March 29, 2001

Plains Folk: Improving Prairie Plant Life

Tom Isern, Professor of History
North Dakota State University

"Covered with white flowers in May, purple-black fruit in July. Grows 4-5 feet tall, bears early. Self pollinating. Zones 3-8."–Gurney's Catalog, Spring 2001.

I have to admit some disillusionment with Gurney's Seed & Nursery since they sold out and left Yankton, S.D. Gurney's stood for something in this part of the country. It was a company that, through its plant offerings and its other enterprises, from tires to radio, showed a commitment to making life better on the plains. Oh sure, the modest (well, cheap) catalog looks pretty much the same, but still I wonder.

The description quoted above is for the cherry, "Hansen's Easy-to-Pick Shrub Variety." Does anyone at Gurney's still know who Niels Ebbesen Hansen was?

Niels Hansen, a Danish-born botanist, was a plant scientist for the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. He had some sort of cozy relationship with Gurney's, which disseminated his varieties commercially.

The various biographers of Hansen portray him as an energetic genius, which he was. I feel compelled to say also that he had his flaws -- egotism and deviousness, to begin with -- that prevented him from being all he might have been. Still, as spring creeps in this year 2001, I once again pay homage to this man Hansen, a plant-breeding patriot of the plains.

When he landed in Brookings in the 1890s, Hansen, as a good public servant, took it as his mission to make life better for people on the plains. Plants were his way of doing that. Plants, though, were a problem for European immigrants settling the region. Many of their cherished plants -- crops as well as vegetables, fruits and ornamentals–were unsuited for the environment.

Hansen reasoned that good plants for people on the plains would come from two sources. First, obviously, there were the native plants. These should be studied, perhaps improved by selection, and promoted. Second, there were foreign introductions, especially introductions from semiarid steppe lands of other continents–from Russia, for instance. These introductions might even be grafted or hybridized with natives to produce the best of both worlds. (There's a big fat metaphor in there somewhere.)

Hansen, as a plant explorer in Russia, introduced crested wheat grass to this country. For this he is both blessed and cussed. Crested wheat grass is good for complementary grazing schemes, because it comes on in early spring. On the other hand, it's fashionable today on the plains to disparage that which is not native.

Forages were not really Hansen's field, though; he was a horticulturist at heart. He published landmark bulletins on tree planting and ornamental plants for the plains. He wanted people to live well.

Hansen's cherry, as offered in the catalogs, is his selection of the native sandcherry, a fruit cherished by American Indians and white settlers alike. I love its pale, delicate blossoms in spring. Its fruit I either eat out of hand or can in syrup. Despite the testimony of pioneers, I don't think the sandcherry makes good pies. Many years, too, the only crop we get from our sandcherries is hassenpfeffer. Rabbits love to browse them during the snowy winter.

And next in spring comes our Dolgo crab, a Hansen introduction from Russia. The blossoms are a pale pink cloud. The fruit is oblong, iridescent, and splendid for jelly.

I spread Dolgo crabapple jelly on a biscuit, lay a slice of ham atop it, and then I say, "Yes, Niels Hansen, life can be good on the plains of North America."

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Source: Tom Isern, (701) 799-2941, tom@plainsfolk.com 
Editor: Gary Moran, (701) 231-7865, gmoran@ndsuext.nodak.edu 

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