Forestry. 173 



for our government to plant the timber, something might be 

 accomplished in the right direction, not only to the country, 

 but to the settlers themselves. 



Not very much can be accomplished in the way of tree 

 planting by private individuals. It must be done by large 

 land owners, railway companies and by the general govern- 

 ment. And railway companies should be compelled to plant 

 all of their poor vacant land to forest trees. In a few 

 instances they are doing this of their own accord, as a means 

 of providing for a future supply of road ties. 



In 18C9, a company of men residing at Normal, Illinois,, 

 bought eight or nine sections of land in one of the counties 

 of Iowa, and they commenced a system of tree planting by 

 plowing up the central forty acres, and by the road sides, 

 and now they are having valuable forests of timber. Their 

 plantations consist of black walnut, box elder, white ash, 

 and white willow. And Mr. Fell who has charge of the 

 plantation says, " If I could have only one tree it should be 

 the white willow." 



In 1870, the counties of Buena Vista, Cherokee, Ply- 

 mouth, Sioux, O'Brien, Lyon and Osceola, in Iowa, were in 

 a state of nature nearly destitute of trees, and the county 

 of Osceola had only one single tree within its borders, but 

 to-day is each of these counties there are large groves of 

 trees that are doing well. 



A few years ago the barren, sandy lands of Cape Cod 

 could be bought for twenty-five cents per acre, and large 

 tracts were bought up at this price, and in some instances 

 have been planted to pine trees, [and these lauds are now 

 worth from two to five dollars per acre. 



Two years ago, when the Forestry Congress met in Bos- 

 ton, some of the members visited the grounds of Mr. J. S. 

 Fay, on Cape Cod, who has a forest of two hundred acres, 

 which he has been planting for successive years, and now 

 some of the trees are fifty feet in height, and form such a 

 protection from the winds of the ocean that he is planting 

 deciduous trees and they are succeeding well. It'is easy 

 enough to see that in a few years the whole face of our 

 country could be changed, not only in a commercial value 



