Tree Planting in the Amana Colonies

Useful trees cultivated by the Inspirationists

The Amana Colonies of east-central Iowa were one of the most successful communes in the United States. The colonies were established by a group of like-minded Pietists who immigrated from Germany in the 1840s and settled briefly in New York. In the mid-1850s, the group moved to the prairies of eastern Iowa, where they lived communally through the early 1930s. In 1905, the group held over 26,000 acres and the population had grown to over 1800.

A shared religious faith was the basis of the commune and the glue that held it together for over 70 years. The settlers of Amana called themselves "The Community of True Inspiration," believing that God speaks to His followers through inspired prophets, in modern times as in olden times. However, they also believed that the words of the Werkzeuge (prophets) should be carefully tested to see if they were true inspirations -- thence, the name of the group.

One of the Werkzeuge who had a great deal of influence over life in the colonies was Barbara Heineman (1795-1883). The hundreds of inspirations she received included one, late in her life, that dealt with the types of trees that should be grown in the Amana villages. Trees that had been planted for shade or beauty were to be removed, for only fruit-bearing trees should be planted at the homes of the Inspirationists.

There is in the Jahrbuch for 1880, a testimony by Barbara Heinemann, given three years before her death, in which the planting of ornamental trees is severely denounced by the Lord.  "Wilt thou, then," it reads, "prove that it is a beautiful custom to plant trees not bearing fruit? Know then, that the pleasures of the eye and of the flesh and the over bearing manner are a mark of worldliness, and that the spirit of the world has created in you the desire for such a beginning. Alas, away with this idolatry. See ye to it then, that all trees not bearing fruit be removed from the house, for they belong to the pleasure of the eye. You indeed have the opportunity to plant a fruit tree instead, in which the Lord and all sensible people take pleasure."


Source: Amana, the Community of True Inspiration (p. 97) by Bertha Maude Horack Shambaugh. Published in 1908 by the State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City.

The effects of this proclamation are still visible today, according to Jeff Meyer, author of The Tree Book, who notes that the tree population of the seven Amana villages still contains many hickory trees, planted in acquiescence to Heinemann's inspiration.

The Amana Inspirationists, as the Iowa State Horticultural Society reported in 1898, cultivated a superior wild red cherry through careful selection of the seed.

In the German or Amana colonies on the Iowa River in Johnson county, Iowa, which moved to their present place from the State of New York, Mr Budd tells that there is grown in quantity in each of their seven villages a variety of the bird cherry which bears young and abundantly, a fruit which they value for cooking. It has dark foliage and pendulous branches and does not sprout after it commences to bear heavily. The fruit is about as large as a good sized black currant, with a stone no larger than an ordinary bird cherry. It is a pleasant acid, rather too acid to eat raw, but so valued for pies as to be grown largely.

Source: Fruits for the Cold North (p. 35 ) by Charles Gibb. "Reprinted from the Report of the Ontario fruit growers association for 1883."

They also grew groves of catalpa trees, probably for fence posts and as a cash crop for railroad ties.

The National Park Service describes groves of pine trees, planted throughout the Amana farmland. Pine trees lined the borders of cemeteries. The schoolchildren of the colonies also planted and tended several large groves of pine trees called schulwälder (school forests). The pine groves were much enjoyed by the Inspirationists as places to walk and to picnic.

The pine groves of the Amana Colonies were commended in a 1908 U.S. Forest Service bulletin :"The Amana colony in Iowa County has several large groves of white pine and other pines which have proved very successful. Soil of this region is usually a rich sandy loam."

One large schulwäld of Austrian pines was harvested during World War II, and its wood given to the war effort. At least one schulwäld is still standing on private property in the area, according to the National Park Service.

Wikipedia image of a historic home in or near

the village of Middle Amana

Why people like mimosa trees --and why I don't!

Beautiful, but messy and invasive

Such exotic shadows. You might think this a scene from a tropical paradise or a garden of the Far East. No, these leaf shadows were seen on the door of my funny little garden shed right here in central Kentucky. They are the shadows of mimosa leave.

The mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) tree truly is beautiful. Besides these interesting fern-like pinnate  leaves, they have fragrant pink blooms for a long period of time in mid-summer. The flowers are much enjoyed by hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees.

These are the sorts of things that make people think they want a mimosa tree in their yard. Think twice before making such a decision! Please -- take my advice seriously. I know this tree well, and here are the reasons I don't like it.

1. It is a messy tree. The long stems of its leaves and its long seed pods have to be raked up.

2.It is an excessively prolific tree -- in other words, invasive. Little mimosa trees pop up in every flower bed, and if not caught right away, they very quickly establish themselves and grow big. That's why I have mimosa leaf shadows on my shed. This tree is growing in a bed of perennials.

3. It is a short-lived tree. Its average lifespan is 10 to 20 years.

4. It is a weak tree. Its brittle wood is easily broken in weather events like ice storms and high winds.

5. It is not a native tree of the Americas. It is originally from Asia. I prefer native trees.

Bottom line: Plant one if you must. But when the problems begin, don't say you weren't warned.

Still trying to kill their trees...

The bulldozing continues

A few months ago, I wrote about the trees at a construction site. I said that the few trees left standing on the lot had suffered a lot of abuse, and I expressed doubt that they would survive over the long term.

Last week, the bulldozer was brought back to level the ground some more. Look how the dirt is piled around the trunk of the tree in the photo. Any feeder roots that survived the original assault have surely been ripped off and shoved away now. In addition, the soil has again been compacted by heavy equipment.

Today, when I passed, a landscaping firm was heaping red mulch-nuggets around the trees. It hardly matters at this point, but that's one more stupid move if they want the trees to live. Trees don't do well with mulch piled high around their trunks. It invites insects, disease, rot, and rodents. (See "Proper Mulching Techniques" for trees.)

Mark my words -- the trees at this homesite are facing a premature death. I see that as a sad thing because the trees here were healthy before the construction began. It will take several decades to replace some of them. The homeowners have succeeded in making their wooded, rural lot look just like any large homesite in a suburban subdivision.

Related posts:
Will these trees survive construction?
How to compute a tree's critical root area

Oak galls: Old-time source of ink

Gall-iron ink once used widely

Today, I waited in a parking lot for my daughter to come out from her workplace. I noticed that every pin oak around the building was afflicted with galls. Galls are lumps that form on tree branches when the larvae of insects invade. It is thought that the insects emit a chemical that reacts with the tree's natural growth hormones and growth is grossly overstimulated in the area.

If I had cut a gall open, I probably would have found some of the larvae of the invading insect. If it is the horned oak gall wasp, the number of larvae inside the gall might have ranged from 1 to 160, depending on the size of the gall (Source: Biology and management of the horned oak gall wasp on pin oak.)

The galls usually don't kill pin oaks, but they can cause the branches to die back. I observed this condition on several of the pin oaks around the parking lot. And even if the tree doesn't die, it's greatly disfigured. See the image of a gall-laden tree at this post: Galls on a young pin oak tree.

In the book American Forest Trees (published by Hardwood Record, Chicago, 1913, pp.303-304),  Henry H. Gibson records an interesting historic fact about galls in a chapter about pin oaks:

Oak apples or galls are the round excrescences formed on the limbs by gallflies and their eggs. They seem particularly fond of this species and specimens are often seen which are literally covered with them. The worms which live inside seem to flourish particularly well on the food they imbibe from pin oak.

The primitive school teachers three or four generations ago turned these oak galls to account. They are rich in tannin and were employed in manufacturing the local ink supply. The teachers were the ink makers as well as the pen cutters when the pens were whittled from quills

The process of making the ink was simple. The galls were soaked in a kettle of water and nails. The iron acted on the tannin and produced the desired blackness, but if special luster was desired, it was furnished by adding the fruit of the wild green brier Smilax rotundifolia which grew abundantly in the woods. It was well that steel pens were not then in use for the schoolmaster's oak ink would have eaten up such a pen in a single day.
(Source)

Galls on a young pin oak

(Seen in March)

I was quite fascinated to learn that the U.S. Constitution is written with iron gall ink as well as many other documents written by the founding fathers. In fact, iron-gall ink was widely used for centuries.

Iron-gall ink was the primary writing ink used from 12th through the 19th centuries in the Western world. Popular with artists, architects and mapmakers, iron-gall ink is found in abundance in paper-based collections at the Library of Congress.
Source

The tannin in these inks seems to hold up well, but the iron is a problem for conservationists because it wants to corrode.

I doubt that oak galls have been put to a useful purpose since the days they were used for ink-making!