FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



February, 



TREE PLANTING IN MARYLAND. 



NOTES FROM THE RECORDS OF PRIESTFORD FARM. 



By Albert Neilson. 



PROBABLY there is no place in 

 Maryland where a record of tree 

 planting has been so carefully kept for 

 the past 80 years as at Priestford Farm, 

 Deer Creek, Harford County, near 

 Churchville Post-ofhce. 



The question of tree cultivation is be- 

 coming as important in Maryland as 

 anywhere in the country. In a very 

 short time there will be but little tim- 

 ber left in eastern and southern Mary- 

 land, not enough for fencing on the 

 farms. Every farmer in Maryland wdth 

 100 acres of land could spare from one 

 to five acres of it for tree plantations; 

 even these small plantations of timber 

 for fencing purposes alone will enhance 

 the value of a farm. A very few dol- 

 lars and a very little labor will plant 

 1,000 trees, and this number of locust 

 and chestnut would after 1 5 to 20 years 

 give the farm a continuous crop of 

 fencing material. I venture to say that 

 an original outlay of $100 would start 

 two acres of such a plantation, and in 

 some situations it could be done for half 

 that sum. 



The results at Priestford Farm have 

 demonstrated very clearly to me that 

 tree planting in Maryland can be made 

 very profitalDle. The farm in 1^22 had 

 no timber on it of any consequence; it 

 now has what you might term a wood 

 lot of 40 acres, and in addition has 3,000 

 locust trees of various ages. All fencing 

 material needed in the past 60 years has 

 been produced on the farm, and the 

 owners besides have sold many hundred 

 of dollars worth of locust for posts and 

 ship-building purposes. 



The planting at Priestford Farm was 

 commenced in 1822 by the writer's 

 grandfather, the Hon. J. W. Williams, 

 then a member of Congress, and con- 

 tinued by I. Crawford Neilson, the 

 writer's father, and by the writer him- 



self. Careful diaries have been kept all 

 through the period. 



The forty acres is termed the ' ' House 

 L,ot," and is kept for ornamental pur- 

 poses. Had my grandfather's object 



WHITK ASH TRUE PLANTED IN 1822, 

 DIAMETER 38 INCHES. 



been the raising of trees for profit the 

 result would have been a most decided 

 success. The original trees were planted 

 like an orchard, in rows and about 



