284 



ARBORICULTURE. 



think your niutterings can scop the great 

 national and important work of planting 

 forests ? 



Cease gazing at distant stars ; they are 

 entirely out of your mortal reach, and 

 come down to earth ; learn the real char- 

 acter of the trees in America O'f which 

 you are so ignorant, and possibly your 

 wasted energies may be yet O'f some ben- 

 efit to the country which has afforded 

 you protection and a home. 



PLANTING LOCUST SEED. 



About the middle of May or first of 

 June prepare seed bed as for a garden. 

 'Pour hot water on the seed, to soften 

 the horny shell ; next da}^ plant in rows, 

 mixing sand or loam with the seed for 

 convenience of dropping ; cover half-inch 

 deep quickly ; cultivate thoroughly. 

 Transplant when oue year old. 



A PROFITABLE CATALPA FARM. 



The Nebraska Farmer for March 27, 

 1907, contained a lengthy article which 

 is good reading for farmers everywhere. 

 We reproduce most O'f the article. 



The most serious error which Mr. 

 Robinson made, so far as we can judge 

 from the article, was in following the 

 antiquated system of many professional 

 foresters in distance of planting. 



The same result is seen in this Ne- 

 braska plantation, as was learned from 

 the Farlington (Kansas) experience. 



If a person aims only at small things 

 he will never reach the greater. 



In planting for fence posts and cord 

 wood, two of the lowest grades of wood 

 products, and thus planting 2,722 trees 

 on an acre of land, 16 square feet of sur- 

 face for its development, each tree would 

 have been 17 inches diameter instead of 



6, and cross-ties, valuable lumber and tel- 

 egraph poles wou'ld now be marketed, in- 

 stead O'f fence posts and cord wood. 



By reference toi our article in this is- 

 sue, "Steel Ties Abandoned," it will be 

 seen that higher ideals in forest planting 

 are the more profitable, and bring greater 

 results. 



This Pawnee City tract should have 

 produced a gross income of 13,320 rail- 

 way cross-ties having a value of 75 cents 

 net, bringing $10,000, whereas the owner 

 received $5,238.10 — more than $4,760 

 difference. 



A PROFITABI.E CATALPA FARM. 

 "Mr. C. D. Robinson, a prominent merchant 

 at Pawnee City, Neb., has recently completed a 

 very interesting e.xperiment in the growing of 

 hardy catalpa. In 1889 he purchased a small 

 tract three miles northeast of Pawnee City, 

 and immediately put plans under way to plant 

 twenty acres to catalpa. 



The land is of the rolling-prairie type. The 

 soil is sandy loam, with a small admixture 

 of gravel, and underlain with a clay subsoil. 

 Seven acres were planted in the spring of 1889, 

 on ground which had been carelessly farmed 

 for some years, and was very much run down. 

 The remaining thirteen acres were planted in 

 the spring of 1890. This portion of the tract 

 had been in virgin prairie sod until the spring 

 of 1889, when it was broken out and allowed 

 to stand idle imtil the following year. The 

 ground in both cases was put in a thorough 

 state of cultivation immediately before the trees 

 were planted. The trees, which were one year 

 old when set out, were spaced four by four 

 feet, thus requiring twenty-seven hundred and 

 twenty-two trees per acre. The plantations 

 were cultivated the same as corn the first two 

 years. After that no further care was given 

 them, except that a few acres were pruned sev- 

 eral years later. The plantation was always 

 protected against fire and live stock. 



The entire plantation was harvested in Jan- 

 uary and February, 1906. Since seven acres 

 were planted in the spring of 1889 and thirteen 

 acres in the spring of 1890, the average age of 

 the grove was approximately sixteen and one- 

 third years. The owner has kept a strict ac- 

 count of all expenses incurred in establishing, 



