STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. T27 



be placed two feet apart. The hickories, at one foot apart, will grow 

 large enough for hoop poles. 



The black- wain lit {jfuglans nigra) is a very valuable tree, of rapid 

 growth and easy culture. Great quantities of its timber are consumed in 

 the manufacture of furniture, gun-slocks, and for various other purposes. 

 The supply is constantly becoming less, and the maiket value increasing. 

 There is no doubt that it is one of those trees whose cultivation will 

 idtimatcly produce the greatest profit. The black-walnut should be 

 planted b\ itself, as it is a bad neighbor for many other trees. Fruit trees 

 planted near it soon perish. 



The butternut [yuglans cincred) grows farther north than the black- 

 walnut, and although less valuable, merits cultivation. The wood is 

 used for cabinet work, and the interior finish of houses. 



The I{luropean walnut (^ uglans regia) is worth cultivating for its 

 fruit where it will endure the cliniate, which is not in northern Illinois. 



Of the hickories the kinds most valuable for timber are the shell-bark 

 {Cai'ya alba) and the pig-nut {Carya porcind). The latter atlbrds the 

 longest wood of all the hickories, though their characteristic qualities are 

 much alike. The uses of the hickories are too well known to need 

 enumeration. 



The sugar maple [Acer saccharinum) and black maple {Acer ni- 

 grum) are valued for the production of sugar, and for fuel. The seeds 

 lipen in the fall, and should be treated like those of the ash. The young 

 trees grow slowly at first, and should remain in the seed bed two or 

 three years. The silver maple {A. dasycarpiini) and red maple {A. 

 ruhrum) ripen their seed in the latter part of May. They must be 

 gathered and sown immeiliately. The timber of these and the box 

 elder {Negundo accroides) is not of the best, but their rapid growth 

 renders them desirable to plant where a speedy result is wanted. Other 

 valuable timber trees might be noticed, but the limits of this essay do not 

 permit it. 



For the management of young plantations of timber, only general 

 rules can be given, and the exercise of judgment and common sense on 

 the part of the cultivator is necessary. Thinning should be done in time 

 to prevent the grow th of the trees being checked by crowding, and the 

 poorest trees should be first removed. Some trees throw out too strong 

 side branches, which must be shortened or removed. No tree should be 

 allowed to fork. All dead or sickly branches should be cut out, and after 

 the trees are ten or twelve feet high they should be kept clear of branches 

 for from one-half to two-thirds of their height. With proper care, nearly 

 every tree in a well-grown plantation will be of value for timl^er. 



Stock of every description should be excluded from plantations of 

 trees. Wood lands of natural growth, intended to be permanent, should 

 likewise not be pastured. They will continually reproduce themselves, 

 if young trees are allowed to grow; but any forest will be in time 

 destroyed by a persistent course of pasturage. Many land-holders in 

 Kentucky formerly adopted the practice of cutting out the least valuable 

 trees from their woodlands, sowing blue grass, and pasturing them. 



