THE FORESTER. 



March, 



unimportant factor in comparison to the 

 physical condition in which our country 

 will be left when our forests have all dis- 

 appeared. Our timber states are already 

 feeling the effects of indiscriminate clear- 



, . , 



ing of hillsides and water courses. To 

 show the physical effect produced by cut- 

 ting off large forests in the Old World, 

 Professor Marsh says: "The country 

 along the Mediterranean, from Greece to 

 Gibraltar, was once the paradise of the 

 East. It was covered with luxuriant vege- 

 tation in such abundance that it main- 

 tained, in bygone centuries, a population 

 scarcely inferior to the whole Christian 

 world; but the forests have all been cut 

 down, causing thousands of square miles 

 of vegetation to disappear. Where once 

 were sparkling streams are now sterile 

 ravines ; what was once great upland lakes, 

 surrounded by luxuriance and verdure, are 

 but little more than dead seas, bordered 

 by sand-hills and sun-parched rocks. To- 

 day this once lovely country is entirely 

 withdrawn from human use, and is re- 

 duced to a desolation almost as complete 

 as that of the moon." (The North Amer- 

 ican continent is rapidly approaching a 

 similar physical condition.) 



Having now briefly called attention to 

 the conditions of our native forests, the 

 rapidity with which they are disappearing, 

 the increasing lumber industries, and the 

 physical condition of denuded forests, we 

 will now look upon the other side of the 

 picture. National and State Governments 

 have made feeble efforts to protect the 

 old forests and plant new, and "climatic 

 amelioration " has been preached from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific without converting 

 a single wood-chopper to a tree-planter. 

 Experience has been teaching us new les- 

 sons. There is virtually no necessity for 

 staying the woodman's ax. New wood- 

 consuming industries should be encour- 

 aged. A timber famine can be indefinitely 

 postponed ; floods can be checked and 

 droughts can be averted ; and by so doing 

 capital will be multiplying " an hundred- 

 fold." Here comes an answer to Mr. 

 Conant's question asked a few weeks ago, 

 "Can new openings be made for capital?" 

 Mr. Conant'says: "The United States 



has reached a state of excessive capitaliza- 

 tion, unable to find productive investments 

 at home in new enterprises." 



Forest-ti'ee growing is a new enterprise, 

 in which at least $soo,ooo,ooo can be in- 

 vested annually with large and sure re- 

 turns. The 10,000,000 acres of our virgin 

 forests that are being denuded annually 

 should be replaced, not only to preserve a 

 physical equilibrium, but to keep the cogs 

 of commerce turning. And yet as new 

 industries multiply in which wood is the 

 principal factor, billions, instead of mil- 

 lions, may find profitable investment in 

 the growing of forest-trees. This is a 

 financial proposition in every sense of the 

 word ; but to make it a success the same 

 business judgment must be applied as to 

 any other successful enterprise. The 

 selection of soil, the choice of trees, the 

 planting, the cultivating and general care, 

 all require judgment, skill, and close at- 

 tention. There are a large variety of val- 

 uable forest-trees that can be propagated 

 and grown in cultivated plantations with 

 profit, but we will not stop to discuss their 

 various values and virtues in order to reach 

 a conclusion as to which is the most profit- 

 able or money-making tree to plant, for it 

 has been fully and practically demonstrated, 

 not only in this but other states that the 

 Catalpa speciosa, or Western Hardy, is 

 the most profitable tree to grow of the 

 entire American sylva. It is easily prop- 

 agated, tenacious of life, grows rapidly, 

 comes into value young, and for posts, 

 poles, ties, and inside finish it is second to 

 none. 



Besides the direct financial return from 

 products of a Catalpa plantation, there is 

 still another important value connected 

 with the growing of this tree, namely, its 

 power for reproducing. In reality, it be- 

 comes aperpetual timber plantation. When 

 a Catalpa is cut down, sprouts start on the 

 stump. If one is permitted to remain it 

 produces another tree in a remarkably 

 short time, making the grove as everlast- 

 ing as a Catalpa post. This one feature 

 will almost double the value of the plan- 

 tation. 



D. C. BURSON, 



Topeka, Kansas. 





