Profitable Tree Planting 



7. Seedlings may be successfully taken from the forest. 



8. Planted white pine uncrowded grows faster than native 

 pine for twenty years, perhaps longer. 



9. Trees set 4 x 4 feet apart should be thinned by removing 

 half of them at fifteen years. Set 4x6 feet, remove half at 

 thirty years. 



10. Pruning lower limbs as high as axe can be used converts 

 third-grade pine trees into first grade. It should be done in mid- 

 summer, when resin v/ill cover the wounds completely. The 

 trees need pruning ten years after planting. They will be fifteen 

 feet high, with lower limbs still alive. The cut should be clean 

 and close to the bark. 



11. It pays to prune only trees intended for first-class lum- 

 ber trees to grow at least sixty years. Knots do not 

 lower the price of trees cut at thirty to forty years for box 

 boards. 



12. Chestnut, rock maple and red oak are first-class trees 

 to plant with white pine. They furnish protection to growing 

 seedlings, they prune the pines by rubbing lower limbs, and are 

 ready for removal when they begin to crowd. They are then 

 big enough for posts and fuel. 



13. The best way to fix shifting sand or gravel is to get tree 

 roots established in it. Washing and gullying of the soil of 

 farms is best remedied by the same means. Worn-out soil is 

 best restored to fertility by growing a crop of trees on it. 



An estimate, summarising the facts obtained by the special 

 agent of the Bureau of Forestry, and averaging the actual cost 

 and profits of intelligent white-pine culture in various parts of 

 New England, is herewith set down: 



Average cost of land per acre $4.00 



Average cost of raising seedlings and planting . . 4.84 

 Average taxes at 2 per cent, for 40 years . . . .3.20 



Total $12.04 



Compounding interest on each item for forty years brings 

 the total cost per acre to $50.99. An average yield is forty 

 cords of box-board timber worth I4 per cord from each acre. 

 This is worth on the stump $160. Deducting the cost, $50.99, a 

 balance of |i 09.01 remains as net profit. This is a net annual 

 return of I1.15 per acre, with 4 per cent, compound interest 



479 



