154 



cu. ft., but reduced to board feet, larch yielded but 491 ft. per year as 

 against 529 for pine. The larch plantation was but 52 years old. had 

 never been thinned, and had stagnated badly for over a decade, else this 

 latter comparison might have been more favorable. Used as lumber. 

 this species is not as valuable as the white pine. At $15.00 per thousand 

 stumpage, the crop is worth at present, based on a yield of 25,552 board 

 feet, $383.28 per acre, which at 5 per cent discounts to $32.93 per acre, 

 giving a rental of $1.65 per acre. This allows nothing for the expense 

 of planting, or for taxes. At $15.00 for planting, the soil value shrinks 

 to $16.63, yielding $.83 with which to meet taxes. 



Larch can not be raised on agricultural soils for saw-timber at a 

 profit. It grows well on black loam soils and would pay better returns 

 if cut at an earlier age for fence posts. 



PLANTATIONS IN EDGAR. FULTON. AND WHITESIDE COUNTIES 



Plot 5. Black 7i'aliiuf in Edgar county. 



Plantations of this species if on soil of good agricultural quality 

 will yield up to 100 cubic feet and 3,000 lbs. of wood per year, giving, 

 as in this case, over 300 (328) board feet per year on an acre. Aver- 

 age prices for walnut logs of good quality, on the stump, are about $50.00 

 per thousand feet B. M. This crop yielded 16,432 board feet, valued at 

 $821.60 per acre, at 50 years of age, or an average per year of $16.43. 

 Without considering expense, the indicated soil-value at 4 per cent is 

 $134.54. From this, planting must be deducted, which at $15.00 per 

 acre, discounted, still leaves a value of $117.08 per acre for the land if 

 put to this use, equivalent to an annual rental of $4.68 from which to 

 meet taxes. This indicates that walnut plantations, while they may 

 serve as a grove and shelter or windbreak in part, give the soil a reason- 

 ably high value though not as high as under farm crops. Plantations 

 made for the purpose of producing large trees should if possible be of 

 walnut, at least in part, due to the relatively high stumpage value which 

 should be maintained or even increased in the future if sufficient quanti- 

 ties of the species are produced to maintain its use. Its qualities for 

 certain j)urposes, such as gun-stocks and furniture, are so superior that 

 its future use seems assured. 



Plot 2. Plantation of Hardwoods in Fulton county on alhn-ial IhUtom. 



Alluvial bottoms subject to flooding and capable of being drained, 

 produce rapidly growing crops of hardwood timber of good quality with- 



