36 KANSAS AND THE COUNTRY BEYOND.

branches, would cure this evil. If that pest could be overcome, mil.
lions of these valuable trees might be reared at a trifling expense of
land and labor. Indeed, the land would be better for their presence.
Growing as they do here, they are very beautiful.

But of all the cultivated trees I have seen in this State, the soft
maple is the most luxuriant and the most beautiful. They are planted
by thousands in both town and country.

Osage orange hedges abound, and are in the highest degree success-
ful. Judge Bailey, of the Supreme Court, who is himself a farmer, told
me yesterday that they can be made at an expense of less than fifty
cents a perch. In about four years they are sufficiently grown to be a
protection against animals. In the meantime, a fence of some other
kind is required, Animals do not, or, rather, cannot eat the orange.
Its strong, sharp thorns protect it.

I have never seen in Kansas a tree that had been uprooted by the
wind. I mentioned this to one of the oldest citizens, and he said that,
although he had never thought of it before, he was unable to call to
mind a single instance in which he had seen a tree that had been blown
“out of root.” The reason of this is quite obvious. The soil is so deep
that trees of all kinds strike their roots so far down that it is impos-
sible for any amount of force that the tree could bear to heave up the
huge mass of soil which they embrace. But neither have I in a single
instance seen a tree which had been broken by the wind. This may be
accounted for from the fact that the trees of this country having to
withstand a strong breeze almost every day, grow more sturdy than
they do with us; and hence even a gale or a hurricane cannot break
them. Young fruit-trees require to be securely staked till they are
well rooted. After that they appear to stand up as well, and are as
symmetrical, as I ever saw trees anywhere. Peach-trees form their
heads more beautifully in Kansas than in any part of the eastern
States that I have visited, and this year the crop is very abundant.
Most of the early settlers were negligent in this matter, so that at
this time the market is not one quarter supplied, and men could do
well to go largely into the business yet.

Mr. Burns, who probably knows more about the matter than any
other now in Kansas, assured me confidently that in no part of the
United States except Southern California did the vine grow so well
and bear its fruit so abundantly and surely as in Kansas. And he

gave a reason for it. The abundant rains of April, May, and part of
June give them a fine start ; then the warm, dry, and pure atmosphere
of the subsequent months secures the ripening of the grapes both
richly and soundly. When the rich flats of the valley of the Kansas