1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



465 



planting within their reach. If the 

 present lack of consideration for the 

 needs of farmer planters continues in 

 Minnesota and the Dakotas for the 

 next two decades, state nurseries will 

 be established for the growing of con- 

 iferous forest seedlings at reasonable 

 rates. If the nurserymen of the 

 Northwest are willing that this great 

 opportunity for business should slip 

 out of their hands and be absorbed by 

 the state, the best way for them to 



boxelder, valuable, long-lived species 

 will be used. A few examples of prof- 

 itable groves are the following: A 

 sixteen-year-old planted grove of Eu- 

 ropean larch near Clear Lake, S. D., 

 a few miles miles west of the Minne- 

 sota line, was measured in the fall of 

 1901. At present prices the nursery 

 stock from which these trees were 

 grown would cost about $10 per thou- 

 sand. No record of the prices that 

 were paid at the time the plantation 



White Willow Snow-Break, 4 Years Old, with Open Space (Snow Trap) in Front. 



North Dakota. 



bring this about is to continue the at- 

 titude of ignoring the forest planter. 



COST AND PROFITS OF PLANTING. 



An acre of forest can be planted 

 with 1,500 seedlings of the common 

 deciduous species for $10, or even less, 

 counting nursery stock and labor. 

 Whenever the farmer can plant ever- 

 greens for the same price, coniferous 

 plantations will be the rule in Minne- 

 sota. Instead of the farm plantation 

 consisting of willow, soft maple, and 



was made are available as the. owner 

 kept none. The labor of planting was 

 largely done by the plow, the ground 

 having been furrowed out and the trees 

 set in the furrows. It is safe to esti- 

 mate the total expense of establishing 

 this plantation at $20 per acre. When 

 it was made, the land which it occu- 

 pies was worth about $10 per acre, so 

 that the total investment can be reck- 

 oned at $30 per acre. In 1901 this 

 plantation had produced 1,054 first- 



