ARBORICULTURE 



135 



these surplus seeds to be collected in enor- 

 mous quantities and properly distributed 

 over the lands on which trees do not now 

 exist ? 



The Creator has planned for squirrels 

 and small animals and birds to distribute 

 these seeds, yet even the Creator will not 

 compel these agents to do this work im- 

 mediately ; this will take time ; possibly 

 centuries. 



The proper method is for the govern- 

 men tto embark in this enterprise ; have 

 the seeds collected, scattered, and pro- 

 tected, so that in time the forests will be 

 renewed. 



This is also a work for the States, 

 through their established organizations, 

 forestry societies, agricultural experi- 

 mental stations, agricultural colleges, or 

 whatever organization may be in exist- 

 ence, totally freed of politics, and thor- 

 oughly equipped for business. 



Seeds of all kinds are abundant, and 

 not extravagantly expensive to gather. 

 And if they are not collected, they are 

 wasted. 



Let the people awaken to the necessity 

 of prompt and vigorous action. There is 

 no time to lose, either in experimentation 

 or collection of statistics, but actual plant- 

 ing of various kinds, suitable for the va- 

 rious locations and purposes. 



Hundreds of millions of trees should 

 be planted at once — and each year — and 

 seeds provided for still greater numbers. 

 The nation will need them long before 

 they shall be grown. 



NUT-GROWERS. 



The fifth annual convention of the Na- 

 tional Nut-Growers' Association is called 

 to meet at Scranton, Miss., October 31st 

 and November ist and 2d, 1906. The 

 outline of program promises a meeting 



of unusual practical interest. Jackson 

 County, Miss., of which Scranton is the 

 county seat, enjoys the distinction of 

 being the place of origin of many of the 

 largest and finest pecans known, while 

 her area of orchards of bearing budded 

 and grafted trees surpasses at present all 

 other sections of country producing the 

 pecan. 



Special railway rates. For particulars 

 address J. F. Wilson, Secretary. 



POULAN, Ga. 



A MODEL FOREST. 



The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 

 Railway has planted a large forest of Ca- 

 talpa speciosa at Pacific Junction, Iowa 

 a few miles south of Council Bluffs. The 

 trees were supplied by John P. Brown, 

 and were grown from seed collected in 

 the Wabash Valley, Indiana. The loca- 

 tion of the forest is in the broad bottom 

 land of the Missouri River, a mile from 

 the river's edge. The soil is of black, 

 rich prairie, with a large proportion of 

 sand, while the subsoil is the formation of 

 sand and silt deposited by the river in 

 its various changes. Probably the tJnited 

 States does not possess a more fertile soil 

 than here exists in the Missouri bottoms. 



While the large quantity of sand in its 

 admixture makes it easily tilled and very 

 productive, this farm, a square mile in 

 extent, produced last year ninety bushels 

 of corn per acre. Thus it is an ideal spot 

 for catalpa growth. 



On this tract a cottonwood tree had 

 been recently cut which was five feet in 

 diameter, and a count of the annual 

 growth of rings showed it to be fifty 

 years old. 



Many walnut trees planted twenty 

 years ago are now sixteen inches in diam- 

 eter. The trees are planted 7 y^y feet. 



