A PROBLEM OF EROSION 



731 



state road. The dirt of a shallow fill which might have 

 been otherwise disposed of was placed against the base 

 of the trees, which became weakened by lack of root 

 air and were attacked and killed by the pine bark beetle, 

 to remain skeletons of desolation along this otherwise 

 beautiful road. 



A previous study of values and a plan for the 

 careful preservation in course of road construction 

 will do much to retain many values with very lit- 



tle additional cost, that will otherwise be destroyed. 

 There can be no question that a knowledge of land- 

 scape engineering will be of untold value to foresters do- 

 ing constructive work. With the rapidly changing con- 

 ditions in regard to forestry in this country, a know! 

 edge of this subject will become more valuable to the 

 practicing forester. I, therefore, feel that the forest 

 schools should offer at least a short course in the sub- 

 ject. 



A WONDERFUL WALNUT TREE 



BY V. W. KILLICK 



IN a crisis of a walnut blight epidemic, some time ago. 

 A. R. Rideout, of Whittier, California, accidentally 

 discovered a single tree in the orchard of Jacob Chase, 

 three miles south of Whittier, which showed a remark- 

 able propensity for resisting the blight disease. Ride- 

 out leased the Chase tree for a number of years, and by 

 budding it to seedling nursery stock, produced the first 

 "blight immune" variety of walnuts. 



Rideout's success led other men to search for more 

 specimens of blight immune trees. A few were discov- 

 ered and nursery stock produced from them. All these 

 together have contributed to save the California walnut 

 industry from being entirely overrun with the disease 



The Chase tree is a seedling and was planted in 1886 

 by a Mr. Van Vorce, who secured the seed from France. 

 It has a spread of eighty feet and stands some fifty feet 

 high. It is very symmetrical, a vigorous grower and 

 prolific bearer, having produced 325 pounds of nuts last 

 year. 



As the tree has become quite a landmark to the com- 

 munity, Rideout has built an observation tower through 



In a 



THE CHASE WALNUT, AT WHITTIER, CALIFORNIA 

 crisis wliich threatened ruination to the walnut industry in Califor- 



nia, this was the tree which by careful budding produced the first "blight 

 immune" walnuts. 



its foliage. The tower is fifty-five feet high and, standing 

 upon it, one gets a very unique view of the gigantic tree 

 from above. 



DEAD LEAVES VALUABLE 



'TVEAD leaves have a value of $10.40 a ton as a fertilizer. 

 *^ estimates Prof. Franklin Menges, farm adviser of 

 Pennsylvania, while C. C. Logan, extension agronomist 

 of North Carolina, declares they contain per ton 15.2 

 pounds of nitrogen, almost twice as much as horse or 

 cow manure ; 5.2 pounds of phosphoric ecid and 8.4 

 pounds of potash, the total value of these plant food con- 

 stituents being $8.15. 



Dr. Logan says : "It can be seen that the plant-food ir 

 a ton of fresh, dry forest leaves is worth considerable 

 more than the plant-food in an equal amount of either 

 cow or horse manure. In addition to this greater fer- 

 tilizing value, the leaves would supply about four times 

 as much organic material as the same amount of manure, 

 since the latter, under ordinary conditions, contains about 

 80 per cent water. This organic or vegetable material is 

 the need of practically all lawn and garden and most 

 field soils of the state. The leaves, therefore, should be 

 spread over such soils most in need of organic matter and 

 be mixed in by plowing and harrowing during the fall or 

 winter. A good rate would be 100 pounds for every 300 



square feet, applied annually. If the leaves are thor- 

 oughly mixed with the soil, they will aid materially in 

 holding water and in keeping soils moist during dry 

 periods, thereby preventing them from running together, 

 baking, and becoming hard. This is in addition to the 

 goodly amount of valuable plant-food constituents sup- 

 plied as seen by the table above." 



Dr. Menges declares : "The composition of the leaves 

 of different species of trees varies, but 100 pounds of 

 leaves as they fall from the trees at this time, partly dry. 

 contain 60 per cent water, 9 per cent nitrogen, 2 per cent 

 phosphoric acid, 4 per cent potassium and about 2 per 

 cent lime. A ton of leaves will contain 18 pounds nitro- 

 gen, 4 pounds phosphorus, 8 pounds potassium and 

 about 40 pounds lime. The nitrogen, valuing it at 40 

 cents a pound, would be worth $7.20, and the potassium at 

 the same rate would be worth $3.20. Leaving the value 

 of the phosphorus, the lime and the organic matter out 

 of consideration, a ton of leaves would be worth at the 

 abnormal prices now prevailing $10.40." 



