cottonwood
In By the Shores of Silver Lake (see Chapter 29, "The Shanty on the Claim"), Pa says that one day, the prairie is going to be covered with trees. Trees were to be planted because - according to literature available to instruct settlers how to plant trees successfully - they would one day "promote the increase of insectivorous birds; modify electrical conditions; lessen the evaporation of moisture from the soil; retard the velocity of surface winds; cool the earth and atmosphere in the summer; raise the winter temperature; increase the volume of atmospheric moisture; lessen blizzards in the north; lessen the liability to drifting soil and snow and mitigate the destructive effects of tornadoes and cyclones; make the soil more uniformly productive, and thus make the prairie the grazing ground of countless flocks and herds, and become the granary of the continent." - Hayden Thompson, Lake Preston, Dakota Territory, 1882.

The cottonwood was easy to propagate, hardy and rapid growing - but of poor texture and the timber of no commercial value - and yet, for the poor man planting a tree claim or shelter around his shanty, it was the most valuable tree on the list of acceptable choices. It appeared at the top of almost every list for no other reason that it was the only tree admitted on a tree claim that could safely be propagated both from cuttings and from seed. Although Laura Ingalls Wilder tells us in By the Shores of Silver Lake that Pa planted "little trees" on his homestead, little trees that "all grew from seeds of the Lone Tree" that grew between Lakes Henry and Thompson (Lake Thompson was named for Hayden Thompson, a horticulturist from Wisconsin who homesteaded in Kingsbury County, quoted above), she wrote in her Pioneer Girl manuscript that "Pa broke a strip of ground around the shanty... and we planted seeds of cottonwood trees all the way around."

I was recently asked about my cottonwood tree, the branch rooted for me from one of Pa's homestead trees about five years ago, so I'm including a photo taken a few weeks ago when we were having our fence replaced. I was really trying to photograph progress on the fence, not the tree, so it's not the best of photos. For reference, I took the photo standing on a second story deck, I could pretty much look straight at the top of the tree, and the fence is 6 feet tall. Anyway, my cottonwood is thriving! The poor thing had to live in a pot until last fall, and it really took off once it got its feet in the ground.

I've collected seeds from Pa's cottonwoods in the past, but I've never had any luck with them. I did add a clear glass Christmas ornament full of cottonwood seeds to my "Little House" tree this year; I also have clear balls with dirt from various homesteads, tiny rocks from the shore of Lake Pepin, and the paper flakes that made a huge mess when I copied Ruralist articles at The University of Missouri at Columbia a couple of years ago.

It was interesting to read in the Dakota tree-planting manual that cottonwood seed was considered "difficult to handle with success although nature annually grows millions of seedlings that can be dug up or usually purchased very cheaply."

To have success with cottonwood seed, it was suggested that you not plant them in cultivated ground (like Pa did in Pioneer Girl), but scatter them carelessly over lightly harrowed land while it's raining and then hope for a few days of moist, humid weather so the seeds don't dry out before germination.

Seed should be gathered just as the pods begin to open, the pods placed in a dry place out of the wind. They should be sown as soon as the pods are fully open, which makes sense; that's when Mother Nature sows them. Cottonwood seed kept over the winter are usually worthless.

In selecting cuttings, choose clean, two-year old wood, or strong, well-ripened one-year. Cut a piece from eight to ten inches long. The cuttings don't need to be dealt with right away, just pack them in damp straw for transport. Plant at least eight inches deep, leaving one to two inches above the surface of the ground. (That must have been why none of my cuttings rooted; they weren't planted deep enough...) Plant in early spring, making sure you pack the soil firmly around the cutting. It's easy to see why Laura wrote that Pa dug larger seedlings to plant. Somehow, it wouldn't have been the same to read about the girls shoving sticks in the ground.

I thought about decorating my backyard cottonwood with popcorn, cranberries, and bird seed ornaments this Christmas, but I never got around to it. It's nice to imagine the branches someday being big enough to hang a bird feeder from - or for grandchildren to climb!
- posted by pioneergirl at 12:01 AM