NATURAL FOREST EXTENSION. 



A STUDY OF THE TENDENCY OF FOREST TREES TO EN- 

 CROACH ri'ON THE I'RAIRIE IN NORTHEASTERN KANSAS. 



BY 



C. W. YODER. 



UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. 



POXY CREEK flows across the north- 

 western part of Brown county, Kan- 

 sas, and empties into the Nemaha River 

 south of Falls City, Nebraska. For the 

 past fifteen years the home of the writer 

 has been on the banks of this stream, 

 and it is here that he has had opportu- 

 nity for study of the forest conditions 

 of the region. 



The timber belt along the creek va- 

 ries from zero to a quarter of a mile or 

 more in width. The forest growth con- 

 n-is of a mixed stand of oak, elm, wal- 

 nut, hickory, box-elder, cottonwood, 

 maple, sycamore, bass wood, wild cherry, 

 and a number of other species. A few 

 cottonwood and sycamore trees have 

 attained a diameter of three feet or more. 

 Occasional stumps of oak, walnut, and 

 elm indicate that these trees attained a 

 similar size. A white elm stump forty 

 inches in diameter was found to contain 

 two hundred and seventy-five annual 

 rings. These veterans of the forest are 

 confined almost exclusively to the vicin- 

 ity of the creek bank. The great ma- 

 jority of the trees are of a comparatively 

 recent growth. 



There is a marked contrast between 

 the forest growth along the creek and 

 that along the Xemaha River, at the 

 creek's mouth, or the Missouri River a 

 few miles farther east. Along the Ne- 

 maha River there are considerable areas 

 of a stand of mature trees. Their trunks 

 are long and free from limbs for thirty 

 or forty feet, a feature that is even more 

 marked in the timber belt that skirts 

 the Missouri River. Along the creek the 

 trees are young and vigorous. Exam- 

 ples of recent forestation are numerous. 



On one farm there is a fifteen-acre 

 tract composed almost exclusively of 

 black walnut trees from six to fifteen 



inches in diameter and about forty feet 

 in height. An examination of a number 

 of recently cut stumps indicates an age 

 of from twenty-five to thirty-five years. 

 The hazel brush and other shrubbery 

 has not been completely suppressed by 

 the encroaching forest growth. 



On the opposite side of the farm, 

 about sixty rods from the creek, a steep 

 northern slope is covered with a dense 

 stand of bur oak, red oak and jack oak, 

 interspersed withbasswood, wild cherry, 

 honey locust and elm. The trees are 

 from six to twelve inches in diameter 

 and from thirty-five to forty feet in 

 height. The stand is so dense that the 

 smaller and weaker trees are being sup- 

 pressed. By an examination of a large 

 number of recently cut stumps the age 

 of the trees was found to range from 

 twenty-five to thirty-five years. Only 

 one tree was found that contained forty 

 annual rings. The age of the trees, 

 the vigor of their growth, the complete 

 absence of old stumps or other evidences 

 of an older timber growth, all indicate 

 recent forestation. Later this opinion 

 was confirmed by an old settler, who 

 stated that thirty-five years ago the slope 

 supported a growth of prairie grass, 

 dotted here and there with clumps of 

 ground oak and hazel brush and an 

 occasional small tree. At the present 

 time the timber line extends to the crest 

 of the ridge. The long, rocky, southern 

 slope contains numerous clumps of hazel 

 brush and ground oak. In these clumps 

 vigorous young oak, elm, honey locust, 

 and box-elder trees have obtained a 

 foothold. Cattle and horses have ranged 

 this land freely for years, but they do 

 not seem to have interfered seriously 

 with the timber growth. It seems to 

 be but a question of a few years until 





