384 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



also to be utilized for the production of the needed timber supplies on 

 the farm. By judiciously thinning the plantations, 20 acres of 

 planted forest will furnish all the fuel needed on a farm of 160 acres, 

 besides producing lumber for the renewal of the farm buildings. 

 Many Kansas and Nebraska farmers have in twenty years grown cot- 

 tonwood trees large enough for sawlogs. Mr. W. D. Rippey, of Sev- 

 erance, Kans., cut 200,000 feet of cottonwood lumber a few years ago 

 from trees of his own planting. Mr. Rippey's plantations were on 

 uplands where the soil is not particularly well adapted to the growth 

 of cottonwood, and, when lumbered, were but little more than a 

 quarter of a century old. 



On the farm of Mr. T. F. Eastgate, near Larimore, N. Dak., in 

 the Red River Valley, a belt of planted cottonwood trees, supple- 

 mented by a dense undergrowth of wild plum bushes, acts as a wind- 

 break and snow catcher, causing a snowdrift to form in winter over 

 the open field, which is devoted to alfalfa. In the summer of 1904 

 Mr. Eastgate harvested alfalfa hay from this field at the rate of more 

 than 5 tons per acre. 



Besides serving as a windbreak and snow catcher, thus making 

 the growth of alfalfa possible on this farm, the forest plantation has 

 produced cordwood during its twenty-one years of life at the rate of 

 4.74 cords per acre per annum. 



The successful growth of alfalfa on 10 per cent of the area of this 

 region would double the earning power of every acre of land in the 

 Red River Valley ; and, since the thermometer here sometimes falls 

 as low as 50 below zero, it is possible to grow this extremely valuable 

 forage only by utilizing some contrivance like Mr. Eastgate's wind- 

 break, to catch the snowdrifts and form during the winter a protect- 

 ing blanket over the plants. (F. B. 228.) 



General Cultural Notes. With the exception of the sand hills, 

 general suggestions may be made which will be applicable to the cul- 

 tivation of forest trees throughout the plains. 



In the preparation of the soil too much importance can not be 

 attached to depth of plowing. The Western prairies, through long 

 exposure to the action of the elements and to the tramping of the 

 countless herds of buffaloes, which for centuries found in them a 

 favorite pasture ground, have become far more compact than the 

 forest-protected soils of the East. After a prolonged drought, such 

 as frequently occurs, the autumn rains are not readily absorbed by 

 the hard soil, and much moisture that might be saved to crops runs 

 off and is lost to the fields. This is particularly true of the western 

 parts of Nebraska and Kansas, and eastern Colorado. The same 

 lands under deep tillage act very differently. Not only is the absorb- 

 ing power of the soil increased by deep plowing, but the ability of 

 such soil to retain moisture, under proper culture, is marked. 



Land should be gradually prepared for tree planting by increas- 

 ing the depth of plowing during three successive years, if so much 

 time can be given to the work. The usual practice in the West is to 

 break the land in June or July, turning as thin a sod as possible, 

 and laying it flat, for which purpose the breaking plows are well 



