66 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



BLACK WALNUT TIMBER 

 PLANTATIONS. 



The planting of Black Walnut for 

 timber will, if judiciously done, be a 

 valuable investment. But it is desir- 

 able that it be done with reasonable 

 expectations. The following letter, 

 which we clip from the Country Gentle- 

 man gives the opinion of a writer who 

 thinks that some are counting the pro- 

 tits too fast. He says : 



In your issue of the 21st September, 

 (see page 17 of this volume) I notice a 

 note on black walnut, which I think 

 contains some errors calculated to deceive 

 those who are planting forests. The plan 

 of planting and cultivating them is good, 

 but the result cannot reach that profit that 

 Mr. Ragan's figures denote. He says that 

 in twenty-five years they will bring |1,000 

 per acre. That would be producing $40 

 per acre every year from the time of 

 planting for twenty-five years, which is 

 double as much as the ground would pro- 

 duce in any other crop for that length of 

 time. Mr. Ragan says that walnut lum- 

 ber brings $100 per 1,000 feet in the cities. 

 Some choice specimens bring that price, 

 but there is more lumber sold for $50 per 

 1,000 than there is for $100. I have been 

 handling walnut lumber, and it has always 

 been high class lumber, and $60 per 1,000 

 has been the highest price that I have re- 

 ceived in Cincinnati, O. 



I also think that there is a mistake about 

 the growth of the trees. In twenty -five 

 years he says the trees will be worth $5 

 each (for lumber I suppose). At that age 

 they will not be fit for lumber at all, much 

 less grade as $100 lumber, which must be 

 14 feet long and 20 inches wide (or there- 

 abouts), and free from blemish of any kind. 

 Again, he says; *'At 14 feet apart there 

 will be over 200 trees to the acre, and 

 these should sell for $5 each. " Now, trees 

 (or rather sapling) may grow at that dis- 

 tance, but they would never get large 

 enough to make saw logs worth 111^5 to the 

 tree, or even logs that would be merchant- 

 able at any price. There is a tree on this 

 f^rm that I know to be something over 

 twenty years old, and it is standing in a 

 very rich black walnut soil near a branch. 

 It has always had a very strong and 



vigorous gi'owth, and it is now about one 

 foot in diameter at the ground, and about 

 60 feet to the very top twig. If cut down 

 it would look more like a skid to load logs 

 with, than the log to be loaded. The 

 black locust is much more profitable than 

 the walnut . They will grow much closer 

 together, and will gow at least twice as 

 fast. They are also merchantable at 6 

 inches in diameter, making good posts at 

 that size, whereas the walnut at that size 

 is hardly fit for anything. At twenty-five 

 years of age the locust trees may stand 14 

 feet apart, and might be worth $2. 50 each, 

 or $500 per acre, but I have some doubt 

 about their reaching those figures. At 

 any rate black walnut never can. — T. W. C. 

 Clay Village, Ky. 



FRUIT EVAPORATORS. 



The fruits cured by this process, for 

 all cooking purposes, are the same as 

 fresh or undried fruit ; no one can tell 

 the difference. The process of evapor- 

 ating the water from the fruit being so 

 rapid that fermentation is impossible, 

 and with proper care in packing and 

 storing, the fruit may be kept in per- 

 fect condition for years, thus enabling 

 the excessive product of one season to be 

 carried to the next, which usually alter- 

 nates with a light crop. Every farmer 

 having a good orchard should have 

 an Evaporator ; with it he can always 

 make his apple crop yield him at least 

 50 cents per bushel, excluding labor and 

 other costs. This in years of plenty 

 would be of great value, as usually 

 most of such crops are lost : there 

 need be no fear of over-producing, 

 any amount can be sold in Great 

 Britain ; parts of our Dominion will 

 never produce fruit enough for 'their 

 own use. This process will event- 

 ually drive out of use the abominable 

 dried apples. The market price for 

 the evaporated apples has been thus 

 far in our Province from eight to thir- 

 teen cents per pound. The product 

 from one bushel (apples) is from five- 

 and-a-half to seven pounds per bushel. 



