ARBORICULTURE. 



285 



maintaining and harvesting this plantation, as 

 well as of all proceeds, and the figures follow- 

 ing are taken from his records : 



EXPENDITURES PER ACRE. 



Interest on $21.59 for sixteen and one- 

 third years at 5 per cent, compounded. $26 34 

 Cutting and marketing 61 90 



Total expense for growing and har- 

 vesting the plantation per acre $109 83 



RECEIPTS FROM THE TWENTY ACRES. 



The actual material sold and receipts from 

 the same are as follows : 



31,397 third-class posts, at 5c $1,569 85 



17,340 second-class posts, at loc i,734 Qo 



4,268 first-class posts, at i2i/4c 533 5° 



270 first-class posts, at iSc 40 50 



211 eight-foot posts, at 20c 42 20 



9 ten-foot posts, at 25c 2 25 



4 ten-foot posts, at 30c i 20 



258 ten- foot posts, at 35c 90 3° 



41 twelve-foot posts, at 40c 16 40 



167 fourteen and sixteen-foot poles, at 



50c 83 50 



Total for posts and poles $4.1 M 60 



214 cords of wood, at $525 1,123 50 



Total income from twenty acres. .$5,238 10 

 The total of $5,238.10 as the proceeds from 

 twenty acres is equal to $261.90 per acre for 

 growing, etc., and if the cost of $109.83 per 

 acre for growing and marketing is deducted, 

 we have $152.07 as the net proceeds per acre. 

 Allowing 5 per cent, compound interest for de- 

 ferred payment, the $152.07 as the net income 

 at the end of sixteen and one-third years is 

 equivalent to an annual net income of $6.24 per 

 acre. In other words, if the land had been 

 rented, it would have had to bring an annual 

 cash rental of $6.24 per acre for this period to 

 equal the income derived from the plantation. 

 Any one acquainted with the conditions that 

 have prevailed in Eastern Nebraska, and the 

 reverses farming has sufifered for the period in- 

 cluded in the life of this plantation, knows that 

 this would be a splendid showing for any sort 

 of crop. It should be remembered that one- 

 third of this grove was on poor land, and be- 

 cause of the impoverished condition of the soil, 

 the trees were only just reaching post size when 

 they were cut. This portion of the plantation 

 would have been much more profitable had it 

 been allowed to stand a few years. 



The old stumps have sent up a vigorous 

 growth of sprouts the past summer, and the 

 owner expects to harvest a second crop in ten 

 years. During the summer the sprouts were 

 thinned out to the one, or in a few cases to the 

 two, most promising sprouts at each stump. 

 These have made a growth of from four to 

 nine feet the past summer. 



The cordwood sold readily at home, and is 

 giving splendid satisfaction. There was a good 

 sale for the fence posts among the farmers of 

 ihe vicinity, though most of them sold in car- 

 load lots to farmers and ranchmen in the west- 

 ern part of the State. 



Mr. Robinson, writing in regard to his grove, 

 says: 'I am well pleased with the result. It 

 has been a source of a great deal of pleasure 

 and very little bother or worry — yes, I did 

 worry some last fall for fear I might not find a 

 market f«r my stuff, but now I worry because 

 I can not supply the demand for my posts. I 

 could sell sixty thousand this season if I had 

 them. If I had it to do over I could realize 

 quite a little more from the same timber. I 

 should have had fifteen cents for the posts 

 which I sold for twelve and one-half cents. 

 They were a fine post, and would have sold 

 readily at fifteen cents. I also found a good 

 sale for ten-foot posts for stables and sheds, 

 and could have sold several thousand fourteen 

 and sixteen-foot poles for sheds and cross- 

 country telephone poles.' " 



OUR FORESTS DISAPPEARING. 



According to the reports given in the 

 latest issue oi the Bureatt of Statistics 

 that while " practically the whole world 

 is asking for American wood and its 

 products," it is our national misfortune 

 that we can not respond to the requests. 

 We really need all the timber we have, 

 and if we do not promptly take some ef • 

 fective 9tq>s toward reforestation it will 

 in all probability be only a short time be- 

 fore conditions will be reversed; the 

 United States may become the importer. 

 Within the last ten years we have ex- 

 ported about $500,000,000 in forest 

 products. The greater part of this was 



