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To obtain this form, the trees must stand in rather open groves. This 

 will decrease the lumber value of the tree, but the land may be used for 

 pasture. Should it be necessary later to clear the land for other crops, 

 the trees will still yield a considerable profit in lumber, as pecan can 

 be used in short bolts for carriage stock. The following sample plot 

 gives the number of trees per acre in a pecan grove in Gallatin County. 

 By cutting out the other species this grove could be considerably 

 improved. 



Butternuts, hickories, and walnuts are now sold to a very small 

 extent, but they as well as the pecans should be a considerable source 

 of income. The cost of gathering the nuts is small, as it can be done 

 by children. 



Forest Management 

 the suitability of land for forestry 



The first step in forest management is to determine the class of 

 land that is suitable for the purpose. This depends largely on what 

 the soil will yield in timber compared with what it will produce in 

 ordinary agricultural crops. The absolute cash value of the land is not 

 always a criterion of its value for a specific use. Thus land may be 

 profitably used in growing timber for home consumption that would 

 be too valuable to permit of raising timber for the general market. 

 There are few farms on which from ten to twelve per cent of the 

 acreage could not well be set aside as a permanent woodlot. As a rule 

 the land that is least fertile and the hardest to cultivate should be used 

 for this purpose. 



The bottomlands of Illinois are rapidly being converted from forest 

 to agricultural lands by drainage and the construction of levees to 



