This is a question which has engaged much of the writer’s attention for over twenty years. The want of timber is the great objection raised against our “goodly land” by nineteen-twentieths of the visitors to it from timbered parts of the country, and however much the old settlers here who have become accustomed to it may plead that the objection is more imaginary than real, it is truly quite an obstacle to. meet in the settlement of our prairies, whilst the prices of farm produce remain as low as they have been for several years past.  Hedges of Osage orange, white willow, and buckthorn, will, probably, at no distant day, constitute the principal part of our fences. Enough timber is now growing in most counties for immediate necessities to fence and furnish building material and fuel; but in very many sections of our country the complete settlement and occupation would soon exhaust the home supply, demanding for future use importation or immediate planting and culture.  With casual observers from abroad a supply for the purposes above indicated are the great requisites of the prairie region; but to one who, for nearly a quarter of a century, has faced our winter winds, coming almost without Iet or hindrance over a frozen surface from the Rocky mountains, gaining new force as they progress, timber screens as shelter for our homes, stock-yards, orchards, gardens, and birds, are the great necessity for timber here.

The great damage sustained by orchards throughout the prairie regions of our country by the severe winters of 1855-°56 and 1856’57 is now, by many pomologists, attributed largely to the violent and long-continued westerly winds whilst the atmosphere was at a low temperature. At several meetings of our State Horticultural Society a number of our old orchardists have informed us that without shelter pears proved a failure; but, after some fifteen years’ experience with trees planted in' sheltered locations, they are fully confident that with it, and under-draining, satisfactory results will be and have been obtained.

The amount of fuel used by a family living on the open prairie, and of food consumed by live stock in a similar locality, would be greatly lessened if protected by a good timber screen, and our climate as a whole be greatly ameliorated if the system of tree planting was generally adopted. Whilst we more readily admit theé favorable change to be gained in our winters by a general adoption of the system herein proposed, it is questionable whether the benefit to be derived in more equable summers, escaping to a great degree the extremes of wet and drought, (may we not add part of our tornadoes from which we now suffer so much,) would not be the greater of the two.

Nearly all of the early settlers of the prairies came here from sections of the country where timber was abundant, and the great study in regard to it had been how the most cheaply to get rid of it. They were, therefore, as a general thing, tree destroyers, not culturists, and, as a natural consequence, plied vigorously their former vocation on our native groves. The first settlers made their homes near the groves and timber belts of our streams, entertaining the idea generally that the principal part of the prairies would never be settled, or at least would be left as range for cattle during the lives of many generations, and that the timber in the country was amply sufficient for the accommodation of the farms which would be opened.

But few years were necessary to change the minds of our people. Here and there settlers commenced their farms a mile or two from timber. One of their first improvements made was the planting of a grove, generally of locust. These grew rapidly for a few years, but soon became checked. At twenty-five years from planting it is questionable whether any other variety of timber planted here has made less wood. Within a few years it has been so generally attacked by the borer, which is destroying it, that no more of it will be planted for the present. In a few instances groves of butternut and black walnut were planted, which are giving good satisfaction. For this purpose gather the nuts in the fall and mix them with moist earth in shallow beds, say six inches in depth; leave them exposed to the storm and frosts of winter, which cracks the shell.  Plant in April, in freshly-ploughed land, in rows running north and south, five to six feet apart, two feet in the row. They should be well cultivated four or five years. Nearly all the work of cultivation can be done with horse and plough or cultivator. By planting close an upright habit of growth is induced, and, as the trees advance in height, the lower branches, being shaded, die and drop off, leaving a clean bole free from knots. As the trees attain size and height, seeming to require thinning out, a part may be cut down, but not until they will answer many useful purposes to the farmer.

Probably the butternut, black walnut, wild cherry, red elm, and arbor vite, (commonly called white cedar,) and the red cedar, will eventually constitute the principal part of the timber grown on the prairies for fence posts, railroad ties, and similar uses. The cottonwood and Lombardy poplar have been planted to a considerable extent, are rapid growers, in a short time answer well as a screen, but the few uses to which they can be profitably applied, compared with other varieties which thrive as well, will doubtless preclude their extensive culture. They are easily propagated from cuttings eight inches long, taken off before the sap starts in spring, planted in thoroughly pulverized soil, leaving one bud above the surface. Care should be taken to press the dirt firmly about the lower end of the cuttings.

Lombardy poplars here, eighteen feet high, were grown from cuttings planted in the spring of 1860.

The silver maple has been very largely planted of late; is a rapid grower; the timber valuable for many purposes. It is sometimes injured by a borer.  It is readily propagated from seed which ripens in May, and should be immediately planted.

For the last year or two the attention of all prairiedom has been attracted to the European white willow. A cutting of it, planted here in 1845 on the bank of a sod fence, has received no cultivation. The measure of the trunk, eighteen inches from the ground above any swell of the roots, is now over nine feet in circumference. When grown alone it naturally assumes a low branching form, similar to the silver maple; but closely planted, it makes an upright, towering tree, attaining, as Meehan informs us, a height of seventy feet.  The same author says in regard to the family of willows: “Though many of them thrive in moist places, it is not so in all the kinds. Some of them do well in the driest soils, and are adapted to ornament every situation. They are destined yet to receive considerable attention.” His prediction, made ten years since, is being rapidly verified all over the western prairies. About the year 1847 it was introduced into Ogle and Lee counties, where it was set in hedge rows.

Farmers in the vicinity, on noticing its efficiency as a fence, have for several years been quietly extending its culture, until there are now within a few miles of the original hedge between one and two hundred miles planted for fence, and many acres of it for timber. It is used as hedge for both shelter and fence. Tt should never be planted with the anticipation of satisfactory results, except in well-prepared or in moist soil, mulched heavily at time of planting.  Six to eight inches apart is the distance at which the cuttings have generally been set for hedge, though twice that distance is preferred by some. With clean culture for four years the bodies of the trees make an impassable fence against cattle, affording at the same time excellent shelter to stock and growing crops.

An intelligent farmer of Macoupin county grew a plant in two years from the cutting eighteen feet high, and thirteen inches in circumference. If planted on the south side of cultivated fields, where shade would be injurious, the tops may be cut off for fuel once in two or three years. An intelligent German neighbor informs the writer that it is cultivated extensively in Germany for fuel, cutting off the tops at eight or ten feet in height once in three or four years. It rarely sprouts from the root; splits freely, having quite an advantage in this respect over the cottonwood, poplar, and many other soft-wooded trees. The timber is durable if kept off the ground.

Rails of willow have been in use thirty years. Dr. Stimsen, of Woodford county, and others, state from observation that it is durable for posts. Whilst the small twigs are frequently broken by severe storms of sleet in winter, large limbs are seldom, if ever, broken or split down—a serious objection to the silver maple. There has as yet been found no tree which appears as promising for immediate and permanent utility as the white willow.

From the prairie farmer, owning his home, evergreens should receive attention. They are much more effectual as screens than deciduous trees, and are, in fact, when planted in triple rows, perfect protection against winds, besides adding greatly to the beauty of the landscape, especially in winter.

Obtained of small size from the forests of Michigan, or from nurserymen who make the propagation and culture of evergreens a leading branch of their business, their cost is so trifling as to place them within reach of all, for screens around buildings, stock-yards, and for ornamental purposes.  Those from the nursery would be best, and for the inexperienced would prove cheapest in the end.

Raising evergreens from seed is a tedious operation; few but professional nurserymen either know how to do it successfully, or are willing to bestow the requisite amount of care and attention. The ground for seed-beds should be deeply pulverized, and three or four inches of the surface should be mostly composed of sand and wood soil, sand predominating.  The small varieties of seeds should be barely covered; the largest ones never over half an inch.  Beds four feet in width, running east and west, may be covered with strip lath, nailed one-third of an inch apart to cross pieces, placed a foot above the surface, to protect from direct rays of the sun.

Boards should be placed along the south side of the beds. A slight covering of moss over the beds to retain moisture is beneficial, but should be removed before the plants prick through it, as they are very tender and easily broken.  Remove the covering at dusk each evening, give a slight sprinkling of water, and replace the covering before sunrise.

“Damping off" at the surface of the ground is the greatest difficulty to be encountered in raising evergreens from the seed. Whenever plants are found thus affected, give the beds a liberal sprinkling of dry sand, to be repeated if found necessary; this is an effectual remedy.

Robert Douglas, esq., of Waukegan, was, it is believed, the first western nurseryman to introduce this mode of culture.

The first winter leaves two inches in depth are laid among the plants for protection. On-a small scale, they are readily grown in shallow beds, say six inches deep, nearly filled with the sand and wood soil, placed on the north side of a hedge or other screen. At two years, or, if standing thinly in seedbeds, at three years, they should be transplanted to nursery rows running north and south, two and a half feet apart, eight inches in the row. If land is not underdrained, it should be ploughed in lands some thirty feet wide, with deep dead furrows between.

In two years alternate plants, and two years later alternate rows, should be removed. Until planted in their final location, evergreens should be root- pruned or transplanted once in two, or, at most, three years. This induces the putting forth of fibrous feeding roots near the body of the tree.

Great care should be taken in lifting the plants to preserve their roots entire. They should be carefully kept from drying whilst out of the ground, as their sap soon hardens, forming a coat of gum insoluble in water. The feeding spongioles lose beyond recovery their functions if dried.

It is advisable fo grout the roots at once in a mortar made by stirring clay in water to a proper consistency.

In packing for shipment, care should be taken to keep the roots wet and tops dry, as, if moist, the leaves are liable to heat. Young plants, just imported, should be shaded from direct rays of the sun, and mulched, by putting chaff or short straw among the plants, as a preventive against drought. If the ground be dry at the time of planting, water them thoroughly then; mulching will obviate the necessity for its repetition. Should there be a long succession of dry weather, a slight sprinkling of the tops after sunset is recommended.  This is deemed indispensable where growth has been made whilst packed, and the shade in such cases should he dense.

In many parts of our country one-half of the native woods are matured by resinous sap, the same as required by evergreens and larches, which are also very rapid growers, and the timber valuable. They should be planted largely, especially on any part of our prairies, except very knolls.

Pines of all hardy varieties, junipers, balsam fir, Norway spruce, succeed well on dry soils; arbor vites, American and Norway spruce, pines, and balsam fir, thrive in moist localities. The white pine has made a growth of four feet in a season here.

The culture of evergreens should be shallow, but not near enough to disturb the roots. As a substitute for cultivation, mulching has been found to answer every purpose, and cannot be too highly commended.

Whilst the returns from a timber lot planted with white willow, poplars, silver maple, and cottonwood would be sooner realized than from evergreens, the writer is fully of the opinion that, for a term of thirty or more years, as good an investment would be made by planting white and Scotch pine, Norway spruce, red cedar, American arbor vite, and larches. Timber belts, several rods in width, should be planted the entire length along the west side of each farm, around orchards, stock-yards, and anywhere except on the southwest side of dwellings.

Occasionally persons are found setting a proper estimation on the importance of planting timber for shelter and other purposes, and showing forth "their faith by their werks.” The influence of their example is being felt, and it is hoped that the day is not far distant when all will be satisfied of our great need in this particular, and of the entire feasibility of the plan proposed for supplying it.