DIGEST OF STATE EEPORTS. 503 



larch) has snch ardent friends and enemies that Mr. Thurston Yvith- 

 holds his opinion. 



The writer gives the following directions as to the preparation of the 

 ground and the planting of trees : 



111 preparing the soil of steep Iiills, the margins of water-courses, as well as rocky or 

 gravelly soil, the use of the plow is impossible, and in such situations the spade alone 

 must be used. On such tracts a few trees should bo carefully planted, and they had 

 better bo of some vigorous variety inclined to sprout. When the ground is partially 

 shaded by these trees, acorns, nuts, or even small trees may be successfully planted, 

 and they will flourish if room is gradually mado for them by the ax. For such sites 

 no tree could be better adapted than the black locust, and it is doubtful if the planter 

 would even wish to eradicate it in favor of any other species. 



In planting a continuous grove a space of four feet should be left between the rows. 

 One can easily cultivate a strip of that width by going over it twice, and so long as 

 cultivation is needed there will be abundant room for the passage of a horse. If rows 

 were established much less than four feet apart cultivation would bo impossible after 

 a few years, and the little ti'ces would need to be thinned when so small that the 

 thinnings would have no value, and the labor and exiiense of cultivating them would 

 go for naught. 



In the rows, plants ought in no case to stand closer than one foot, if it be intended 

 to grow healthy j)hints. In Europe beautiful hop-poles have been grown by planting 

 larch trees 18 inches by 2 feet, and hoop-poles could be grown as close ; but the destruc- 

 tion of the plantation is in such cases looked for as a matter of course, and as regards 

 hickory hoop-poles, it would b^ better to annually destroy a portion of the plants by 

 summer cutting until the wholb crop should be grown on stools four feet ea«h way. 



After the first year, then, all trees ought to be at least one foot apart. From a well- 

 managed plantation not a few trees may be sold at different sizes for ornamental pur- 

 poses, and for these, and other stufi" now deemed worthless, a sufficient income would 

 be realized to more than pay the expenses of the first ten years in almost any locality. 

 Where it is necessary to transplant from a seed-bed, the plants should be at once set in 

 rows both ways. They may thus receive perfectly clean culture without any hoeing. 



Mr. Millikin then gives directions as to thinning and pruning, from 

 which we quote as follows : 



No tree designed for timber should have room to expand its branches laterally into 

 what may be regarded as its normal shape. As rapidly as is consistent with the health 

 of the tree the stem should bo elongated, and should be bared of branches, for 

 branches make knots. The planter cannot expect to prune his trees into this shape. In 

 this country pruning to this extent would be immoderately expensive; iu any country 

 the removal of large, healthy branches is injurious to most trees, and absolutely ruin- 

 ous to others. To encourage the upward growth, and to check the nutrition of lower 

 branches, trees are so planted as to slightly crowd each other, and when the vigor of 

 these lower branches is gone, they may be removed without any shock to the tree or 

 injury to the quality of the timber in the trunk. On all coniferous trees the death of 

 shaded branches is extremely rapid, and this is particularly fortunate, since the cutting 

 away of live branches from the pines and spruces is followed by copious Itleediug for 

 years, to the exhaustion of the tree, and often to the injury of the bark. The scalding 

 of the bark by the resinous sap of pines has been observed by planters in the West, 

 and one of them recommends to leave a stump four inches long when amputating live 

 branches, and to saw off this stump when bleeding has ceased. But in the plantation 

 it would be better to permit a branch to die without disturbance, and so avoid all un- 

 necessary check to the trees. The planter should, however, be prompt to remove dead 

 branches, because so long as the wood of the trunk is creeping over and enclosing a 

 dead branch, it is making a knot, which will be deep in proportion to the forester's 

 neglect. 



The planter should be warned against crowding too much. It is sufficient that a 

 tree should have its branches approached or slightly touched'by its neighbors. Thin- 

 ning should be commenced very early, and should be attended to at least once in three 

 years in any plantation less than twenty-five years old. If long neglected, trees grown 

 too thickly begin to show all the symptoms of old age, and actually die. And even 

 when, before the death of the trees, thinning is commenced iu an overcrowded plan- 

 tation, they are so tall in proportion to the thickness of their trunks and roots that 

 they are broken and uprooted by winds. This constant thinning is its own reward, 

 since, after the first seven or eight years, every tree will bo available for stakes and 

 fuel, and afterward for posts, beams, &c. 



Reports from county societies show a majority of them to be in a 

 flourishing coadition, financially and otherwise. Detailed statements 



