198 FIRST BOOK OF FORESTRY 



to keep down the grass, but after this the shade of the 

 trees sufficed for this purpose. When the trees were eight 

 years old the largest ones were cut out for fence posts, 

 most of them making two posts each. In two years' 

 thinning, over fifteen thousand trees were taken from the 

 eighty-acre tract. When the plantation was ten years 

 old there had been raised on one acre about eighteen hun- 

 dred trees, furnishing over thirteen hundred good posts, 

 besides smaller posts or stakes and a lot of firewood, 

 valued in all at about two hundred and sixty dollars. 



This plantation is located on good bottom land, bought 

 at twenty-five dollars per acre, and of course presents an 

 exceptionally thrifty growth. Nevertheless, it clearly 

 shows what may be accomplished on the western prairies 

 and how even forestry that requires the most painstaking 

 care may be profitable in many parts of our country. 



SAND DUNES 



Passing through Michigan City, Ind., one can see 

 from the car window low ridges of bare white sand 

 stretching along the shore of Lake Michigan. These 

 ridges or dunes are constantly moving, and a number of 

 houses have been covered entirely, while parts of others 

 are seen sticking out of the sand. Similar dunes occupy 

 long stretches of our Atlantic coast and the coasts of 

 France, the Netherlands, and the countries about the 



