FOREST COMillSSIOXER'S REPORT. 73 



necessary. The trees cut out from time to time would amply repay 

 for the labor. If evergreens are set at too great a distance, their 

 lower branches will remain green and spread widely in all direc- 

 tions, giving a heavy growth wood, but timber of little value. If 

 set ten feet apart each way, 435 trees will be required for an acre, 

 while if set five by five feet, it will take 1,742 for an acre. By 

 crowding the trees when young, they will take a more upright form, 

 and give in the end a more valuable growth. Where trees such as 

 the European larch, sugar, maple, Norway spruce, or linden, are 

 grown, an income may be derived by setting thick, and thinning to 

 meet demands for ornament-d planting. One tree to the square 

 rod, when one foot in diameter, will make a heavy growth, but it 

 would be absurd to set only 160 seedlings on an acre. Better 

 plant thickly and transplant to other tracts, or cut out, as occasion 

 may require. 



Trees will make but a slow growth on land where the sod is 

 unbroken, and thick planting on such land will soon completely 

 shade the ground and kill the grass, ferns, and the like, so as to 

 have the land loose and mellow. Trees thickly planted afford a 

 mutual protection to each other against the summer sun and winter 

 blasts, and the annual leaf harvest that they shed excludes frost 

 from the roots, enriches the soil, and promotes a vigorous growth. 



