622 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



book of the United States department of agriculture, 1898, also reprinted by 

 the bureau of forestry. The plan was made for a New Jersey owner by 

 Henry S. Graves, now director of the Yale school of forestry. It will give 

 a good general idea of the nature of such a plan, but in order to be of 

 particular value the plan must be made after careful study on the spot, 

 as an inspection of this plan will sbow. A plan made for New Jersey would 

 not answer in all its details for a wood lot in Iowa. 



Where there is no native timber, resort may be had to planting. This 

 planting may be placed under three heads; planting with home consump- 

 tion, for shelter, and for market. Under the first head comes the wood lot. 

 For a quick and temporary supply of firewood, willow, the soft maples, Cot- 

 tonwood, etc., may be planted. In among these may be planted hardy 

 catalpa, black walnut and black locust. For shelter, red cedar, Norway 

 spruce and Austrian pine answer the purpose well. 



For market probably the best are the following: Black walnut, hardy 

 catalpa and black locust. 



Black walnut is valuable for fence posts and lumber but its greatest 

 value is for furniture. It has a high price in the market and the supply 

 is very limited. In places in the south where it was formerly abundant 

 they are now digging up stumps and using old fence rails for furniture 

 material. An acre or even a half acre of black walnut would be most valu- 

 able in twenty-five or thirty years. There is no chance of the market 

 being supplied with something else for the value of black walnut lies in its 

 rich color and beautiful finish which is peculiar to itself and can be sup- 

 plied by nothing but black walnut. Almost all, practically all the native 

 supply must come from planted groves. The price will continue to go up until 

 there is an adequate supply; scarcity will only enhance its value in the 

 eyes of furniture buyers. Here is a chance for a pretty safe investment for 

 the future. The tree grows fairly rapidly and is quite free from fungus 

 or insect attacks. It does not cost much to plant a half acre and have 

 five or six hundred trees for market in twenty-five years. The seed should 

 be planted with some cheaper tree for a nurse, say red maple. They should 

 be planted four feet apart each way, every alternate tree being a red 

 maple. That will be 2,722 trees to the acre or 1,361 black walnuts. The 

 red maple will force the walnut to grow in height rapidly, which will 

 produce long, clean boles. When the maple has served its purpose it may 

 be cut out for firewood. 



Catalpa is valuable for fence posts, railroad ties and telegraph poles. 

 Black locust makes excellent and durable fence posts in a short time. 



For a full discussion of the possibilities of planting on the western 

 plains and prairies the reader is referred to an article entitled "Forest 

 Extension in the Middle West," by W. L. Hall, published in the Yearbook 

 of the Department of Agriculture for 1900; also reprinted by the bureau 

 of forestry. Other articles of interest are "The Practice of Forestry by 

 Private Owners," by Henry S. Graves, reprinted from the Yearbook 1899 

 United States Department of Agriculture by the bureau of forestry, and 

 "Forestry for Farmers," by B. E. Fernow, reprinted by the bureau of 

 forestry from the Yearbook United States Department of Agriculture 

 for 1894. 



