FOKIOSTIIY FOK PHOI'MT. 129 



ostiniate, taking the large pUmtations in Kansas, Missouri and Southern 

 Illinois as a basis. 



The other species that should prove profitable, and there is a iiossi- 

 bility of growing them in the sandhills, is Jack pine. Undoubtedly you 

 know we have 300,000 acres of sandy lands in Nebraska for forest .ijlant- 

 ing. This pine has given indications of success in the famous Bruner 

 brothers plantation, started in 1891, where it averaged a profit or' at 

 least, $5 to ?10 per acre. It has proven far from satisfactory in subs 3- 

 cjuent work, yet I believe we can claim that the aforestation of the sand- 

 hills is l^oing t(i be profitable. The Jack pine makes a slower growth 

 here than in its native home in Wisconsin. One of the few things we are 

 trying to do is to induce it to make a satisfactory growth, for taking it 

 from the sandy soil of Wisconsin to Nebraska, where there is a diffierent 

 kind of soil, makes the growth slower. Most of the stock being shipped 

 into the state by Minnesota nurserymen made it difficult for us to solve 

 that problem until Nebraska nurserymen took hold of it. I know that 

 tne production of native Jack pine is a diflScult thing. I questioned 

 one dealer in Minesota and he said there were something like 200,000 

 of these native grown seedlings shipped out last year. There is no doubt 

 but the market will improve within the next five or ten years and many 

 more Jack pines will be planted than at present. 



There is one feature of the forestry work that I want to emphasize, 

 and that is the possibility of introducing trees from abroad. In this 

 morning's discussion it came up about the Scotch pine, one of the trees 

 that made the Robinson forest what it is. So 'far, we have had but little 

 success with the Scotch pine, which is largely due to the poor seed. For 

 instance, Reita seed, which is the local name, we have nearly always 

 secured the inferior seed. In discussing that with a German, I say the 

 Germans sell us their poor seed; he says that is a lie, the Germans 

 don't sell anything poor. ' I took the position that the German sells 

 anything he can, and gets as much for it as he can, and 

 is glad to sell it. I should like to see some of that Reita 

 seed tried in this country. So far, the Experiment Station has 

 devoted its money to mere experiments. I believe a more liberal appro- 

 priation with a possibility of a state forester here we can devise some 

 v/ay whereby if we can get all the proper conditions we can grow it. 

 This species should give to us as big a profit as to the Germans and 

 Austrians, and these fellows can make from $8 to $10 per acre profit. 



If you look upon the reports of the Province of Saxony you will 

 see that a man there is making more money from his forest lands 

 than from his agricultural lands. It seems to me, with our greater 

 American ability, if we went at this problem in the right way, that 

 the forests of Nebraska could no doubt be made very profitable. 



Chairman: We have heard a very good talk by Professor Phillips 

 on this subject, and it is a subject in which we are all interested, and 



