EVEKGKKENS FOK THE AVESTEKN
rilAIKIKS.
As a rule conifers wore favorites with
forest tree planting devotees until
within a few years largely for orna
mental uses. Of late , however , and in
creasingly so , attention has been given
them for forest purposes. Olitnatic dis
asters of the winter 1898-0 , or rather
early spring of 1809 , has naturally led
to the inquiry : What varieties are most
hardy , valuable and best adapted to
western prairie regions.
During the past forty years among
other Arboriculture experimental work ,
evergreens being my especial tree "pets , "
I have given them attention , named
one of my farms "Evergreen Home
Farm. " Growing on my present "Forest
Park Place , " are thousands of ever
greens.
"Without indulging in other than com
mon names , I have Native Bed Cedar ,
White , Scotch , Austrian , Pouderosa ,
Rocky Mountain Dwarf , and Twisted
Pines , Silver Fir , Black Hills Spruce ,
Chinese , Siberian and American Arbor
Vittcs , Irish Juniper , Norway Spruce ,
Hemlock , Menzies , and Euglemau
Spruce , Retinspora and others. These
all , with exception of a few unusually
dry cold winters , have given me satisfac
tion. Last winter , all Chinese aud
Siberian Arbor Vitie were killed. Some
of them are fifteen and twenty years.
Our native Red Cedar suffered next.
Austrian and Scotch pines were badly
scorched. Irish Juniper suffered badly.
The hardiest , in order named , were what
we familiarly denominate Rocky Moun
tain Silver Fir , White Pine and Black
Hills Spruce. In fact none of these
varieties were perceptibly injured on
my grounds. The Silver Fir and White
Pine seemed to retain their full vigor ,
vitality and color more distinctively than
any others. Black Hills Spruce , but
little inferior , however.
At Arbor Lodge , Nebraska City , the
home of the editor of THE CONSERVATIVE ,
is growing the only experiment of the
kind I have seen in Nebraska a grove
of White Pines for forest purposes.
This is a magnificent exemplification of
what can be done with this variety of
conifers in our soil and climate , for
purely forest use. The small trees were
planted originally 4 by 4 feet apart.
They were planted in the spring of 1890.
The ground is now covered with a dense
blue grass sod. Not a dozen imper
fect trees in the whole lot of ten
thousand planted. Many of them are
now twenty aud twenty-five feet high ,
girting in circumference , one foot above
ground , ten and twelve inches. The
foliage from topmost limbs to ground is
perfect , clean , and of deep green color.
There seems to be but little struggle or
rivalry for "survival of the fittest. "
Growth is uniform and harmonious.
Near the ground Nature has already
commenced self-pruning off lower limbs.
This will doubtless continue , until in
time , will be seen the towering , straight ,
majestic trunks characteristic of this
variety of conifers.
If this grove could bo seen and in
vestigated by more lovers of tree-plant
ing , more White Pines would be plant
ed in the west , in forest form.
The Silver Fir is my favorite conifer
for ornamental and protective purposes.
It is perfectly hardy , dense in foliage ,
beautiful in symmetrical form , aud
really is of more rapid growth than it
was given credit for when first we com
menced to plant it. In fact its transfer
from its mountain habitat to the more
generous soil of the prairie , seems
to favor it. It requires but little
pruning , or heading back to give it most
beautiful form for lawns , cemeteries
and other decorative uses. It varies in
color of foliage to suit individual taste ,
from deepest green to purest silver.
This , too , in a measure is characteristic
of the Black Hills Spruce. During a
visit the past summer to the Black Hills ,
I found some most beautiful
specimens of the Silver Spruce , while
near by were those of greenest foliage.
The foliage is dense and form strikingly
symmetrical.
Beyond having a collection in variety
of conifers , if I were commencing to
plant evergreens on our western plains
region with experience and knowledge
possessed , I would plant in order named
for ornamental uses : Silver Fir , White
Pine aud Black Hills Spruce. For
forests , White Pine.
ROUT. W. FURNAS.
Brownville , Nob. , Nov. 1899.
* h * December
LITERARY NOTE.
Atlantic might in
some senses almost be called a Chicago
number , for three of the most striking
and salient articles are by Chicago
authors. Harriet Monroe's "The Grand
Canon of the Colorado" is a brilliant
and effective sketch of Nature and
natural scenery ; Mrs. Elia W. Peattie's
lively "The Artistic Side of Chicago"
pictures the aesthetic , artistic , educa
tional , and literary features of the great
city , while the short story "The Detec
tives , " by Will Payne , is a capital ex
ample of the power of Chicago writers
in romantic fiction. Chicago has reason
to be proud of her contributions to this
number of the representative magazine
of America.
"I know thousands of Southern men ,
Bourbon democrats like myself , who are
getting restive as regards Colonel
Bryan , " complains Judge L. F. David-
sou of Georgia. "We are getting tired
of his attitude as a chronic candidate.
But , worse than that , we are gettiugout
of patience with the idea of choosing a
-candidate whose defeat seems inevitable.
It seems to mo that it is about time to
cast about for a candidate that might
stand some show of winning , instead of
hanging to one foredoomed to lose. "
moouAPHic
TRADITION. Enquirer is one of
the best journals
in California. Its editorials are always
well-written and attractive. Its column
"Heard on the Oakland Ferry , " in the
issue of November 10th , contains the
following which will interest Iowa and
Nebraska :
The recent death of ex Governor
Saunders of Nebraska was mentioned
and this story told as having been re
lated to that gentleman concerning his
early life : "When Illinois was quite
young the Sauuders family moved to
that state from Kentucky. They were
desperately poor. The death of the
father rendered their situation still
worse , of course , aud the children were
put to work at an early age , at anything
they could find to do. The future
governor and United States senator ,
then a little fellow , taking advantage of
a 'muster day , ' undertook to sell ginger
bread on commission , but was so timid
that he was afraid to call out his wares
and when evening came was on his re
turn to the shop whence he got
the ginger bread with his covered basket
as heavy as when he started out in the
morning and a heart much heavier. A
string of hungry boys followed him.
General Henry , a local politician , saw
him and asked him. what he had in his
basket. Learning the situation he at
once directed that the ginger bread
should be distributed to the crowd , the
value thereof to be charged up to him
by the baker. The basket was soon
emptied and then a horrible fear took
possession of the boy's mind. 'Suppose
General Henry's credit was not good
with the baker ? ' With an anxious heart
the little fellow ran to the bake shop ,
told his story and was delighted to learn
that General Henry's credit would stand
the strain that had been put upon it by
that financial transaction and the boy
returned home with half a dollar in his
pocket as his share of the profit. Later
in life , when the barefooted youngster
became a man of influence in Iowa , he
was instrumental in naming a county in
that splendid state in honor of the man
who had come to his rescue in his hour
of distress. "
"I knew Governor Sauuders from my
boyhood days , " commented Colonel
John P. Irish. ' 'He was a rugged , honest
man. He was of the same class as
Senator Harlau ( who died a few weeks
ago in Mount Pleasant , the county seat
of that same Henry county ) , Abraham
Lincoln and their contemporaries. No
better men ever lived than the pioneers
of those western states. For instance ,
there was Henry Dodge of Wisconsin
and his sou , A. O. Dodge of Iowa , who
sat alongside of each other as United
States senators from their respective
states , while a half brother of Henry
Dodge represented the state of Missouri
in that same distinguished body. "