FOREST TREE PLANTING. 131 



ing effect on an agricultural community than the cultivation 

 of largo areas with small profits. There are thousands of 

 acres in Massachusetts which really yield no profit to the 

 cultivator, but which, if planted to white pines at trifling ex- 

 pense, would not only pay a reasonable rate of interest on 

 the investment, but would speedily convert the large areas 

 of unproductive land in Eastern Massachusetts into delight- 

 ful groves, adding a positive beauty to the landscape and a 

 source of wealth to the community. I have spoken often of 

 the white pine (piims strobiifi) , because I regard it best 

 adapted to our climate and to the soil of the most of our 

 waste lands. A soil in which the white oak flourishes will 

 produce gi'ass, and a soil that suits the chestnut will grow 

 grain ; but the white pine not only grows rapidly on land 

 which is apparently nearly destitute of plant food, but it 

 actually enriches the soil on which it grows. 



While I am aware that this tree cannot be successfully 

 grown on lands near the seaboard, I would urge the substi- 

 tution of some variety better suited to the soil and climate. 

 The pitch pine (pimis rigida), which seems to struggle for 

 existence on the seacoast is of slow growth, and produces 

 a wood which is of little value, except for fuel ; and he who 

 shall substitute a hardy tree of rapid growth to take its 

 place will be regarded as a public benefactor. The softer 

 woods, whose fibre is susceptible of being reduced to a pulp 

 and rolled into paper, may prove as valuable to the next 

 generation as the oak has to the present. Iron has already 

 supplanted the oak in marine architecture, and paper may 

 yet take the place of both. To encourage any enterprise, 

 we have only to show that it is safe and profitable. We 

 therefore propose to examine this subject in the light of 

 an investment. So far as any experiment has been tried, 

 coming within the circle of my knowledge, the result has 

 proved eminently satisfactory. Although in many instances 

 pines have been planted because the land would produce noth- 

 nothing else, — and often for the purpose of gratifying the 

 taste by covering a rocky hillside or sandy plain, and not with 

 a view to profit, — and though rarely, if ever, receiving any 

 culture after planting, yet in no instance that I have investi- 

 gated has it failed to be a paying investment. Mr. Zebulon 



