Foresting 

 Sand Hills 



Reclaiming the barren 

 sand hills of the Middle 

 West with forest cover, 

 to supply timber when there is a 

 dearth of it, is one of the more strik- 

 ing of the important forest planting 

 projects of the Forest Service. Four 

 of the national forests have been es- 

 tablished in the non-agricultural re- 

 gion with the express purpose of get- 

 ting a firm grip on methods which will 

 overcome natural difficulties and set 

 up object lessons for the benefit of 

 the people. These are the Niobrara, 

 the Dismal River, and the North 

 Platte reserves in Nebraska and the 

 Garden City reserve in Kansas. The 

 Nebraska reserves have responded so 

 well to careful treatment that hun- 

 dreds of thousands of seedlings have 

 been planted out and millions more 

 are being raised in nurseries for use 

 in other reserves. Thus, for the first 

 planting on the Garden City reserve, 

 just completed, most of the trees were 

 taken from the nurseries in the Dis- 

 mal River reserve. 



The Kansas reserve lies in a region 

 of scattered, barren sand hills, inter- 

 laced with prairie on which grass 

 thrives well enough to support live 

 stock. The origin of these hills, in 

 itself interesting, reminds one in a way 

 of that of the sand dunes which en- 

 croached from the sea upon the fertile 

 fields of western France and laid them 

 waste. In both cases the wind has been 

 the enemy of the soil, for in France 

 wind drove the sand of the seashore 

 inland, and in the middle western re- 

 gion of our own country wind drove 

 eastward the sand which the Arkansas 

 River had carried clown in floods and 



afterwards exposed to dry. The sand 

 hills were formed long ago, and the 

 action of the wind is now largely 

 checked by the spread of the carpet 

 of grass, which binds the sand where- 

 ever there is enough moisture to en- 

 courage it. 



The semiarid conditions of the re- 

 gion necessarily restrict the selection 

 of trees. Right choice of species, the 

 crux of forest planting generally, is 

 here especially decisive. By its aid, 

 together with right planting methods 

 and right care of the plantation, a tree- 

 less region, one therefore in which 

 wood is a scarce and a highly valuable 

 commodity, can be made to produce 

 useful woods, and at a cost so slight 

 as to satisfy good business judgment. 

 Thus on a light, sandy surface, whole 

 only cover is wild grass and weeds, 

 a merchantable forest crop is to be 

 grown. In addition to the general de- 

 mand for wood, there will be a special 

 demand in connection with the Gar- 

 den City irrigation project, which is 

 within a few miles of the Garden City 

 Reserve. 



Honey locust, Osage orange, Rus- 

 sian mulberry, red cedar, and western 

 yellow pine are the trees used in the 

 new project, of which 51,000 came 

 from the Government nursery, near 

 Halsey, Nebr. The planting this sea- 

 son progressed under highly favorable 

 conditions as regards weather and the 

 physical condition of the soil, and at 

 the expiration of six and one-half days 

 thirteen men had completed the task 

 at a total cost, exclusive of the trees, 

 of $3.88 per acre. 



A fence was built about the three- 

 fourths of a section in which the plant- 



