370 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



September, 



acres were irrigated in 1899 from such 

 wells. 



The total number of irrigation sys- 

 tems in use in the state in 1S99 was 596. 

 Of these 542 were supplied with water 

 from streams, and the amount of land 



thvis irrigated was 194,788 acres. The 

 total cost of these systems was $2,475,- 

 964. The remaining 54 irrigation sys- 

 tems, costing $53,355, were supplied by 

 wells and irrigated 6,897 acres. The 

 total length of ditches was 386 miles. 



TREATMENT OF SECOND-GROWTH WHITE PINE. 



PART II. 



By Wallace I. Hutchinson. 



TO be ranked as first-class timber a 

 tree must be tall, straight, free 

 from branches, and tapering as little as 

 possible. If heavy thinning is done 

 during the early years of the growth, 

 straight, clean boles are not as a rule 

 produced that is, not in the same de- 

 gree as when the woods are kept dense 

 and the lower branches die off gradualh^ 

 from lack of light. Nor can we make 

 up for this by pruning, though it may 



be beneficial to some degree. Heavy 

 thinning gives an increase of light, and 

 consequently produces a more rapid di- 

 ameter growth and coarse-grained tim- 

 ber. 



In the case of the White Pine thin- 

 ning should be carried on lightly until 

 the end of the principal height growth, 

 which occurs when the trees are about 

 forty years old. Then the thinning 

 should gradually become heavier, in or- 



YOUNG WHITE PINE GROWING UNDER WHITE 0.\K AND PITCH PINE. 



