FOREST TREK PLANTING. 133 



more than the whole outlay would have amounted to at (] per 

 cent, compound interest for 20 years. After receiving Mr. 

 Pratt's letter in answer to my inquiries, I visited the lot and 

 examined it. The plantation covers a sterile ridge, consist- 

 ing of sand and gravelly loam, sloping east and west, and 

 evidently well suited to the growth of white pines. So far 

 as my examination extended, I could discern no vacancies in 

 the rows caused by dead trees. But the discovery which sur- 

 prised me most was the number and extent of the lateral 

 branches. Beginning near the ground, each tree seemed to 

 vie with its neighbor in throwinij out horizontal branches in 

 every direction, corresponding with every point of the com- 

 pass. These limbs were from 5 to 15 feet in length, interlaced 

 with each other in all imaginable Avays, and forming absolutely, 

 in many places, an impenetrable tangle. The conviction was 

 irresistible that had these trees been properly trimmed, from 

 time to time (and the wood would have paid the expense), 

 their present value would have been enhanced at least 33 

 per cent. Here were said to be 10,775 trees, and could 

 tfee whole growth have been thrown into the trunk, they 

 would at a moderate estimate, I think, have been w^orth at 

 least 25 cents apiece, or a sum total of $2,G94 exclusive of 

 the land they stand on. Mr. J. D. G. Williams of Rayn- 

 ham, in answer to some inquiries, says that he set a piece^of 

 land with pines in 1850 ; the value of the land was $10 per 

 acre, and the cost of setting was $5 per acre, and after 25 

 years' growth the standing wood was sold to Mr. Thayer of 

 Taunton for $150 per acre, leaving the land, as he says, in 

 good order to set again. A very large profit on this invest- 

 ment is too apparent to need a demonstration. Mr. "Will- 

 iams also set a piece of pine, in 1841, on land of the same 

 value, the cost of setting being $6 per acre. This is, perhaps, 

 one of the oldest or earliest experiments of the kind made in 

 Bristol County. These trees apparently came to maturity in 

 1876, as no perceptible growth has been observed since that 

 time. They were set in rows, not equidistant from each 

 other, but varying from 6 to 9-feet and from 4 to 6 feet in 

 the rows. A portion of this piece is still standing and at- 

 tracts more or less attention. The lot has an eastern expos- 

 ure, and the trees on the east side, in the first row, were evi- 



