350 Forestry Quarterly 



With close planting, pruning is seldom necessary for the side 

 branches are shaded out and the trees prune themselves naturally. 

 Light-demanding species seldom require pruning, but shade-en- 

 during trees often do. The best time to prune is late in winter or 

 early spring just before growth starts. 



When a young tree is not developing properly, a good method 

 is to cut it back to the ground two or three years after planting, 

 provided, of course, that it is a species that will sprout. 



Utilisation. — About fifty per cent of the posts used in the 

 valley are juniper and locust. The balance of the material is 

 pine, Cottonwood, poplar and willow. In a few cases the wire is 

 strung on live trees, either willow, poplar or cottonwood, but 

 such a fence is very unsatisfactory. Much of the soil in the val- 

 ley is a sandy, gravelly soil and the decay of the portion of the 

 post which is in the ground is very rapid. Because of the dryness 

 of the atmosphere the top of the post is very long-lived. When 

 cut green, peeling and seasoning gives the best results, in some 

 cases quadrupling the life of the post. Charring the butt of the 

 post, if properly done, gives very good results, but by far the best 

 results in prolonging the life of fence posts have been secured by 

 impregnation with creosote. 



Black locust {Robinia psetidacacia) is not a native species of 

 Owens Valley but it has been widely planted as a windbreak tree 

 and there are also several small groves of this species in the val- 

 ley. Posts of this species, 2 to 5 inches at the top, bring 25 to 40 

 cents apiece and those 5 to 7 inches 45 to 50 cents. Posts of 

 larger diameters which can be used for corner posts sell as high 

 as $1 apiece. The life of locust posts depends chiefly upon the 

 amount of sapwood and the seasoning. The sapwood begins to 

 decay within 3 or 4 years, and within 7 or 8 years it has 

 entirely disappeared. Thus small posts of this species usually 

 rot out in 7 or 8 years due to the large proportion of sapwood, 

 while large posts composed almost entirely of heartwood are 

 practically entirely sound after 20 years. 



Two species of juniper {Juniperus occidentalis and utahensis) 

 occur quite plentifully in the foothills. There seems to be little 

 choice between the species. The Utah juniper of the White 

 Mountains is the most accessible, and for this reason most of the 

 posts of the valley are of this species. Juniper usually occurs 

 as a clump of slender stems and seldom yields more than one post 



