24 PLANTING OF WHITE PINE IN NEW ENGLAND. 



PLANTATION OF MBS. FREDERICK BRUNSON, GREENFIELD 



HILL, CONN. 



A short distance west of Greenfield Hill, Fairfield County, Conn., 

 is located a plantation of about 30 acres of white pine and European 

 larch. 



The planting- was done in the spring of 1886 with T-inch white pine 

 and European larch seedlings bought from a western nursery. The 

 land had been plowed and was in good physical condition, and the 

 work was performed at the rate of nearly an acre a day for each man 

 employed. The trees were set 4: by 6 feet apart, and the cost for labor 

 was $48, with labor at $1. 50 per day. The arrangement was as follows, 

 P indicating white pine and L European larch: 



P L P L P L P 



L P L P L P L 



P L P L P L P 



L P L P L P L 



P L P L P L P 



CONDITION OF THE FOREST. 



The forest floor consists of an evenly distributed mat of leaves and 

 pine needles, which is in good condition and acts as a mulch. The 

 edge of the plantation has been shaded by native deciduous trees, 

 which have cleared the pines of side branches. 



The interior is composed of trees of remarkably gopd size and form 

 for so young a grove, several trees measuring 8 inches in diameter. 

 The lower branches to a height of 15 to 20 feet have been dead 

 from two to five years. This shows that in a larch-pine mixture, where 

 the trees are set 4 by 6 feet, when the growth is vigorous the density 

 is sufficient to kill the lower branches at about the tenth year. 



GROWTH. 



For the first two years the height growth of white pine was slightly 

 over 3 inches per year. The third year it was from 13 to 24 inches. 

 From the fourth to the ninth year the trees grew from 24 to 30 inches 

 per year. After the ninth year this growth diminished, and has since 

 averaged little more than 1 foot per year. The European larch has 

 grown more rapidly than the pine, and averaged 10 feet taller when 

 measured. Nevertheless, it does not retard the growth of the pine, 

 for its form is conical and the foliage is light; the pine, however, kills 

 the side branches of the larch. The dead branches form an extremely 

 dense, bushy thicket from the base to a height of 15 to 25 feet. They 

 cling tenaciously to the stems, but are gradually decaying and will 

 shortly fall. The diameter of the pine is greater than that of the larch. 



