142 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Forest Tree Planting. In the absence of 

 strictly enforced laws and regulations to protect the 

 American forests from wanton destruction by fire and 

 by lumbermen, it can scarcely be hoped that in the 

 present generation at least this reckless waste can be 

 wholly repaired. It may, however, be reasonably 

 hoped that farmers in the arid belt will so readily 

 understand the vast importance and direct benefits 

 of large timber areas in any agricultural section that 

 they will encourage tree planting wherever feasible. 

 To many it may seem a hopeless undertaking to plant 

 forest trees with any prospect of seeing value in them 

 during the lifetime of the planter. 



But, nevertheless, trees should be everywhere 

 planted among the farms and along the roadsides 

 throughout the arid regions, and until their rapid 

 growth is actually seen and recorded one can scarcely 

 comprehend it. To be sure, some varieties grow much 

 more rapidly than others, but perhaps the more rapid 

 growers are not always the most desirable or profit- 

 able to plant. The cottonwood is often planted along 

 irrigating ditches and in moist ground, but it is by no 

 means the best tree to plant in such places. The 

 cottonwood has little commercial value, although it 

 is sometimes used for fencing and other purposes 

 about the farm. A much more useful tree, and one 

 which will grow almost anywhere within the climatic 

 limit of possibility, is the common eucalyptus or blue 

 gum. The timber of this tree is valuable, it grows 

 very rapidly and roots deeply. It will often flourish 

 where other less valuable trees will fail. Extremely 

 cold weather would destroy the eucalyptus, however, 

 and its planting should be confined to the more tem- 

 perate regions of the arid belt. This tree does not, 

 like the cottonwood, furnish a breeding ground for 

 insect pests, but on the contrary is alleged to act as 

 a repellent of the whole tribe of noxious insects that 

 invests every kind of plant life in all countries. 



Among the better known varieties of native forest 

 trees which may be planted with reasonable hope of 

 early results is the " shell bark " hickory. When 

 properly planted in rows and cultivated, watered and 

 tended, the hickory makes rapid growth and soon 

 attains a size adapting it to coopers' use for hoops, 

 while a few more years' growth will convert it into 

 tool-handle timber. By planting the hickory in rows 

 six feet apart, and four feet apart in the rows, about 

 1,700 trees may be grown upon an acre of land. By 

 gradually and carefully thinning out the rows as the 

 trees attain a salable size, it will be found that in a 

 few years such a timber grove has attained very great 

 value. It is well known that the carriage makers 

 find it more and more difficult each year to secure a 

 supply of hickory timber for their uses, and pay very 

 attractive prices ^for satisfactory material of that 

 character. In suitable places, too, white ash may be 



planted with profitable results, though perhaps with 

 less satisfaction than the hickory. Black walnut will 

 grow in nearly every county in the arid belt, if sur- 

 rounded by conditions attainable in nearly all parts. 

 From the fact, however, that the hickory may be util- 

 ized at almost all stages of its growth, it is probable 

 that it would yield the best results, even if planted 

 on a large scale, when properly cared for. 



Probably no more profitable investment could be 

 made anywhere in the irrigable domain than the 

 planting of large areas of timber of the varieties best 

 suited to local conditions, always considering the 

 commercial value of the timber itself as well as its 

 incidental value for shade, windbreaks or fuel. 



An Opening for a Young Man. Since spray- 

 ing the orchard is a necessity in order to produce 

 merchantable fruit on a large scale in all parts of the 

 country, preparations to treat the trees in a proper 

 manner should be made by all owners of orchards, 

 even though small. In a district where fruit growing is 

 merely a side issue, and quite subordinate to the gen- 

 eral farming interest, it may be inconvenient and per- 

 haps expensive for each farmer to maintain an 

 efficient spraying outfit. In such cases it will gener- 

 ally be found that by the farmers of a neighborhood 

 clubbing together, a spraying outfit sufficient for the 

 use of all may be obtained at a small cost to each, 

 and that the work may thus be done for all at no great 

 expense. 



What would be still better, however, would be to 

 offer adequate inducements to some enterprising 

 young man in the neighborhood to provide himself 

 with the necessary spraying apparatus and materials 

 for the required sprays, and then to do the work for 

 each orchardist as required, at a cost to be agreed 

 upon. In this way the work would almost certainly 

 be done when needed, and would not be indefinitely 

 postponed, or indifferently performed, as is so liable 

 to be the case when the small orchardist depends 

 wholly upon himself to provide the appliances and 

 materials for spraying. 



Peanuts. In the cultivation of peanuts the main 

 points are to keep them clear of weeds and grass ; do- 

 not hill the spreading varieties; let them lie flat on 

 the ground; and keep throwing fresh dirt under the 

 ends of the creeping kind as they grow outward, so 

 the young nuts can easily bury themselves. Keep the 

 ground loose and mellow around the roots. 



Why Not Have a Fall Garden? Is it neces- 

 sary that the one effort in the spring should be all the 

 attention given the garden, when by a little fore- 

 thought you can have the health-giving fruits and 

 vegetables the entire year ? 



