34 



THE FORESTER. 



February, 



is a pioneer and prepares the conditions 

 under which other species may thrive. 

 Such work is very noticeable where enough 

 Spruce or Larch are in the vicinity to fur- 

 nish seed. Where they are, after the 

 Pines have grown up enough, and have 

 cleared themselves of branches enough to 

 let the air in under them, Spruce, Larch 

 and even White Pine seedlings are often 

 found starting underneath in the needed 

 shade and shelter of the Pines. Such 

 standard trees ultimately overtop and sub- 

 due the Lodgepole and occupy the land al- 

 most entirely, leaving little evidence of 

 the kindly work of the nurses through 

 whose aid they were established. 



Where Larch has come in among the 

 Lodgepole and has reached a foot or more 

 in diameter and formed its usual thick and 

 protecting bark a light fire may run 

 through and kill the Lodgepole, thinning 

 the forest and leaving the Larch in pos- 

 session to grow more rapidly than before 

 and form clearest trunks of greatest sizes 

 possible by any method of silviculture. 



The policy of aiding and diverting and 

 not antagonizing, Nature's forces, is the 

 best with Lodgepole Pine as with other 

 natural products. 



H. B. AYRES, 

 Carleton, Minn. 



Field Agent U. S. Geological Survey. 



Forest Planting in Indiana. 



John P. Brown, President of the Indi- 

 ana Forestry Association, has recently 

 communicated an interesting query to the 

 Division of Forestry, as to the desirability 

 of using principally Carolina Poplar in 

 forest plantations of the Middle West. 

 Mr. Brown especially asks if this should 

 be done in Indiana, where he states the 

 tendency is to use Carolina Poplar to the 

 exclusion of other trees. He further 

 states that there has been great destruction 

 and waste of natural forests in Indiana and 

 that as a result there is now a growing 

 earnestness to know ' what to plant." 



The question is a" complex one. For 

 the timberless prairie region of the Middle 

 West, it is " what may be grown." The 

 needs of settlers in this region are for trees 

 that will grow under the most trying con- 

 ditions uncertainty of rain and exposure 

 to prolonged drought and hot winds. 



There is need first of all that the trees 

 used here should produce fuel and good 

 fence posts in as short a time as possible. 

 Plantings of slower growing and more 

 valuable timber trees, if they can be un- 

 dertaken in conjunction, must require two 

 to three times as long to produce useful 

 timber. For the most part the latter class 

 of trees (Oaks, Pines, Spruces, Cedars, 

 etc.) has been neglected in the plains re- 



gion. The rapid growing Cottonwood 

 (essentially the same as the Carolina Pop- 

 lar), and the equally rapid Hardy Catalpa 

 are the trees planted by most prairie 

 farmers ; and often only the Cottonwood 

 is planted. It is generally well known that 

 these species can be depended on. Box- 

 elder, Silver Maple, Green Ash, Amer- 

 ican Elm, Honey Locust and Osage 

 Orange have been used less generally. 



For Indiana and adjacent States of the 

 Middle West, the question of "what to 

 plant " is quite different. Rain is abun- 

 dant throughout the growing season, and, 

 as a result, any of the fifty or more im- 

 portant eastern and northern timber trees 

 can be successfully grown. Most farmers 

 of this region know that denuded forest 

 land will in time be reforested, if ex- 

 empted from fire. It is, however, of the 

 greatest importance that this regeneration 

 be directed to the end that only useful 

 timber be produced at as early a date as 

 possible. It is believed that this can be 

 accomplished best by planting.* 



The selection of proper kinds for this 



*The Division of Forestry has in preparation 

 a bulletin entitled "Collecting Tree Seeds and 

 Raising Forest Tree Seedlings." This bulletin 

 will soon be available for distribution. 



