ARBORICULTURE 



15 



A War Unon Goats. 



THE Western press reports from 

 Grand Junction, Colo., mention the 

 killing of six hundred Angora goats 

 valued at $8,000, by fourteen masked men, 

 presumably cattle herders, and from Oregon 

 it is reported two hundred and eighty sheep 

 were slaughtered by settlers and cattlemen 

 the same day. 



While not excusing lawlessness in any 

 form, there must be some good reason for 

 the antipathy which has for many years 

 been shown by Western settlers and cattle 

 owners to the herding of sheep and goats. 



Where large herds of sheep are fed the 

 animals destroy the grass and ruin the pas- 

 tures for all other animals. And where goats 

 are herded in large numbers all forms of 

 vegetation are swept away as by a fire. 



In Arizona, New Mexico and Southern 

 Colorado, as well as many other places in 

 the semi-arid countries, there are immense 

 herds of goats which have made the moun- 

 tain sides so bare of grass that other ani- 

 mals cannot exist, at the same time all the 



coarse herbage is devoured by these ani- 

 mals, and every seedling tree destroyed. It 

 is utterly impossible for forests to survive 

 where goats are pastured. 



This is simply a repetition of Spain's expe- 

 rience upon her mountains, which resulted in 

 the downfall of that nation, because no forest 

 trees could grow where goats were so numer- 

 ous. After the forests were destroyed and 

 climatic changes made agriculture so diffi- 

 cult, the nation began its downward career. 



The proper way is to punish the men who 

 lawlessly commit these acts of violence, and 

 to enact laws which will confine the herding 

 of sheep and goats to those lands where 

 grass is abundant, and limit the number in 

 each herd so as not to destroy the pastur- 

 age — more especially to keep them forever 

 out of the forest regions. 



Our cut shows the efi^ects in Southern Col- 

 orado, where no shrubs or small trees have 

 been left — everything swept away by these 

 animals, which are kept in large numbers 

 by the Mexican ranchers. 



THE ABELE FOR WOOD PULP. 



The immense demand for paper and the 

 great quantity of wood used in making pulp 

 to supply this demand calls for the replant- 

 ing of the denuded acres which have been 

 cleared in this manufacture with some 

 hardy, quickly maturing trees, which will 

 provide a future crop of wood to continue 

 the paper industry. 



Such a tree is found in the Abele, or sil- 

 ver poplar, {Populus alba,) an importation 

 from the countries of Europe, but now be- 

 come wild in America. This tree is found 

 in every great city; almost the only shade 

 tree which will stand the soot and smoke of 

 the cities, survive the continual digging for 

 street, gas and water improvements, and 

 the almost exclusion from air and water by 

 asphalt and other pavements. The sucker- 

 ing of the abele is a great nuisance on 

 lawns and in grounds not paved, but this 

 habit is not objectionable in a forest. 



Frequently there are neglected spots 

 where this tree has surrounded itself with 

 several thousand sprouts which are suitable 

 for forest planting, or they may be grown 

 from cuttings of the branches or of the 



roots. Like others of the Populus family, 

 the silver-leaved poplar is of quite rapid 

 growth, under favorable conditions. It 

 succeeds in all soils and in every conceiv- 

 able location, although preferring a fairly 

 rich soil. It will grow upon the mountain 

 slopes of the Eastern States, increasing 

 from three-fourths to one inch in diameter 

 per annum, thus making wood very rapidly. 

 In Europe the tree is used for making box 

 boards and other coarse lumber. The wood 

 is white, and is similar to the cottonwood 

 in texture. It has never been considered of 

 value for lumber in the United States, owing 

 to the former abundance of better timber, 

 but there are very many places where it 

 would serve a good i)urpose for lumber. 



In twenty years there may be grown from 

 fifty to sixty thousand feet b. m. lumber 

 per acre from the abele — estimating 170 

 trees per acre, twenty inches in diameter 

 and twenty feet length of trunk, which it 

 is capable of attaining. Or considering it 

 for pulp production, there would be 6,500 

 to 7,000 cubic feet of wood per acre. 

 These facts commend themselves to owners 

 of mountain lands as a profitable invest- 

 ment for capital. 



