31G 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEU, 



April 20, 1831. 



ii(a-iiia<swii»'awiiii2a 



From Ihp Ma 



ultiiral fiepnsilory. 



WOODLAND AND FOREST TREES. 



To Che Cnrtesponilini Secretary of llie Massachusetts Society 

 for Promoting Agriculture. 



From a variety'of circumstances, my attention for 

 a series oi"" yeais' lias been necessarily drawn to 

 the oversitrht of several considerable tracts of wood 

 land, in order to effect a iTght management of 

 them. This attention has become a liahit anil a 

 somce of gratification to me. If any apology is 

 due for the too frequent remarks on this subject, 

 I must refer to the partial persuasion of my friend 

 Mr Lowell, whose valuable instructions and labor 

 as to the forest, as well as the garden, have been 

 so useful. On the right management of the wood 

 lot, our agriculturists have been heretofore again 

 and again inqtiired of, and it is most obvious that 

 many opinions offereil have been erroneous. Soine 

 of these will^be stated, to show the knowlege aim- 

 ed at hy the society. It will be our endeavor to 

 submit facts and infereiices, drawn from repeated 

 experiments and more intimate experience which 

 time has afforded. These n)ay be useful so far as 

 they are sustained by the judgment or coincidences 

 in the opinion of others. The first question on 

 this head submitted by the society is : ' Whether 

 the growth for wood for timber and fuel, be eniiiv- 

 alent to the constimption in your vicinty ? ' The 

 universal reply has been indicative of an alarm- 

 ing decrease in Massachusetts, of both timber anil 

 fuel, and that a recurrence in the country is had in 

 many places to peat, as a substitute for the latter ; 

 while recently it is well known, that in populous 

 places, and near the sea coast, as well as in many 

 of our manufacturing establishments, there is an 

 increasing and extensive use, particularly of the 

 coal of our country, as a substitute for the article 

 of wood. Nor is this to be regretted ; on the con- 

 trary, it seems most wisely ordained, that while 

 the discoveries of the age call for an increasing 

 use of fuel, as to which the surface of the earth 

 could give us no adetpiale supply ; there are beneath 

 us and tit hand, inexhaustible resources for every 

 possible demand. It is not to be denied, however, 

 that these are but sulistitutes — and very inconven- 

 ient ones in many |)laces; nay, more, that they are 



attention it merits, from the watchful guartlians of | better knowledge and practice, tmd thiit both exto* 

 the interests of the comiiion wealth. The next | peiience and observation will well justify the now «t« 

 inquiry has been, 'what measures are takbn to ] prevailing usage with them, of ' cutting clear. ' 



provide against the inconvenience of future scar- 

 city.' To this, the answers given are much to be 

 regretted. In most instances, the rejilies are, 

 the wood lots are not fenced from the habit of 

 economy and other motive.s, and where cattle run 

 at large on the commons, they eat and destroy most 

 of the sprouts from the stumps of late fallen trees.' 

 In fact, unless there is a surplusage of young shoots 

 and but very few cattle to browse, the whole are 

 cropped! 



To confirm this, I will state an experiment 

 lately made. On an Inclosure, partly of good 

 pasture land, in a spot the most retired from culti- 



Where old and decayed trees only are selected 

 the growth becomes more and more sc.itteriiig 

 and the young trees or suckers, deriving no vigOi 

 from the sun and atmosphere, fall into decaj 

 This remark, with some others, may perhaps bt 

 deemed a repetition of what has "been before said 

 but it is well to note what lime has confirmed. 



The cutting of two growths on several lots sinoi ii,< 

 the perioil alluded to, has passed under my obser 

 vation. Some of these were demonstrative of tht 

 disadvantage of ' picking out the decayed trees, 

 as well as the benefit of cutting clear. 



The practice in one instance had been, in timei 



vation, on the north side of a rocky precipice, where | loni; gone l)y, to pick out the trees as wanted, foi 

 there was not a blade of grass, and at some distance i tiuiher, or fuel, and the growth had become verj 

 from grass feed, about ten loads of wood in scatter- scattering, and of no sensible increase; thougl 



ing growth, on about an acre of ground, were cu 

 ofl". Some young bushes and the brush were left 

 on the ground to discourage the ap|)roach of cattle. 

 To furnish sprouts or browse and to ascertain how 

 far cattle would be induced to crop the shrub oak, 

 ail acre or two of young growth were cut over. 

 The latter were very sparingly resorted to — while 

 I was unable, with the assistance of two persons, 

 to find one sprout of the walnut, oak, and other 

 trees, muoucheil by the cattle. 



It is unfortunately too true, that cattle will crop 

 all the shoots of young forest trees which they can 

 reach, constantly tempted by their sweet sap ; thus 



ost of them were of white oak, and from an. 

 cient growth and great size, had become verj 

 valuable ; yet when the lot was again cut over 

 thtie were more corils of wood, and a greatei 

 profit in the latter, than in the former case. The 

 first was a product of more than acentiiiy — tlu 

 latter of only thirty years ! ! 



It would be a wtiste of time to multiply remarks 

 as might be done, on this head. 



It may here be observed, that the informatiot 

 sought for by the society, has relation to ' oui 

 wood lots, and the best means of production foi 

 fuel' — as to our timber, there is no great sraicitj 



discouraged and gradually destroyed, they give 'at present ; there seems to be enough to meet thf 

 place to bushes and shrubs, which instead of demand. But tlie principles of production, are 

 affording nutriment to cattle or being advantageous, widely different, in relation thereto. Timber, il 

 to the husbandman, make the soil not merely use- is saiil, to endure fong, iijust be matured hy age, 



less, but an occtvsion for heavy expenditure. 



Some of the t;vils invariably arising to lots 

 recently cut over, by browsing, will be stated. 

 First, a tree or sucker thus deprived of its main 

 shoot, it is said, never grows straight, or becomes 

 a timber tree, and its thrift is injured.* Next, if 

 the trees are cut in the proper season, when the 

 sap is said to be down or the leaf is off, in the 

 following spring, the circulation of the new system 

 then puts forth its effort, strongly for the needed 

 action of the atmosphere, by the function of its 

 leaves, &c. If this is not afforded, vegetative life 



generally recurred to from the force of necessity. I i^ endangered, if not lost. 



To most of those long habituated to it, the cheer- i For these and other reasons which will follow 



ful blaze of a wood fire, has a powerful attraction. I jn connexion with this subject, it is apparent, ihat 



But if wood is abandoned for fuel, and no means 

 of encouragement are given by government, 

 whence is our timber, &c, to be derived ? Here 

 with great respect a consideration is submitted to 

 our legislators, which, though familinr to many 

 may not, as to its effects, be so well known to all. 

 By a law jiassed March 4, 1829, it is enacted, 

 ' That all wild or unimproved lands, shall hereafter 

 be assessed at six per centum instead of two per 

 centum, on the value thereof I!' 



Excesses in legislation are apt to operate injuri- 

 ously, especially, when they effect changes in long 

 established usti'ges. The effect has been herein 

 sudden and violent wi its operation on farmers. 

 Feeling the threefold weight of the iar, thus i)t- 

 C)-casc(/ upon a capital not \mn\ei\\ale\y productive to 

 them, they have laid the axe to the root so heartily 

 that wood at 12 to 20 miles from Boston, has 

 actually ileen depressed in value more than one 

 third, and timber is of little more value thiin for 

 fuel ! This was probably unforeseen by the legisla- 

 ture, and is to be lamented. But it will meet the 



as relates to both of these questions, the ' growth of 

 wooil and timber' — or the means' of provision 



ainst future scarcity, the inroad, or browsing of 

 cattle, must be prevented. 



The next question presented is, ' in getting 

 your wood for fuel, do you pick the oldest trees, or 

 do you cut clear.'' 



The re|>ly from individuals, as well as societies, 

 mostly given is, ' It is generally practised to cut 

 the oldest and most decayed trees, leaving the 

 rest.' 



Our belief is, that our farmers have attained a 



* \ forcible demonstration of the power and the licid- 

 tliy functions of the leaf, and the effect of their lo s, may 

 not he thought out of place here, besides being somewhat 

 analogous. Some years since, a tract of pasture land, 

 about 15 miles from this city, appeai'ed to be overran 

 with Sumach, (Rhus tophinum) so useful as a dye stuff. 

 A worker in morocco urged the occupant to gather the 

 leaves and dry them at $21) a ton. As there was a large 

 family of children, it was set about in good eai-nest, and 

 over live tons were gatheied and paid lor. It is nut be- 

 lieved that five pounds of this material have grown on this 

 land .since ! 



'of thinner growth, &c. But ai? to this, our coun- 

 try itself, since its settlement, can hardly be s^.id tt 

 have had a reproduction ! ! • 



The next question which has been proposed is, 

 ' v/hat method is best calculated, to increase the 

 value of woodlands ?' 



To this the answers given are general and indel 

 nite, alluding mostly to th? keeping out of catl 

 It is here intended to submit some reasons forci 

 sidertition, as well as the result of several expi 

 ments of different modes, by which it would sei 

 that the cutting clear and having a reproductionj 

 by far the most promising and effectual mode 

 be pursued with us. 



And first, there is generally on all farms some 

 rough or rocky soil in ' wood, ' unfit for culture, 

 and which would be unproductive in any other ap- 

 propriation. 



Next, fs to the certainty herein — there is no 

 known instance of a failure in a regrowth. This 

 has been often predicted, particularly on some lots 

 where the tops of the trees were mostly ilead; 

 this Wits a score of years ago, and there is now a 

 very thick growth, almost fit for the axe ! It will 

 be said that there must be a period of decay in 

 trees — that this is the course of vegetation, and in- 

 deed 'he law of nature ! 



However true this may appear, it may yetbe 

 answered, that after cutting off an old lot even, 

 there spring up innumerable young shoots, which 

 seem to have been hidden, or inactive, beneath 

 the surface, and then start into new life. TJb 

 suckers, too, put forth with still more vigor, until 

 the surface is so thickly covered that some are in- 

 duced to thin the growth by a selection of hoov 

 poles — at least to early ^ain if not iiltimate advan 

 tage — as to which opinions vary. 



