128 XKl'.ltASKA S'l'AII': lloKTlcri-'ITltAL S(>< IKI^'. 



perhaps on better land, they Hgure if they get one cord per acre per 

 3'ear it is profitable, suppose they have been growing forty years, then 

 they would have produced forty cords per acre. While we consider that 

 if we don't produce two and one-third to three cords per acre per year the 

 investment is no good. It is known that the state of South Dakota passed 

 a law holding that lumber cannot be shipped out of the state. Colorado 

 is not self-supporting in timber, none of the Middle Western states are 

 except Montana. It is not going to be long before all of the Rocky 

 Mountain states will prohibit the shipping of timber out of the state, 

 and it strikes me that the same thing can be said of Minnesota. Michi- 

 gan and Wisconsin. 



It v.'as a very common statement that the forests of Michigan .vouid 

 svipply the world, yet at the present time all three of those states are 

 importing lumber from the Pacific- coast and the South. There is no 

 dcmbt but that the Nebraska timber supply of the future is going to be 

 much more important than it is today; a man can figure on a much 

 greaiei profit than he can make at the present time; nearly every ma.n 

 who has taken good care of his cottonwood growth has created a good 

 profit. 



Now, taking the second tree, the hardy catalpa, that has even more 

 flattering returns from the soil. Perhaps most of you have known about 

 the Robinson plantation at Pawnee City, after allowing five per cent for 

 cost, they secured a profit of $6.25 per acre per year. It has been my 

 good fortune to investigate some plantations in Kansas. At riutchinson, 

 which is one of the best fruit centers in the United States, they use 

 the best methods of spraying and they are up-to-date in every particular. 

 One owner had about 600 orchard trees and about 300 catalpa trees end 

 he makes more money per acre from his catalpa trees than he docs from 

 his fruit orchard. The same thing has been proven in the Farlingtou 

 forest. The manager claimed he had cleared .$50 per acre per year. I 

 doubt that. He must not have taken into consideration the various ex- 

 penditures. The Yeagey plantation has averaged from $S to $20 per 

 acre per year. 



]n the spacing of hardy catalpa I have recommenderl that they D'^ 

 spaceG five feet by five feet or six feet by six feet. We usually advo- 

 catf cutting the hardy catalpas in from ten to twenty years, if on the 

 upland twenty years, if on lowland in ten years, when you get your 

 first fence posts. It has been found that planting four feet by four 

 feet it is a little too close, so if you make it four feet by six feet it is 

 better; and for the second, third and fourth crops make your plantatii;n 

 six feet by eight feet, that is the recommended spacing for these crops. 

 Your second crop matures quicker than the first. At the Yeagey planta- 

 tion they have actually cut at the end of the fifth year for fence iiosis, 

 but the average was eight years. I think, on the proper sites in th.' 

 Platte valley where the hardy catalpa does not winter kill, we can 

 figure on $5 per acie per yeai- for profit. I know that is a conservative 



