7 8 



THE FORESTER. 



August, 



void of good timber and the time is at 

 hand when it will pay to plant trees as a 

 crop in these islands. At the same time 

 it is surprising how well certain peoples 

 manage without wood. The houses of 

 the rich in Cuba are of stone ; of the poor 

 of thatch. In Italy even vine props are 

 cut from solid granite. 



Although Cuba has suffered in many 

 ways she is not in a wild and semi-bar- 

 baric state. Although hampered by strife 

 and oppression she has been under a fair 

 state of cultivation for many years. Cuba 

 was blooming when a large part of this 

 country was an unexplored wilderness. 

 Her sugar and tobacco industries have 

 been famous for many years, and although 

 she is comparatively rich she is no longer 

 an immense mine of resources. The for- 

 ests of a large part of the island have been 

 long ago exhausted, and the same would 

 have happened to the remainder had they 

 been accessible. Even these are thin, 

 having been culled of their richest hard- 

 woods. The time is certainly ripe for 

 tree planting in Cuba. I know of no place 

 where a person could plant forests with 

 more assurance of profit than in this island. 



I say assurance of profit, because the 

 second factor mentioned at the beginning 

 of this paper, namely, " the ability to pro- 

 duce quickly materials for which there is 

 a demand " reaches its maximum in the 

 moist regions of this island. The time 

 element is the greatest drawback to for- 

 estry. The farther north one lives the 

 longer one must wait. The farther north, 

 the fewer the resources and the smaller 

 the population, until of course a point is 

 reached where nothing can grow and no 

 man can live. Not only do trees grow 

 much more quickly in the South, but the 

 number of species is larger. They may 

 not grow on the whole much faster than 

 trees of temperate climes, but they grow 

 longer. Except for a few weeks each 

 year the growth is constant. Waiting 200 

 years for a Spruce tree is not only discour- 

 aging to the private planter, but simply 

 out of the question. The demand for 

 Spruce may cease altogether in that length 

 of time. A nation may rise and fall in 

 a couple of centuries. Machinery and 



methods of manufacture may change com- 

 pletely. How different the conditions in 

 a warm climate where Eucalyptus trees, 

 for instance, reach the height of one hun- 

 dred feet in ten years ! For the greatest 

 amount of profit we should plant not only 

 quick growers, but plant in regions where 

 the quick growers grow quickest. 



We should also, it seems to me, con- 

 sider silvicultural qualities first in the 

 choice of species. By silvicultural qualities 

 I mean rapidity of growth, ease of propa- 

 gation, and freedom from disease. These 

 are often much more important than the 

 quality of the wood. Twenty years hence 

 we shall not be so particular about the 

 kinds of woods we use. It is wood we 

 want, and if defective, defects may be 

 remedied. In these days of antisepsis 

 there is no more reason for rot in wood 

 than for gangrene in wounds. Good and 

 bad woods are only comparative terms, 

 and I find that in countries where wood 

 is scarce there is much less fashion and 

 fastidiousness in reference to kinds. 

 Owing to the fact that trees grow with 

 great rapidity along our Eastern Coast 

 from New York southward, it seems to be 

 a hopeful region for the development of 

 forest farms such as already practically 

 exist on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, 

 where the pine leaves are highly valued as 

 manure in the cultivation of the sweet po- 

 tato. Of all this southern region, how- 

 ever, Cuba offers the greatest advantages 

 because of her lack of wood, of her need of 

 it, of the great variety of useful woods 

 which will grow there, and because of 

 the rapidity with which, owing to the 

 climate and fertility of the soil, they will 

 grow. 



Frost is always a menace to both forestry 

 and agriculture. One is not absolutely 

 free from it until he reaches the latitude of 

 Cuba. The slightest touch of it is fatal 

 to many valuable plants, so in order to 

 be safe it is best to go well south when 

 you go south. The orange growers of 

 Florida have learned this from several 

 very frosty experiences. 



We ordinarily under-rate Cuba, espe- 

 cially her size. Many New Yorkers com- 

 pare her with Long Island. Long Island 



