TREE PLANTING ON MINNESOTA PRAIRIES. 30$ 



it about the roots of the plant. In this way the three workmen, two 

 men and a boy, were able to plant several thousand trees in a day, 

 and the whole expense of establishing that plantation did not exceed 

 $3.00 per acre. He secured almost a perfect stand, and his trees are 

 now several feet tall, growing thriftily, and no doubt in much better 

 condition than larger trees would have been if he had used them. 

 This is an illustration of the methods that must be employed in order 

 to make forest planting a financial success. 



The planting of coniferous forest trees in New England is being 

 accomplished at present almost as cheaply as was the case with the 

 green ash seedlings above mentioned. There seems to be little doubt 

 but that white pine plantations can be established at $4.00 to $5.00 

 per acre. If the farmers of rock-ribbed New England can make 

 forest plantations at $4.00 or $5.00 an acre, where all of the labor 

 has to be done by man power, it seems that Minnesota farmers ought 

 to be able to accomplish the same results where horse power can be 

 used with such great facility. The difiference in cost between Min- 

 nesota and New England plantations is largely due to the difference 

 in cost of the nursery stock. New England farmers can usually 

 obtain wild white pine seedlings from the neighboring woods at a 

 very small cost. A Minnesota farmer usually plows his land 

 preparatory to tree planting, and in the prairie regions this is abso- 

 lutely essential to success while it is not necessary in the east, but 

 the cost of plowing the land where gang plows are used ought not 

 to exceed .$.75 to $1 per acre. Another expenditure that Minnesota 

 farmers will need to provide is cultivation after the trees have once 

 been established. In the more humid eastern states forest trees are 

 left to take care of themselves and are able to compete with any other 

 weedy plants which might interfere with their growth. On the 

 prairies of the west, cultivation to keep the grasses out of the grove 

 is absolutely essential to success. This cultivation adds materially 

 to the cost of the plantation. 



The Minnesota farmer, however, has in store as a reward for 

 his extra labor and expense the prospect of a market far superior 

 to anything that can be hoped for in the near future in New Eng- 

 land. The millions of fence posts that are used every year on the 

 prairies of the west must be replaced in a few years bv others. The 

 demand for fence post timber is constantly increasing, and this can 

 be grown in comparatively a very short time. The telegraph and 

 telephone pole industry is also likely to prove very profitable in the 

 future. European larch telegraph poles can be grown in twenty 

 to twenty-five years. When we remember that such poles now are 

 selling for $1.00 to $2.00 apiece on the prairies and understand that 



