I go: 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



41 



telegraph poles and rail- 

 road ties is makino: it pos- 

 sible to grow timber for 

 these purposes with profits 

 equal to those obtained 

 from farm crops, even on 

 the best agricultural land. 

 Some of the timbers adapt- 

 ed for these purposes are 

 easily handled and quickly 

 grown in plantations. 

 Planted timber of Hardy 

 Catalpa, Osage Orange, 

 Russian Mulberry', and 

 Black lyocust from fifteen 

 to twenty 3'ears old, when 

 cut and marketed as fence 

 posts, returns an amount 

 equal to a net annual gain 

 of from five to fifteen dol- 

 lars per acre from the time 

 of planting. Some of these 

 timbers a few years older 

 would return a still higher 

 rate if sold for telegraph 

 poles and railroad ties. 



Many such commercial 

 plantations are being de- 

 veloped at the present time. 

 The matter commends it- 

 self especially to the owners 

 of large farms and ranches 

 where thousands of posts 

 are required annually to keep up fences. 

 The railroads, too, are becoming greatl}' 

 interested in this phase of tree planting. 

 Some of the foremost roads are giving 

 serious consideration to the question 

 now^ and are likely soon to begin ex- 

 tensive planting to provide for future 

 supplies of timber. 



EASTERN PLANTING. 



Planting in the East has been largely 

 accelerated in the last few years. A few 

 isolated plantations were established 

 years ago, such as that of David Ean- 

 dreth, in Virginia; Joshua Fay, in Mas- 

 sachusetts, and Gordon Woodbury, in 

 New Hampshire, and have attracted 

 general notice. There was also some 

 planting for such practical purposes as 

 that at Cape Cod, on sandy expanses 

 near the seashore, to keep the soil from 

 blowing. This planting represented 



GROWTH OF PLANTKD TREES IN THE ARKANSAS RIVKR 



VAI.LEY. 



only individual, or at best, local interest. 

 There was until recenth* no general in- 

 terest in the subject. 



As indicating the change in public 

 opinion, there are at the present time, 

 besides almost numberless small planta- 

 tions, many extensive operations in pro- 

 gress. In Pennsylvania Mr. N. T. Ar- 

 nold, of Ridgway, is planting upon 

 denuded mountain lands. Gen. Paul A. 

 Oliver, of Oliver's Mills, has recently 

 planted over 400 acres of cut-over land 

 under the direction of a skilled forester 

 privately employed. At Clinton, Mass., 

 the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage 

 Board is planting several hundred acres 

 to protect the watershed forming the 

 drainage area for its reservoirs. The 

 Connecticut State Experiment Station 

 is planting a tract on the sand plains of 

 northern Connecticut to test the practi- 

 cability of reclaiming such lands by 

 forestation. 



