1902. 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



123 



nor the down-stream slope steeper than 

 I on lyi. 



Where the lake to be formed is of 

 considerable extent, so that wave action 

 is likely to occur, it is advisable to pave 

 the water slope with rock carefully laid 

 in place by hand, to prevent the direct 

 action of the waves upon the earth. 

 This is especially necessary where the 

 slopes are steep. 



Where there is great danger of bor- 

 ings by gophers or other small animals, 



the dam should be provided either with 

 a masonr}' core or with a tight pavement 

 on its lower slope. This tight pavement 

 may be made similar to macadam. 



Cast-iron pipe should be laid through 

 the dam for the purpose of drawing off 

 the water, provided with suitable valves, 

 and surrounded by a bed of concrete to 

 insure proper junction with the material 

 of the dam, which should be very care- 

 fully puddled and rammed about the 

 concrete. 



MAPLE PLANTATIONS IN VERMONT. 

 By Gejorgk H. Myers. 



'OME twenty-seven or twenty-eight the soil adhering to the roots. In other 



years ago prizes were offered by a 

 certain ' ' Grange Society ' ' for the best 

 plantation of Hard Maple in the town 

 of Pomfret, Windsor County, Vermont. 

 As a result a number of small planta- 

 tions were made, seven of which remain 



cases somewhat larger trees were used 

 and were gotten out by hitching to the 

 top a chain drawn by a team of oxen 

 or horses and pulling until the roots 

 broke. Then the more or less muti- 

 lated top was cut off and the trees put 



and were examined during the past sum- into the wagon. When a load was ob- 

 mer b}^ the writer. tained the trees were carried to the 



In size the plantations vary from one- planting area and dropped at intervals 



half to fifteen acres. The object in 

 making them, aside from the desire to 

 win the prize, was in all cases to estab- 

 lish a sugar orchard. The ground se- 

 lected for the plantation was in most 



of from fifteen to twenty feet each way. 

 Sometimes the trees were set in sepa- 

 rate holes, and sometimes they were set 

 in a twice-plowed furrow, and the roots 

 laid into it without much care. It was 



cases side-hill pasture land of little value impossible to discover whether the 



at the time of planting. In some cases planting was all done in cloudy weather, 



the slope was so steep or the grass cover but such was probably the case. In 



so thin that washing and gullying had one instance the trees w^ere dug up one 



already begun, and the soil was poor, Aa.y and set out the next, without much 



thin, and rocky. In ever\' case but care between times. In another case, 



one, however, the lower slopes of the that of the largest plantation, where 



hills w^ere chosen, probably because of the stock used was six to eight feet 



their greater accessibility in working the high, the land planted w^as used as a 



future sugar orchard. In obtaining the sheep pasture for ten years following 



stock for planting, the method varied the planting, and since that time as a 



somewhat as to the care exercised, but cow pasture. 



was in the main as follows : Such errors in method, due to care- 

 Two men wdth a wagon went into lessness and ignorance, have not had 

 the nearest woodland where maples so serious an effect as might be expected, 

 were growing and selected young trees because the species is a hardy one, and 

 from six to eight feet high. In some the locality is extremely well suited to 



cases the trees were lifted by forcing 

 down an iron bar beside the tree and 

 using it as a lever until the tree could 

 be pulled up by the top. It was then 



its growth, as is shown by the size at- 

 tained by the original growth and by the 

 abundance, general thrifty condition, 

 hardihood, and tolerance of the second 



placed in a wagon wath more or less of growth of this species in the vicinity. 



