MONEY FROM MAPLES 



45 



made on a large scale home-made or factory-made ap- 

 paratus can be employed. 



While the possibilities of immediate returns from maple 

 trees now standing are of chief interest at this time, the 

 United States Department of Agriculture experts call 

 attention to the large commercial possibilities in maple- 

 sirup production which could be developed in a compara- 

 tively few years by extensive planting. There are large 

 numbers of tracts now unfruited and considered almost 

 worthless but well suited to growing maple trees. These 

 tracts are to be found throughout the regions referred 

 to above, and could be planted to sugar maples at 

 small cost. 



boundary shall be considered public property suggests 

 immediate steps to so legislate. 



VALUE OF SHADE TREES 



BY C. F. BLEY 



MR. T. E. Snyder, of the office of Forest Ento- 

 mology, United States Department of Agriculture, 

 is at present conducting an investigation to ascer- 

 tain the number and value of shade trees throughout the 

 country, according to an announcement in the September 

 issue of American Forestry. 



Mr. Lanham, of the City Park Department of Wash- 

 ington, writes that the value of a shade tree is difficult 

 to determine, but adds that, "often five hundred to a 

 thousand dollars more is charged for a real estate lot 

 with, than for an adjacent lot without, trees." 



All observing, intelligent persons have though they 

 cannot express it in dollars and cents an abstract con- 

 ception of the value of a shade tree. 



A plan is under way, and is receiving the hearty in- 

 dorsement of highest authorities in the country, to plant 

 systematically to forest shade trees, all the roadsides 

 in the United States. 



The trees so planted, 50 feet apart on either side of 

 the 246,000 approximate miles of public roads, outside 

 of incorporated towns and cities, would, when grown 

 or matured, equal or represent a forest limit of more 

 than f)]/ 2 million acres, based on a calculation of 55 trees 

 10 inches in diameter per acre of virgin forest. 



From a. standpoint of climatic influence alone then 

 the consummation of such a project would be of in- 

 estimable value. But add to the climatic effect the 

 aesthetic or landscape beauty and the comfort-giving 

 features, and we can picture results that are beyond 

 human calculation. 



Our ancestors, the pioneers of the country, planted 

 forest or shade trees when there was scarcely an argu- 

 ment for their planting when they were hemmed in 

 and surrounded by virgin forest. Today we are enjoy- 

 ing the fruits of their devotion, wisdom and fore- 

 thought. Shall we do less when there is so much more 

 need for the rising generations and for those yet unborn ? 



Not every husbandman has appreciated the value of 

 shade trees, witness the ruthless cutting down and making 

 into cord wood of whole lines of noble, stalwart sugar 

 maples! 



A legal enactment in every state providing that every 

 tree now or hereafter standing within the legal road 



rp HE State of Massachusetts, under its new Forest Act, 

 *- will acquire 100,000 acres of forest land for state 

 forest purposes. The new act is a substitute for one 

 presented by the Massachusetts Forestry Association 

 which was based on an initiative petition signed by over 

 31,000 voters. 



A LIGHTNING fire on August 4 of this year started 

 '* over 230 fires in the National Forests of California. 

 Lightning fires have probably occurred in greater number 

 throughout the Northwest than in any previous year of 

 record. More adequate fire protection is urgently needed. 



This photograph of a group of Serbian farms 

 shows the curious and inartistic method of con- 

 servation practiced by the farmers of that country. 

 In order to make the most of their scanty wood 

 supply, the peasants yearly denude each fuel- 

 bearing tree of every branch and twig. The rigors 

 of the past winter caused the shortage to be acutely 

 felt, and sent many patients this spring to the 

 American Red Cross hospitals established through- 

 out Serbia. 



"He that planteth a tree is the servant of God. 

 He provideth a kindness for many generations, 

 And faces that he hath not seen shall bless him." 



Henry Van Dyke. 



