BLACK LOCUST RECLAIMS WASHED LANDS 



253 



PLOWING IN THE GULLIED LANDS AND SETTING LOCUSTS IN THE FALL OF 1917 



The experimental work carried on by the State in the planting of black locust in these areas proves that 

 even the worst wasted areas may be reclaimed and brought within a comparatively short time into 

 profitable production. 



the pruning to train them up in the way they should go. 

 The growth of the locusts in these gullied lands is 

 remarkable. I have seen trees that would make one 

 fence post in their fourth summer from planting. Other 

 sprouts, I have 

 seen have reach- 

 . ed a height of 

 ten or twelve 

 feet the first 

 year. Like 

 everything else, 

 how ever, the 

 locust requires 

 some attention 

 to make it a 

 success. Where 

 the young trees 

 have been set 

 out without any 

 preparation or 

 without the 

 building of 

 dams to hold 

 back the soil, 

 growth has 

 been slow. In 

 some cases, 



sprouts two or three years old, planted on slopes that still 

 continue to wash, are not much larger than when set out. 

 This work of reclamation would be well worth while if 

 it did nothing 

 but stop the 

 gullies and so 

 help check the 

 erosion of 

 lands still in 

 cultivation. It 

 does much more 

 than this. It 

 puts on these 

 waste lands a 

 crop that will 

 begin within 

 five or six years 

 of planting to 

 return a reve- 

 nue that will, 

 if properly 

 handled, keep 

 on indefinitely. 

 Timber for 

 fence posts is 

 scarce in this 



THE AREA PLANTED TO BLACK LOCUST, AFTER THREE YEARS 



This is the same area in 1920. In 1917 it was planted to black locust in the hope of bringing back the 

 land and the photograph plainly shows the splendid results of this experiment in reclamation. 



one of these locust groves can begin cutting fence posts. 

 In fifteen years possibly earlier in some cases some 

 of the trees will be large enough for cross-ties. With 

 proper thinning, the growth of the remaining trees would 



be kept up to a 

 high point. The 

 locust has the 

 ability to re- 

 produce itself 

 and keep a con- 

 stant supply of 

 young trees on 

 the land if only 

 a little atten- 

 tion is given to 

 the cutting. 

 From being 

 worth nothing 

 at all, these 

 lands may be 

 made to be 

 worth $200 or 

 $300 an acre 

 in a very few 

 years. It is 

 hard to find a 

 more depend- 

 able and a more rapid method of increasing the value of 

 waste lands. This reclamation planting has been done in 

 several counties and numerous communities. Its value 



has not yet been 

 realized by the 

 people of the 

 state or even by 

 the people of 

 the gullied sec- 

 t i o n s . The 

 small appro- 

 priation made 

 for the work 

 and the lack of 

 interest in it 

 shown by the 

 m a j o r i ty of 

 West Tennes- 

 seans is proof 

 enough of this 

 statement. The 

 general scarcity 

 of timber and 

 the quickened 

 interest in all 

 things relating 



region. The 



railroads ship in cross-ties by the thousands. On many 

 farms, the supply of timber to meet the constant repairs 

 any farm requires is becoming a problem. Black locust 

 groves will, in large measure, solve all these problems. 

 In five or six years from planting, the farmer who has 



to the future 

 timber supply have served to call more attention to it 

 lately than it has ever received before and there is reason 

 to hope that not only will this particular branch of work 

 be put on a firm basis, but that the State of Tennessee 

 (Continued on page 263) 



