88 WINDBREAKS. 



other species which produce only posts, it is not adapted to single- 

 row planting. On the other hand, the height attained by catalpa is 

 not sufficient to make the use of wide belts or groves justifiable. 

 Unless planted in wide belts, catalpa can not form an efficient wind- 

 break, because it is an intolerant tree and its lower branches are lost 

 at an early age, leaving clean boles, which offer little resistance to 

 the wind. 



A single grove of catalpa, growing on land of the finest quality in 

 Nebraska, at the age of 18 yeare had a value in posts of $289.30 per 

 acre, or an annual value with 4 per cent interest of $11.28 per acre. 

 Without interest, the value of the grove is $16.17 per acre each year, 

 exclusive of the cost of planting and tending. The posts in this 

 grove numbered about 2,820 per acre, of which 42 per cent may be 

 classed as firsts and seconds. The height of the grove was about 25 

 feet. This is somewhat less tall than groves on first-class land, but 

 is fairly characteristic of the tree. 



WHITE PINE. 



Of the conifers which may be planted on good soils in Iowa and 

 Minnesota, and perhaps also in the best sheltered situations in Ne- 

 braska and eastern Kansas, none promises so much in the way of 

 vigorous growth and profitable yield as white pine. The thrift and 

 quality of the tree, the usefulness of its lumber, and its protective 

 and esthetic values will all lead to a greater utilization of white pine 

 throughout the Eastern and Lake States, and as far west as the tree 

 may be grown without danger of winterkilling. There is every 

 reason to believe that if planted on moist, fertile soil, and protected 

 from the direct effects of drying winter winds, this tree will succeed 

 to middle western Nebraska and central Kansas. Young trees of 

 this species are doing well on the Platte River bottomland at Grand 

 Island, Nebr., and trees about 30 years old are growing at Ilutchinson, 

 Kans., in the valley of the Arkansas River. 



The extension of the box-board industry by means of small portable 

 sawmills will make the harvesting of white pine at an early age both 

 possible and profitable. Forest-grown white pine can not be cut profit- 

 ably for ordinary heavy lumber before it is about 60 years old. But 

 it has been very clearly shown that white pine grown in narrow belts 

 or even single rows in northeastern Iowa produces good straight 

 boles, fairly free of branches, and attains log size much sooner than 

 trees in groves. In Fayette County, Iowa, an orchard owner planted 

 belts of about three rows of white pine at intervals of 40 rods, run- 

 ning east and west. At the age of 40 years many of the trees contain 

 logs 16 to 20 inches in diameter, from which a large amount of con- 

 struction timber has been sawed. The trees of the middle row in 

 these belts are much smaller than those on the outside, but their 



