ARBORICULTURE 



383 



Prairie Kansas to be a Forest Center — Profitable Tree Culture 



at Hutchinson — $30,000 Realized From 



Catalpa Posts. 



Forty years ago the great sweep of prai- 

 rie in Kansas was only broken by a ridge 

 of foliage which bordered the banks of 

 some of the streams, cottonwood and wil- 

 lows principally, with a larger belt of bet- 

 ter timber in the eastern portion in the 

 bottoms of the Kansas, Marais de Cygnes 

 and Missouri rivers. 



As these streams have all cut deep into 

 the prairies, no trees were visible from the 

 grass-covered rolling hills until suddenly 

 coming upon the margin of a stream the 

 winding skirt of woodland came in wiew. 

 Today there are hedges, orchards and 

 groves of timber seen from every portion 

 of the state. The pioneers of Kansas, real- 

 izing the necessity for shade, shelter, fuel 

 and adornment, planted millions of trees. 

 Unfortunately many of these groves were 

 of a character not always the best nor 

 most useful, yet they are trees and have 

 served their purpose as such. 



A dozen years ago Mr. L. W. Yaggy, 

 of Lake Forest, 111., purchased 1,500 acres 

 of land in the valley of the Arkansas river, 

 near Hutchinson, and upon this he planted 

 800 acres with apple orchards and on 500 

 acres he planted catalpa trees. The catal- 

 pas were not all planted at one time, but, 

 beginning with 80 acres, as an experiment, 

 and seeing the success of this, continued 

 planting with increased confidence until 

 500 acres were covered. 



The trees were set in rows six feet apart 

 ▼ith four feet space between the trees in 

 the rows. Cultivation continued for about 

 three years when the shade became dense 

 enough to prevent the growth of grass and 

 weeds. A few trees were cut out from 

 time to time, when fence posts were needed, 



and later, as funds were required for cur- 

 rent expenses, others were sold, but no 

 systematic thinning was begun until five 

 years ago when the earliest planting de- 

 manded more space, alternately ten rows 

 were removed and three rows were left to 

 check the force of the wind. 



The trees which were cut have again 

 attained considerable size from sprouts 

 which have grown from the stumps. On 

 portions this experiment has been repeated. 

 One block so cut over last winter now has 

 shoots twelve feet high and six inches girth, 

 some of which we picture on page 385. 



Eighteen hundred trees were set on each 

 acre, or almost a million in all. 



On another and larger tract alternate 

 rows have been cut out, and made into 

 fence posts, for which there is great de- 

 mand. There are several ricks of posts 

 now ready for shipment which contain 

 forty carloads, 2,500 to 3,000 being loaded 

 on a car. Fifteen carloads have been sent 

 away this season. This represents a total 

 of 137,000 posts cut during the past win- 

 ter, while during the three or four years 

 since they began cutting, three times as 

 many have been removed and sold. The 

 price obtained has varied greatly. Some 

 were so small as to bring but 3^^ cents 

 each, while others sold for 12 3^ cents. Yet 

 a large number were of eight-foot lenghts 

 and commanded 25 cents each. The aver- 

 age price has been 10 cents. 



Of the 500 acres planted from ten to 

 eleven years ago, the land cost $40 per 

 acre, or $20,000, while the sum received 

 at wholesale for the first thinning has been 

 considerably more than $30,000, or fifty 

 per cent, more than the cost of the land, 

 while the plantation still remains with 



