1903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



137 



make sap, but that sap makes leaves. 

 Very well ; the one cannot do without 

 the other ; a tree with few leaves will 

 have little sap, and a dead one none at 

 all. 



It is well to bear in mind that a maple 

 plantation may in time become more 

 valuable for lumber than for sugar, and 

 so the lower limbs should be pruned 

 with reference to obtaining a tree that 

 will furnish at least three good, sound 

 logs. An ideal maple grove would be 

 one in which the trees have straight, 

 thrift} 7 trunks, clear of limbs for about 

 38 feet, and at the same time have a 

 large, leafy top that will induce a full 

 flow of sap. 



Now, it is no answer to this timber 

 proposition to point to the large area of 

 maple forests in Vermont and the small 

 demand for that kind of lumber, for the 

 valuable grade of timber which can be 

 grown in a planted forest is far different 

 from the inferior growth seen in wild, 

 uncultivated woods. Still, some fine 

 timber trees are found here and there 

 among the latter, and there is a brisk 

 demand for the first-class maple lumber 

 which such trees will make. With the 

 increasing wealth of the country and 

 erection of a better class of dwelling- 

 houses, there is a large sale everywhere 

 for hardwood flooring, for which pur- 

 pose Maple answers better than any 

 other tree. Throughout the Catskill 

 forests, in New York, selected maples 

 are cut and the choice logs taken to 

 mills, where they are manufactured into 

 roller stock. These logs, when deliv- 

 ered at the nearest railroad station, com- 

 mand a high price per lineal foot, the 

 timber in the log bringing more money 

 per thousand feet than is paid for clear- 

 stuff pine. In the Adirondacks there 

 are men who go through the woods, 

 picking out the best maple trees, pay- 

 ing well for the same, and splitting the 

 logs into square bolts that are shipped 

 to the factories which make shoe lasts. 

 Straight, clear maple logs command a 

 good figure also at the chair and furni- 

 ture factories, and there are several 

 other industries I might name which 

 pay a high price for lumber from this 

 species. The extensive furniture in- 

 dustry at Grand Rapids, Michigan, and 



other places in that state is based largely 

 on the timber product of the neighbor- 

 ing maple forests. Most of our wood- 

 lands contain few trees of the character 

 necessary to supply this demand, but in 

 a planted forest, rightly cultivated and 

 managed, all, or nearly all, of the trees 

 w r ould yield this high-priced grade of 

 material ; so it is well in planning the 

 future of a maple plantation to take into 

 consideration this question of timber as 

 well as sugar, and adopt silvicultural 

 methods adapted to that end. 



The amount of land required for a 

 plantation should form no objection, 

 especially as on most farms there are 5 

 or 10 acre lots that are available for 

 hardly any other purpose. Some of 

 the best producing maples stand on 

 bare, rocky hillsides, the trees on that 

 class of land seeming to be more valua- 

 ble for sugar making than those on low 

 ground. 



The period which must elapse before 

 the trees would become productive is a 

 question hard to answer. But whether 

 it takes twenty or twenty-five years, the 

 profit of the investment seems to be un- 

 questionable. 



Of course there are some who will 

 regard such a proposition as merely a 

 pretty theory, and something that is not 

 to be considered seriously. But I would 

 respectfully call their attention to the 

 fact that tree planting for forest pur- 

 poses has passed the theoretical stage, 

 and that the practicability and profit of 

 such work has been fairly demonstrated. 

 In New England there are several plan- 

 tations of White Pine made by men who 

 are living today and are now selling tim- 

 ber from their lands, deriving an income 

 which amply repays them for all expend- 

 itures of time and money, including in- 

 terest. In our Western States the tree- 

 less plains have been covered at many 

 places by large areas of standing timber. 

 In the State of New York the forest com- 

 mission has alreadycommenced the work 

 of reforesting its waste lands and raising 

 timber trees from seedlings. 



Throughout the Catskill counties of 

 New York the maple woods and sugar 

 trees have been killed by an insect borer. 

 Far and wide throughout that region, in 

 great belts 80 miles long or more, the 



