FOREST PLANTING IN THE UNITED STATES. 141 



yet prodigious energy among the settlers has provided for many 

 such sections fully as much timber as is now to be seen in some sections 

 once heavily timbered. The Kansas State board of agriculture reports 

 142,984 acres of planted forest in 1900. Nebraska claims over 200,000 

 acres. The valley of the Arkansas River in Kansas, forty years ago 

 entirely treeless, appears now to the casual observer to be as fully 

 timbered as the valley of the Wabash, which was once entirely for- 

 ested. 



The only system of forestr} 7 practicable throughout this region is 

 the system of wood lots on individual farms. The land is too valuable 

 for agricultural crops to be devoted to timber culture on a large scale, 

 but no farm is so valuable but that it would be worth more with a well- 

 kept wood lot, covering from 5 to 20 per cent of its area. In addition 

 to wood lots, a most sensible practice prevails of establishing protective 

 shelter-belts and rows of trees for wind breaks in places of the greatest 

 exposure. Such plantations add immeasurably to the comfort of the 

 farm in addition to the timber supplies which they furnish. It is often 

 possible in the Middle West, as in the East, to put the wood lot on the 

 less valuable part of the farm, which is always desirable when conditions 

 will permit it. 



In addition to wood lots and protective belts, it is practicable in 

 places in the Middle West to establish forest plantations for the pro- 

 duction of fence posts, telegraph poles, and railroad ties, purely as a 

 financial investment. Large plantations of Hardy Catalpa, Black 

 Locust, Red Cedar, and Osage Orange have been established on the 

 very best agricultural land, and compete favorably with wheat and 

 corn as money-producing crops. a 



THE SEMIARID REGION. 



Lying between the agricultural region and the mountains, the semi- 

 arid region embraces several sections of large extent, which through 

 the production of timber would attain a value otherwise impossible. 

 The most notable of these sections is that containing the sand hills in 

 west central Nebraska. They cover an area of 100 by 150 miles, 

 which throughout is well adapted to the growth of pine timber. A 

 large amount of land in the sand hills is yet retained by the Govern- 

 ment. In April, 1902, the Niobrara and Dismal River forest reserves, 

 containing altogether 208,902 acres, were established in this section 

 for the purpose of making a systematic trial at forestation. The 

 Department of the Interior has invited the Department of Agriculture 

 to undertake this work, which is now fairly begun. The first planting 

 will be done in 1903. (PI. IV.) If inexpensive but successful plant- 

 ing methods are found, a large tract of planted timber should result 



Bul. No. 37, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. Agr., "The Hardy Catalpa/' describes, 

 several large commercial plantations of Hardy Catalpa. 



