87 



The timber on this plot which was merchantable for veneer logs was 

 harvested. Thirty-eight trees per acre were cut with a total-scale of 5,174 

 B. F.. Doyle rule: the stumpage value was $13.00 per M. This gives 

 a gross return of $62.09 per acre. After the $11.35 cost of taxes and 

 interest on taxes for 18 years has been deducted, this acre has returned 

 $50.84 or $2.83 per year when devoted to the production of veneer logs. 

 In addition to the 38 trees harvested for veneer, there remain 53 trees 

 suitable for pulp, which contain 7.3 cords having a stumpage value of 

 $1.25 per cord. Thus the acre has actually returned $50.84 over taxes, 

 and has in addition a pulp-wood stand worth $9.12 giving the total re- 

 turns, if cut clear, of $3.33 per acre annually from true waste land. 



In the northern three counties, Whiteside, Carroll, and Jo Daviess, 

 the bottomlands on the Illinois side are narrower than in the south. They 

 average about a mile from the blufts to the river in Jo Daviess county 

 and widen out in Whiteside county to three miles. The bottomland soils 

 are usually sands and gravels, and much of the land is scarcely worth 

 development. Here also, the Mississippi flows through many channels, 

 and the wooded islands are usually less than six feet above the general 

 river-level. The bottomlands in Jo Daviess county are about 40 per cent 

 wooded, and the forests frequently extend from the river to the bluffs. 

 In Carroll and Whiteside counties the forests are on the islands, and 

 along the river as a rather continuous belt with a maximum width of 

 two miles, while the area near the bluffs is cleared. (See Map VI A.) 



Between 1830 and 1850 these forests were heavily culled to supply 

 fuel and building material for settlers on the neighboring prairies, and 

 fuel for steamboats, river towns, and the Galena mines of Jo Daviess 

 county. By 1870 the Wisconsin white pine was supplying the building 

 material for this region. In recent years cutting has been light, reproduc- 

 tion by both sprouting and seedling abundant, and the stands are gen- 

 erally overstocked with immature trees crowding in among the occasional 

 old and defective trees. Much of this second growth is passing from 

 pole-wood to sawlog size. 



The association is largely "softwoods", and a half dozen of the less 

 valuable species make up 95 per cent of the stand. Based upon measure- 

 ments totaling 6.36 acres, the representation of species by per cents is as 

 follows : soft maple, 39 ; elm, 22 ; willow, 14 ; river birch, 12 ; pin oak, 

 7 ; ash, 5. 



A sample taken in a 25-year old sprout-seedling stand furnished the 

 following data : 



