grove of them in all their splendor.
Some samples like the pungens are
clothed in silver with deep tints of blue.
The young cone on one tree will bo light
creen , and its neighbor will have those
of deep purple. These cones are about
the size of an ear of early sweet corn.
Pure gum will exude from these , and
they flash and sparkle like gems in the
sunshine. So take a grove with ermine
and emerald , its light green and its
wonderful cones , moved by the winds
and flashing in the sun , and you have a
tree that is a gem. I have seen them
four feet through and seventy-five feet
high. They grow very rapidly. They
were considered hard to move , but fre
quent transplanting gives plenty of
fibrous roots , so there is no trouble.
The fact is this tree grows richer in
color as it grows older. I have seen
large trees half dead flashing a beautiful
color from the branches yet alive , just
as the Christian puts on more of grace
and spiritual beauty as he uears home.
So having spent years in the moun
tains , among the parks and the private
grounds of the East and West and the
interior , I am sure these two trees are
the choicest of all , and after thirty
years the concolor will distance all com
petitors for hardiness and thrift , grace
and beauty , that can be raised between
the Rockies and the Atlantic.
C. S. HAUUISON ,
President Nebraska Park and Forestry
Association.
BRYAN'S GOD-MADK AND MAN-MADE
MAN.
Mr. Bryan praises in his amusing way
"the God-made man , " at the expense of
the man-made man , although the latter
is only once removed from the common
creator. Does Bryan wish it to be
understood that he looks with scorn on
nil other man-made things ? Among
those things is the Chicago platform ,
which favors that ratio of ltO to 1 which
free silverites have called the "God-
given" ratio , although only given at
second hand through man. The address
delivered by Mr. Bryan last Saturday
was a man-made thing , and yet its
author will not admit that it is a poor
production , whatever other God-made
men may think of it. There are other
man-made things as to the excellence
of which all critics agree. There are
the pyramids , the Sistine Madonna , the
Venus of Milo , the breathing marbles of
Praxiteles , and the burning words of
Shakespeare , and of Goethe. Music ,
art , poetry , science , government , are
as man-made as is the corporation , but
they are not altogether unworthy the re
spect of the God-made Mr. Bryan. The
poet says there are occasions when
"every prospect pleases , and only man
is vile. " Does Mr. Bryan think man
pleases , but all his works are vile ? Ho
shows his sad lack of the logical faculty
when ho peeks to draw a fanciful dis
tinction between the God-made and the
man-made man. The latter the cor
poration is but an aggregation , largo
or small , as the case may bo , of God-
made men who join hands to secure the
benefits arising from the cooperation of
individual ability and individual capital ,
united with limited liability. Mr. Bryan's
"God-made" men , taken collectively ,
compose a corporation. When a "God-
made" man organizes a corporation ,
or buys shares in one , his moral nature
undergoes no change for the worse. Mr.
Bryan seems to forget that the first corporation
"God-made. " It
poration was - was
organized when God made the woman ,
so the man he had created might have
somebody to associate with. The second
God-made corporation was the one
created by the covenant with Abraham
and his descendants. That is still a
powerful corporation. The Boy Orator
of the Platte ought to know his Bible
better , and not blame the God-made
man for mnking corporations also. The
object of Mr. Bryan's sophistical , whim
sical talk about the God-made man and
the man-made man is to feed the preju
dice against the corporation per se. It
should not have that effect. The cor
poration is not perfect , but neither is
man , though made in the image of his
Maker. Otherwise Bryanism , Mormonism -
ism , and all other isms would not exist.
But , as man improves , the corporation ,
made in his iinngo , will improve also.
Chicago Tribune.
"Not a single republican platform
this year has echoed even faintly the
tone of the imperialist press , " the Buf
falo Express ( rep. ) observes. "Not one
has considered the acquisition of East
and West Indian islands or of Hawaii a
matter to which it can point with pride ,
as all platforms point to the business
prosperity , the Spanish war , and the
Dingley tariff law. Not one has taken
a confident stand in favor of retaining
these islands , as all liave confidently
urgecl legislation for the maintenance of
the gold standard. Each has considered
its duty done when it offered support to
the president in carrying on the war and
reestablishing law and order. Each has
been defensive rather than aggressive
a plain indication of the existence of
serious doubts as to the wisdom of any
permanent extension of the boundaries
of the United States. "
