THE PLANTED FOREST FOR PROFIT. 291 



in protection, beautifying the place and as a source of supply for fence 

 posts fuel, repair material, etc. The growth of the community demands 

 the best use of every acre of soil and that every acre should produce 

 some crop. Good farms on rich soils and fine forests on poor soils means 

 the greatest possible industrial development for the entire country. Added 

 to this, is the need for some forest growth in every region no matter how 

 rich it may be in soil fertility. 



This gives the basis for dividing Nebraska into two great forest- 

 planting regions. The eastern portion is rich from the agricultural 

 standpoint and has been constantly growing in demand for farm pur- 

 poses. Its increasing value for this purpose is not yet fully developed 

 and makes it imperative that forestry in this portion of the state be 

 confined to woodlots, shelter-belts and windbreaks. In the western 

 portion of the state, the growth of forests should be on a large scale 

 and over extensive areas, since forests in this part of the state would 

 greatly develop the region as well as furnishing a supply to the wood- 

 needing farmer of eastern Nebraska. In both sections of the state, 

 the work is already well established and steadily growing in importance. 



FOREST PLANTING IN EASTERN NEBRASKA. 



It is almost entirely the eastern portion of the state that has given 

 Nebraska the name of the leading tree-planting state in the union. This 

 place in the front rank is largely the result of the timber claim act of 

 1871, the stimulation to forest planting given by the inauguration of 

 Arbor Day and the needs of the region. It was claimed that on the first 

 Arbor Day and during the rest of the year 1874, more than 12,000,000 

 trees were planted. Though this was probably the record-breaking year, 

 yet it is well known that forest planting is now on a more substantial 

 basis than ever before. 



Very few forest plantations have been made in the state with the 

 single idea of profit. The primary purpose in the plantations of "early 

 days" was to get trees of any kind to grow, and so fast-growing trees, 

 such as Cottonwood, green ash, box elder, soft maple and willow were 

 most widely planted. These species, especially Cottonwood, were easily 

 propagated, cheaply obtained, rapidly grown and were thought to give 

 promise of great results. Too often, however, in the scramble for quick 

 results, poor plant stock was used and still poorer care given to the 

 plantations. The result was that an extremely large percentage of the 

 plantations showed either a complete failure or nearly so. This made 

 many of the settlers dubious and gave a bad name to the quick-growing 

 species which is not entirely deserved. 



As the country became more thickly settled, the variety of tree 

 species used for planting and successfully grown become greater. Slower- 

 growing trees of longer life were used for permanence and there was 

 a general desire to grow a specified tree for a specified purpose. Osage 

 orange became the most prominent wind-break and hedge tree in the 



