40 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



January, 



PROGRESS IN TREE PLANTING. 



By William I,. Hall, 



Bureau of Forestry. 



THE past year has been notable for 

 achievement and interest in tree- 

 planting. Never before, even during 

 the time of wholesale timber-claim 

 planting, twenty years ago, were so 

 many trees planted in a single 3^ear. 

 Timber-claim planting was confined al- 

 most wholly to the Dakotas, Kansas, 

 and Nebraska, whereas planting is now 

 general. Reports of extensive work 

 are in hand from Florida, New England, 

 the Middle Atlantic states, the Lake 

 states, and the Pacific coast, as well as 

 from nearly all the prairie states of the 

 interior. 



WESTERN PLANTING. 



Planting in the West has been almost 

 entirely of a general nature. Trees 

 have been needed on the prairies for 

 shade, protection, beauty, and for their 

 products, and trees have been planted 

 for these purposes; sometimes for a sin- 

 gle one, sometimes for all combined. 

 They have been planted in areas of all 

 sizes up to hundreds of acres. 



There is yet great need of general 

 planting on prairie farms. Many farms 

 are entirely without windbreaks and 

 shade, and man}' families are paying 

 high prices for fuel that should be 

 grown upon the farm. A forest planta- 

 tion on a western farm is not a thing of 

 comfort onl}', it is a matter of economy. 

 It is in many cases the most useful and 

 valuable portion of the farm. Educa- 

 tion in the value of trees must be kept 

 up until there will be no unprotected 

 farms. Ever}- effort must be put for- 

 Avard to attain this end. The present 

 is a favorable time to encourage this 

 kind of planting, because the prevalence 

 of better financial conditions among 

 western farmers has turned attention to- 

 ward home improvement. Every article 

 and bulletin filled with practical infor- 

 mation and sent out now in readable 

 form, is sure to do great good. 



A distinct advance has been made in 

 the kinds of trees planted. The rapid- 

 growing softwoods have for several 

 years been giving way to the slow-grow- 

 ing hardwoods. The change is almost 

 complete. The Cottonwood and Silver 

 Maple are no longer found in quantity 

 in the western nurseries. They have 

 been replaced by Ash, Elm, Eocust, 

 Walnut, and Cedar. As completing 

 this change, we must hope for diversi- 

 fication of present offerings so as to in- 

 clude still other valuable species not now 

 obtainable. It is next to impossible to 

 obtain such trees as Red Elm and Hack- 

 berry in large quantities in the nurseries. 



There is one point upon which great 

 improvement is needed in western plant- 

 ing. Planters are too often well satis- 

 fied with indifferent results. They look 

 with pride at their scattered, grass- 

 bound trees, thinking them fully suc- 

 cessful, when with different manage- 

 ment they would be one hundred per 

 cent better. Many an owner considers 

 his Cottonwood grove a successful plan- 

 tation when the truth is it will be gone 

 in a few years and the land again 

 be prairie. Almost without exception 

 among western planters, information is 

 needed on methods of converting plan- 

 tations of short-lived trees, such as Cot- 

 tonwood and Silver Maple, into more 

 permanent timber, such as Elm, Red 

 Cedar, Walnut, and Oak. It is not gen- 

 erally understood that long-lived trees 

 may be grown under protection of short- 

 lived trees, to eventually take their 

 places and form the permanent stand. 

 Such information is slowly obtaining 

 hold. Gradually both the cultural ne- 

 cessities and possibilities of planted tim- 

 ber are being learned. 



One of the important facts recently 

 learned is that forest plantations can be 

 made profitable on a financial basis. 

 The high price paid for fence posts in 

 the West, and the general demand for 



