PAPERS READ BEFORE THE ASSOCIATION. 



21 



country for perhaps a million of years, when 

 palm trees, Brazil nuts and other tropical 

 growths flourished in this section - a fact of 

 which there is abundant evidence.. 



Undoubtedly the best way to procure good 

 seed is to send to friends in the East for wal- 

 nuts, butternuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, also 

 black oak, white oak seeds, etc. Have the 

 nuts gathered with the hull on and packed 

 in moss or damp leaves, and sent by express 

 and immediately planted where they are 

 wanted to grow. Cover the seeds with 

 leaves, which can be gathered when 

 the cottonwoods shed their foliage. The 

 nuts can be had of seedsmen, but few 

 of them will have been properly 

 cared for, and the balance will not 

 grow. When they fall from the trees, nuts 

 are immediately covered with leaves. The 

 frost and sun burst them open during tho 

 winter and they shoot up in the spring. 

 Young trees can be obtained from the nur- 

 serymen, but these have the tap-roat cut 

 back, which makes them undesirable for our 

 dry climate. All nut-bearing trees throw 

 down into the earth a taproot as deep 

 as the tree grows, unless in very moist 

 places. The chestnut grows well in 

 rough places and mountainous regions. 



These nut trees are more desirable for 

 wood or lumber than the cottonwood, are 

 cleaner, and bear something for the benefit 

 of man. It requires a much longer time for 

 the nut-bearers to mature, but it pays on the 

 long pull. 



The writer of this planted walnut four 

 years ago, in hard abode ground, and the 

 trees are now four feet high. After the first 

 year they commenced growing in good 

 earnest. 



FOREST CULTURE IN COLO- 

 RADO. 



BY ALBERT BORCHERDT OF DENVER. 



In regard to the importance of the matter 

 to be deliberated to-day by your honorable 

 Board, I take the liberty of presenting my 

 opinion about forest culture, being as well a 

 theoretical as a practical forester. 



Through science and literature we learn 

 that the character of' a land, being deprived 

 of its trees, changes entirely, the climate be- 

 coming a rougher one, the fogs getting 

 scarcer, the springs of the rivulets drying up; 

 thus a once fertile country is turned into a 

 desert; further we read, that a tree of middle 

 size evaporates from ten to twenty tons of 

 moisture per year, which we receive as rain, 

 snow or dew. The rainspouts taking place 

 from time to time excepted, no fog will be 



perceived in a country where there are no 

 trees, and in such region the avalanches 

 prove to be exceedingly disastrous, as no 

 stems weaken their vehement course. 



It is the highest time for the citizens of 

 the State of Colorado to stop the nefarious 

 devastation of timber, that takes place un- 

 molested, or it will be impossible to nurse 

 any more frees, because the rain-spouts men- 

 tioned above are bound to wash away the 

 stratums where formerly the wood stood. 



We cannot deny that pinus pivea and pinus 

 abies yet thrive at a high altitude, but we 

 must take into consideration that the roots 

 of the older trees get their nourishment 

 through the crevices of the rocks, young 

 plants needing positively a stratum. 



The Spanish Government tried several 

 times to nurse young forests on the strata of 

 the Pyrennes cleared from wood; this proved 

 no success, as the rain-spouts and storms had 

 removed the stratum from the rocks. We 

 are bound to witness the same result in our 

 country, if the culture of forests should be 

 neglected, further on. 



For a rational culture of forests, to start 

 with, nurseries have to be established, well 

 fenced, so that they are protected against 

 cattle as well as against great game. The 

 seed is put in riUs, having an interval of 

 three inches the one from the other. Should 

 any weeds make their appearance wiohin a 

 nursery, they ought to be removed at once. 

 After a period of three or four years, 

 the young plants may be moved and re- 

 planted there where they have to form a forest 

 later on. Pines especially have to be treated 

 thus. In saying more about the culture of 

 forests, I would lay claim in too high a de- 

 gree on your patience, anyho v let me state 

 that the culture of forests cannot be carried 

 on except by an expert. 



Culture of forests wants a strict law for the 

 protection of birds, as all kinds of them assist 

 us in performing this useful work. 



The birds feasting upon insects save many 

 plants, because, besides various other scara- 

 bus, they devour the bark scaraf, the worst 

 enemy of the forest to be found. Those tak- 

 ing the seed for nourishment are useful by 

 planting trees, so we find often young plants 

 where there is no tree in the neighborhood. 

 The seed has been carried thereby our winged 

 friends. More useful a being than all others, 

 the jay bird (garratus onstatus) proves to be in 

 this regard. 



The birds of prey, especially the owls, need 

 protection. They are the ones that kill the 

 moles, the common rats, etc., that undermine 

 the fresh cultures and gnaw the growing 

 plants. 



If those birds do any harm on a farm-, 



