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Division of Forestry 

 University of California 



FOREST EXTENSION IN THE MIDDLE WEST. 



By WILLIAM L. HALL, 



'A*xi*t(iiit Xiiprrinti'iiih'ut <>f Tree Plant! IKJ, Dlrlxioit of Forestry. 



INTRODUCTION. 



There is no question but that a certain amount of forest planting 

 on the prairies is profitable to the owner and helpful to the country. 

 To what definite extent such planting can be carried with profit has 

 not been and can not be demonstrated except by trial. Those who 

 have studied the question most thoroughly and over the greatest area 

 are convinced that extensive planting will be profitable, but their 

 specific recommendations, both as to extent of planting and methods 

 of procedure, have been local in scope and application. No system 

 for general operations has been proposed. 



It is the purpose of this article to go somewhat beyond local recom- 

 mendations, and to show that the time has arrived for the extensive 

 development of forest plantations throughout the Middle West, to 

 indicate the sphere of general planting, and suggest a plan of pro- 

 cedure in carrying out the work. 



Profit is the only basis upon which this system can be carried into 

 effect, and the only inducement for attempting it. Before a man can 

 be induced to plant trees with the aim of reaping a forest crop he 

 must be convinced that such a crop, for the time it occupies the land, 

 will be more profitable than any other. The growing of timber is an 

 investment on much longer time than the growing of any ordinary 

 crop. Money is in vested 'which can not begin to give returns for 

 several years. No one will begin such an investment unless he feels 

 that, in the end, it will be more profitable than any series of short- 

 time investments he could make. 



PAST PLANTING. 



Two facts are clear concerning Western plantations: First, there is 

 a general aimlessness and lack of system in both planting and manage- 

 ment; second, there is but a small percentage of thrifty plantations. In 

 nine cases out of ten, planters have taken little thought to make their 

 trees serve any definite purpose of utility. In localities where post 

 timbers are scarce and dear, } r ards and fence rows have been filled 



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