ROADSIDE TREES. 45 1 



field. The timber was white pine, estimated to run at least fifteen 

 thousand feet to the acre, valued at ten dollars per thousand. 



Mr. Allen Chamberlain has an article in "Country Life in Amer- 

 ica," entitled "Does Farm Forestry Pay ?", which contains so many 

 valuable and interesting facts that I feel warranted in quoting 

 from it for the benefit of Northwestern farmers: 



"The farmer has been driven to believe that forestry is a deep, 

 mysterious science wholly beyond the comprehension of one not 

 learned in the higher mathematics. As a matter of fact, the farmer 

 can do much without employing a forester, and the following ex- 

 amples show what can be done: 



"In 1834 Mr. Frederick A. Cutter, of Pelham, New Hampshire, 

 took possession of a farm of ninety-two acres on which were a few 

 scattering pines. From these pines a tract of forty acres became 

 thickly seeded by nature, and this young timber he determined to 

 care for properly. Periodically the trees were thinned out, and 

 those thus cut in youth went to the farmhouse wood-pile and into 

 the brush fences. In addition to this thinning, Mr. Cutter and his 

 sons pruned about an acre of trees each year after the growth was 

 ten years old or more, thus providing for clearer lumber. In re- 

 cent years a son of Mr. Cutter has logged a part of this forty acres 

 and secured, in round numbers, 700,000 feet of lumber, and the 

 remaining stand he estimates will cut 300,000 feet, board measure. 

 This gives an average of 25,000 feet to tlie acre. This, then, is a 

 case in which the father has sown wisely, for the son reaps a har- 

 vest .of a million feet of lumber from only forty acres." 



This gives a value of not less than $250 an acre for "stumpage," 

 or $10,000 for forty acres. There are hundreds of thousands of 

 acres of abandoned land in New England which can be purchased 

 for from ten to fifteen dollars an acre. If the former owners of 

 these lands had been as wise as was Mr. Cutter, what a legacy they 

 would have left their children ! There are many other instances 

 in Mr. Chamberlain's paper which I wish I had the time and space 

 to quote. I advise all who are interested in this subject to secure a 

 copy of "Country Life in America" for November and read the 

 article. 



It is surprising how rapidly trees grow. There are elms eight 

 to ten inches in diameter, growing on the streets surrounding two 

 of the parks of Minneapolis which I raised from seedlings after I 

 had been told by a neighbor, who saw me planting trees, that I was 

 foolish to go to so much trouble, as I would never derive any benefit 

 from them, for I would be too old to enjoy them when they were 

 large enough to cast a shade. 



How often have we seen cattle standing in the "burning sun in a 

 pasture once wooded, but which had been denuded of every tree. 



