118 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



FOREST PLANTING OF THE PAST. 

 Nebraska is essentially a prairie state. Only about 3 per cent of the 

 total area was originally covered with natural timber, and nowhere was 

 the forest area large. Even in the eastern counties, where the greatest 

 amount of timber is found, probably less than 10 per cent of the area 

 was originally occupied by forest. The scarcity of natural timber, together 

 with the character of the climate^ has led to an unusual amount of 

 forest planting. The average of the figures returned by the assessors 

 for 1903 and 1904 shows that the entire state has 280,000 acres of planted 

 timber. Of this amount, about 248,000 acres, or nearly 87 per cent, is in 

 the territory east of the ninety-ninth meridian. 



The object in past planting was primarily to secure protection against 

 the storms and winds that so frequently visit Nebraska prairies. Its 

 commercial side was considered only incidentally. The tendency, there- 

 fore, was to select the quick-growing species, especially those near at 

 hand, which could be had cheaply. Though there has been a compara- 

 tively large amount of planting done, the major part is in poor condition 

 today. This may be accounted for in several ways. The trees chosen 

 were often ill adapted to the conditions. Thus it frequently happened 

 that a species adapted primarily to the bottomland soils was planted 

 indiscriminately on the uplands, or that a species was planted on sandy 

 land which could succeed only in a loam with a clay subsoil. Still an- 

 other cause of failure has been lack of care and management. There is 

 scarcely a plantation in Nebraska which has been managed with the 

 same care that the enterprising farmer gives to his field crops. Instead, 

 the vast majority of plantations have had little care or none at all. 

 Almost invariably they have been made free range for live stock. In 

 many cases they have been severely damaged by unchecked fires. Again, 

 instead of improving the plantation by cutting out the dead, dying, and 

 defective timber as material v/as needed, the better trees have usually 

 been selected. 



PRESENT STATUS OF FOREST PLANTING. 

 In general, the planted area in eastern Nebraska is decreasing, though 

 not uniformly so, for in some of the newer counties, particularly those 

 in the northeastern part of the state, there is an increase. However, 

 with the rapid rise in the price of land, together with an increased 

 timber supply, due to planting by the early settlers, the activity in forest 

 planting so characteristic of pioneer days has gradually declined, till 

 in most parts of the state the planting done is more than offset by the 

 cutting of the early plantations for fuel, posts, lumber, etc. Nurserymen 

 say that the demand for forest tree seedlings declined very rapidly from 

 about 1894. All agree, however, that there is a revival of interest in 

 tree planting at the present time. 



FOREST PLANTING OF THE FUTURE. 

 In past planting commercial considerations were largely ignored, but 

 in the future these should be especially emphasized. The farmer should 



