ORNAMENTAL TREES. 55 



land that is worth from twenty to forty dollars an acre to pas- 

 ture cattle, — it seems to me that would be poor economy. 



Mr. Hyde. I referred to certain lands on Cape Cod, and 

 other barren lands all about New England, that are pro- 

 ducing nothing, as suitable to be put to this use. I also said 

 that some of these rugged hillsides might be profitably 

 covered with trees. What I meant to say was, that these 

 poor, unprofitable lands might be improved by growing trees 

 on them. It would not do to take valuable land. I should 

 not want to pay over a dollar or two an acre, possibly five, 

 for land on which to plant pine or birch. There is much 

 land in this State, however, that does not pay any interest 

 whatever : that is the land which I would reclaim, and cover 

 with verdure in place of the growth that has been destroyed. 



Mr. Clark. I do not believe there is any land in Massa- 

 chusetts poor enough to grow white birch on, because I 

 think you can do a great deal better by growing white pine, 

 which is worth three times as much, and grows a great deal 

 faster. In my neighborhood we get from ten to twelve 

 dollars for it. It grows in twenty-five or thirty years : and 

 if my friend Hyde has ever sold pine-lots, he knows that the 

 men who have bought them have always got good bargains ; 

 for pine-land yields generally as much again as is estimated. 

 But as to this sandy land that has been spoken of, which 

 you can buy for two dollars an acre, I agree with him, and 

 have for years, that the best thing the farmers can do with 

 it is to grow white pines; but I question, Mr. Chairman, 

 whether a man can be poor enough to keep land to grow 

 white birches on. The best thing a man can do, if he has a 

 piece of poor land such as has been referred to, is to plough 

 it up, and seed it to white pine. 



Mr. Slade. I want to say a few words in behalf of the 

 despised white birches. A man said to me, " If 3-ou had 

 some poor land, you could make more money in raising white 

 birches than you could in raising small fruit." I asked him 

 to explain how. He said, '' You can raise two birches on a 

 square foot, can't you ? " I told him I thought I could. He 

 then said, " You can raise two on a square foot ; and those 

 trees, after having grown six years, will be worth a cent 

 apiece. Now," said he, "you will get four hundred dollars 

 on your acre every six years." 



