igo2. 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



were planted where the trees now stand. 

 There are notes to show that in 1S37 

 the farm began to cut posts, though up 

 to last year no record had been kept as 

 to the value of the posts used on the 

 farm and sold ; but from the first cut- 

 ting to the present day the farm has 

 not only had plenty of posts for its own 

 use, but a large number has been sold. 

 The first planting was in lanes or av- 

 enues, and in small plantations. In the 

 plantations the trees were set eight feet 

 apart, and in the avenues about four 

 feet. Some of the plantations have dis- 

 appeared, as they were not fenced in, 

 and the second growth was destroyed 

 by cattle. Where the trees have had 

 protection they have continued to 3'ield 

 crop after crop, and have greatly in- 

 c reased in numbers from volunteers and 

 a little planting, so that now " Priest- 

 ford Farm" has about 3,000 locust 

 trees, divided up as follows : 



510 trees 20 to 76 years old, 12 to 36 in. diam. 

 580 trees 12 to 20 " " 6 to 12 " 

 i,9iotrees 2 to 12 " " 2 to 6 " 



During the past year a careful record 

 has been kept of cutting and sales. 

 Four hundred trees were cut, and sev- 

 eral hundred more were available. 

 Many of the trees cut last year had 

 been allowed to get too old, and there 

 was a certain amount of waste. As a 

 rule, the Yellow lyocust should not be 

 allowed to grow over 40 years, the best 

 wood being obtained up to that age. 



The results at ' ' Priestford Farm ' ' 

 show that yel'ow locust trees 8 to 18 

 inches in diameter can be grown from 

 seedlings in 15 to 20 years. Such trees 

 will yield four to eight posts each, mak- 

 ing an average of six posts to a tree. 

 After the first crop is cut the suckers 

 will grow from the stump six feet high 

 the first season. 



An estimate for a locust plantation of 

 10 acres, based upon the writer's expe- 

 rience, would be as follows : 



Plowing and preparing the ground, per 



acre, $5 foo 



Planting 8 feet apart 680 trees to the acre, 

 10 acres, 6,800 trees or seed in the hill, 



5c. . 340 



10 per cent replants, 680 trees, ('/ 5c 34 



Labor planting 10 acres, (' $2 . . . 20 



lyabor for working and cutting for 3 years, 



("J' $^ psr year per acre . ... 30 



Labor trimming for 3 years, (o) |;i per year 



per acre 30 



10 acres of land at a valuation of fee per 

 acre, feoo ; interest, 6 per cent per year, 

 |;iS, for 20 years |'36o 



I864 

 Or a cost of |;S6.4o per acre. 



At the end of the first 15 3'ears some 

 posts may be cut, poles could be cut 

 sooner ; but I believe it would be much 

 more profitable to allow the trees to 

 grow to 18 or 20 years of age. I esti- 

 mate that the following results can be 

 had at that time : there would be at least 

 6,000 trees, producing an average of 6 

 posts to a tree, which would give 36,000 

 posts of three grades mortised posts, 

 board-fence and wire-fence posts. From 

 these the financial return would be as 

 follows : 



18,000 inortised posts, (wj 30c. . .... 115,400 



9,000 board-fence posts, @. 20c 1,800 



9,000 wire-fence posts, (<i\ loc 900 



Firewood per acre, |;io 100 



|8,2oo 

 Less cost of making : 

 18,000 mortised fence-posts, @, 



I2C |2,i6o 



9,000 board-fence posts, (a', 4c. . 360 



9,000 wire-fence posts, (o) ic. . . 90 



2,610. 



15,590 

 Or a profit of I559 per acre. 



If the timber should be cut for cross- 

 ties and posts, we would have the fol- 

 lowing results : 



6,000 cross-ties, first grade, @ 55c 13,300 



24,000 posts at an average net price of 



i8c 4,320 



Cordwood and poles 100 



17,720 

 Less cost of making : 



6,000 cross-ties, (((;, loc |;6oo 



Cutting wood and poles 50 



650 



|7,o7o> 

 Or a profit of about #700 per acre. 



I do not take into consideration the 

 first cost per acre for starting the plan- 

 tation, because that is more than cov- 

 ered by the continuous crops and the 

 number of young trees that can be had 

 for increasing the plantations. The 

 interest on the land would probably 

 be a legitimate charge to be deducted 

 from the profits. More profit could be 

 worked out by using the larger trees 

 for shipyard purposes. 



