and the whole woodland rapidly increases in value by 

 the elimination of inferior trees. 



With an active market for cordwood and for fence 

 posts, poles and lumber there is every inducement 

 to clear out the inferior trees diseased, dying, crook- 

 ed, and less valuable kinds. Right cutting also in- 

 cludes the removal of large, sound trees whose growth 

 is slow, because they are nearing or have reached ma- 

 turity. The cutting should be done only at a time of 

 favorable market condition or when building or other 

 timber is needed on the farm. Copies of this bulletin 

 may be had by addressing the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



These statements are quite as true of the old tree 

 claims and planted groves of southwestern Minnesota 

 as they are of the natural woodlands of the southeast. 

 Thousands of these groves have suffered in the past 

 and are now rapidly degenerating through lack of 

 care. They have not made anything like the growth 

 they should have made and are now beginning to die 

 out because they are too crowded. Thinning is to the 

 irrove what cultivation is to the corn. 



The trees must be planted thickly at first that they 

 may quickly crowd out the grass and conserve the 

 moisture in the soil, but once they have accomplished 

 this it is a great mistake to let them waste their 

 energy in crowding each other. It is certainly dis- 

 tressing to see hundreds of splendid tree claims plant- 

 ed thirty years ago going to rack and ruin for the 

 lack of a little intelligent thinning. The men who 

 planted them succeeded in making them grow only 

 with considerable difficulty and it is only natural that 



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