78 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Business considerations would naturally be next in order, and while 

 we have not time to go into the discussion of rates of interest and the 

 various phases of the financial side of the matter in detail, it is shown 

 by experience that fair returns, as compared with agricultural crops, 

 may be expected from well-managed forest plantations, the length of 

 time before money returns begin to. come in varying according to the 

 kind of soil, the species groAvn in the plantation, the market for small 

 material and such considerations, but under the best conditions, several 

 years must go by, after the plantation is made, before any income can 

 be expected, and the early returns will hardly pay more than the cost 

 of the labor employed in tending the crop. After the small pole stage 

 is reached, however, the income becomes more certain, and much larger. 

 The age at which the pole stage is reached depends again upon the spe- 

 cies, the soil and the other conditions of the site upon which the planta- 

 tion is made, and upon the age at which the trees are set out, etc., but 

 rapid growing species, like chestnut, catalpa and some of the inferior 

 woods, such as poplar, elm, soft maple and box elder, reach marketable 

 size in from eight to fifteen years on favorable soils, and, from that time 

 until maturity, may be made to supply a reasonable income from the 

 tract upon which they grow, while the main crop, the fully developed, 

 mature trees, is being improved all the time. 



Where shall plantations be made? This question is often asked and 

 is not easily answered, except in a general way. Where land values are 

 not too high, the plantation may be made upon the best soils, for trees, 

 like other plants, will grow most rapidly and most perfectly on rich, 

 well-drained, loamy soils, but, since this type of soil is generally too 

 valuable for such a use, and cannot be devoted to tree plantations ex- 

 cept under rather unusual conditions, other kinds of soil must be used. 

 On almost every farm in Michigan there are places which cannot be 

 profitably devoted to raising ordinary crops. Steep hillsides, often cul- 

 tivated at a positive loss, both in labor, and in the destruction of richer 

 and more easily worked land at the foot of the hill, may be much more 

 profitably planted out to timber trees. Dr}' or sandy areas, which in 

 dry seasons are useless for other crops may be used for forest planta- 

 tions. Undrained hollows, if not filled with water, will support some 

 species of trees and more extensive swampy places are much better cov- 

 ered with trees than left as bush pastures. 



What to plant? Again a complicated matter, for soil, drainage, slope, 

 exposure to sun, winds and frost, amount of moisture, all must be looked 

 into. Here, too, must be considered the possible markets, the purpose 

 for which the plantation is made, the ra])idity of growth, and the general 

 climatic conditions of the locality in which the plantation is to be made, 

 for trees will not usually grow successfully when planted out of their 

 normal range. 



Out of seventy native species of trees which we have in Michigan, 

 and some twenty-five or more others which will grow in the State, we 

 have only a dozen or twenty which will grow on our poorest soils; but, 

 fortunately, some of these rank very high, and one, the white pine, is 

 perhaps the best general purpose coniferous tree which we have, and one 

 making a very vigorous and rapid growth. On dry and poor soil, the 

 black oak, the white and Norway pines, white oak and some of the hick- 

 ories may be depended upon to do well. On well-drained but good soil, 



