190 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



soil conditions make the occupation of certain spots by one kind 

 which may be better adapted to them, more desirabk), as, for instance, 

 the ash in a wet ground (slough). When a slower-growing, light- 

 needing kind is to be grown side by side with a quicker-growing shady 

 one — as, for instance, oak and catalpa — a group of oaks will have 

 more chance to withstand the shade of the densely foliaged catalpa 

 than the single individual.* 



WHAT TO PLANT. 



The first difficulty which besets the forester in this country is the 

 question, Which, in the immense forest flora, are the trees that for ar- 

 tificial forestry are the most acceptable, the most j^romising ? For, 

 while nature in her la^vish bounty has given us an almost endless 

 variety of arborescent plants, and while we know how to put them to 

 use when found, it is evident that, as natural resources are being ex- 

 hausted, and it becomes necessary to provide for our needs by artificial 

 planting and by managing to produce on the smallest area the great- 

 est amount of the best material, we shall have to be careful in the 

 selection of the material as well as in the method of its management. 

 For the settlement of this question we are remarkably destitute of 

 reliable data, and while we may now plant some of the kinds which we 

 know are adapted to special localities and are useful for certain pur- 

 poses, yet for extensive planting it is well to confine ourselves to the 

 few varieties which are best known until a closer study has been 

 Qiade of the capabilities of the rest, ^ This is especially advisable 

 with foreign species, or those not indigenous to the given locality. 

 An exception might be made of European species only, as the ex- 

 tended experience in their cultivation abroad may serve as a guide 

 here. We must, however, take care not to overlook the fact that, cli- 

 matic conditions being different, differences of behavior are to be ex- 

 pected and, if possible, to be provided for. As an illustration of the 

 mistakes which may be made in this respect, I may refer to the un- 

 qualified recommendations to plant the European larch anywhere and 



*Some of the above principles liaving been pointed out to Prof. W. J. Beal, of 

 Lansing-, Mich. , he has made some notes on the relation of underf2:rowth to the de- 

 velopment of different forest trees, and the capability of the latter for holding their 

 loaves, i. c, thriving under shade. These observations, published in a bulletin, 

 have reference to conditions of a very limited locality , however, and may not, there- 

 fore, be generahzcd upon. He found under these conditions that black walnut, but- 

 ternut, and white ash do not preserve dense crowns when grown in the forest. He 

 further cites beech, sugar-maple, dogwood, hazel, blue beech and choke cherry, as 

 shade enduring, and adds poplars, white oak, and swamp oak (these are generally 

 light needing); white pine, arbor vitte, red cedar, Norway spruce, of evergi'eens, 

 and black cherry, American elm, butternut, low willows (unusual!), catalpas, birches 

 (exceptional!), and box-elders. As the degree of shade under which these thrive is 

 not indicated by a statement of tlie conditions under which they are found, besides 

 relating only to the first period of life, this list is of little use. The oak, it is true, 

 will live under shade, but for its development requires a great deal of light, and 

 must, with few exceptions, be counted among the light-needing, thin-foliaged trees. 



He also cites tlie weeds found to thrive in shade (what degree of?) : common milk- 

 weeds, desmodiiim, celandine, Avild asters, golden rods, to which add black cap 

 raspberi-ies, and gixipe-^dnes. June gi'ass and some other grasses make their appear- 

 ance late in autumn and early in spring, when deciduous trees are without leaves. 



After cultivation ceases, shepherd's purse, annual poa, pigweeds, purslane, and 

 other annuals appear. These weeds cannot exactly, as it is stated, be welcomed in 

 the forest, but theii- appearance or disappearance furnishes the forester an indication 

 of the condition of his plantation in regard to cover, and gives him warning that 

 his correcting hand is needed. 



