186 Nebraska State Horticultural Society. 



most promising trees to plant for commercial purposes. According to 

 the uses to which they are best adapted these trees are about as fol- 

 lows: 



For fuel, common cottonwood and white willow should be placed 

 first. No other trees adapted to Nebraska conditions will produce a& 

 many heat units on a given area in a given time. On good bottom 

 soils, cottonwood will produce three cords per acre annually for the 

 first twenty-five or thirty years. Willow will not yield quite so well, 

 but its fuel value is somewhat higher. These trees should be planted 

 only sparingly on uplands, since in such situations they are very apt to> 

 kill out by drouth in dry seasons. 



For fence posts, hardy catalpa, honey locust, green ash, Osag& 

 orange, European larch and red cedar may be recommended. Hardy 

 catalpa very probably can be grown on good soil in any part of the 

 state east of the 99th Meridian. The southwestern part may be a little 

 too arid and the northeastern part a trifle cold. However, successful 

 groves of catalpa afe reported near Yankton, S. D. Wherever it will 

 succeed it should have first place in commercial planting. Mr. Joha 

 Heins at Ulysses, Nebraska, has just harvested ten acres of nineteen- 

 year-old catalpa, realizing therefrom $218.00 per acre from the sale 

 of fence posts. This plantation would have yielded equally well had it 

 been cut four or five years ago, since the stand has been too heavy for 

 a number of years, and many of the trees have been killed out by over- 

 crowding. Mr. C. D. Robinson of Pawnee City is now harvesting a 

 sixteen-year-old plantation, and while he has not sold any of the 

 product, it is certain that he is realizing a greater yield of posts than. 

 Mr. Heins did. 



Honey locust and green ask are not so profitable, but they are 

 hardy throughout the territory in question, and are especially adapted 

 to planting under dry upland conditions, such as obtain in the western. 

 and southwestern counties. Next to cottonwood, green ash has been 

 the most widely planted tree in Nebraska, and should continue to have 

 a prominent place in future planting. Honey locust has been planted 

 very little in the past, but owing to its freedom from insect and fungus- 

 attacks, and its ability to withstand drouth, it should be more widely 

 used in establishing plantations, especially in the drier portions. It is 

 hardy throughout the state. Records on an average grove, twenty-nine 

 years old, near ^rand Island, show a value of $193.00 per acre. 



Osage orange, though planted extensively for hedges in an early 

 day, has never been used much in establishing plantations. However,, 

 recent studies prove it to be an exceedingly useful crop when grown on. 

 good soils. Measurements in the Benton Aldrich plantation near John- 



