ARBORICULTURE 



419 



The winding water course made this 

 land worthless for crop purposes on ac- 

 count of constant overflowing during 

 the growing season. This ]and was 

 plowed out so as to make straight lines 

 for cultivating, and planted to catalpa 

 speciosa and Russian mulberries in alt- 

 ernate rows about eight feet apart. At 

 seventeen years of age the catalpas have 

 almost smothered the mulberries, they 

 having only been useful as nurse trees. 

 The catalpas are tall, smooth and 

 straight, a large portion of the trees 

 making a clean cut for 10 or 14 feet, 

 with a 4 or 5-inch top. Such a stick 

 will easily bring from 4 to 7 cents. Mr. 

 L has not only made a good invest- 

 ment, but he has improved the looks of 

 his farm by covering up the unsightly 

 draw. 



The third timber lot belongs to a Mr 



T , and is only four or five years 



old. Mr. T owns a sandy river 



bottom farm. Across tho farm is an old 

 river bed, the sides of which are quite 

 steep and have never been used for 

 crops. The scattering willows and cot- 

 tonwoods were removed, the land plowed 

 the best that could be done, and planted 

 to catalpa speciosa and Osage orange. 

 The wood growth on this land has been 

 wonderful, notwithstanding the terrible 

 drouth of 1901 and the great flood of 

 this valley in 1903. 



Mr. T , in a letter, says: "It will 



not be long until the two sandy ridges 

 will be the most valuable part of my 

 farm. ' ' 



These three cases will illustrate what 

 can be done on almost every 160-acre 

 farm in the country. 



Location. 



One of the most important points 

 about timber growing is the location; it 

 is well to be where the stock will be in 

 the greatest demand when grown. It 



would be poor judgment to go to the 

 hills of Arkansas and undertake to grow 

 timber where the population is and al- 

 ways will be small; but on the rich 

 level prairies of Kansas and Nebraska, 

 the situation is entirely different. It 

 must be remembered that Barton coun- 

 ty, Kansas, situated in the Arkansas 

 river valley, considerably west of the 

 center of the State, grew over five mil- 

 lion bushels of wheat in 1903, to say 

 nothing of the corn, alfalfa, hogs, cattle, 

 etc. In a locality producing such large 

 quantities of cereals and live stock, the 

 present and future demand will always 

 be good for timber. 



Freight Rates. 



The item of freight enters more large- 

 ly into the cost of post and pole stock 

 than almost anything else. Posts being 

 bulky, it is impossible to get a large 

 number in a car. 



George W. Tincher. 



THE BILTMORE FOREST SCHOOL. 



We take pleasure in ^ailing attention 

 of young men to the Biltmore Forestry 

 School, near Asheville, North Carolina. 



This is eminently a practical school, 

 Dr. C. A. Schenck being director. 



Entrance Requirements. 

 The Biltmore Forest School is open — 



1. To college graduates; 



2. To applicants of good education 

 and thorough business training, over 20 

 years old, especially to lumbermen and 

 to the sons of forest owners ; 



3. To special students, for special 

 lectures, and under special arrange- 

 ments. 



Candidates for admission are re- 

 quired to submit certificates relative to 

 moral character and to previous train- 

 ing. An applicant unable to proffer suf- 

 ficient certificates of educational stand- 

 ing must prove his qualification by pass- 

 ing an entrance examination to be pre- 

 viously held at Biltmore. 



