170 



<£!)c faxmtt's JHontljljj Visitor. 



of wood, twenty-five years ago, and left to itself 

 to produce anotlier growth from the sprout. 

 Tiie land, w'uh its present standing wood, was 

 appraised a year or two since, at fifty dollars an 

 acre. Ten dollars an acre is all that similar 

 land, in pasture, in that vicinity, has ever been 

 worth. By the application of a little arithmetic, 

 then, we find that the increase of this second 

 growth of wood has been equal to sixteen per 

 cent, interest, per annum, on the worth of the 

 laud, without a dollar's expense for the cultiva- 

 tion, — that is, ten dollars, at sixteen per cent, 

 simple interest, for twenty-five years, amounts to 

 forty dollars; to which add the principal, the 

 worth of the land, and we have fifty dollars, the 

 appraised present value, per acre. 



1'ake another view. The importance of a due 

 proportion of wood in equalizing moisture, and 

 preserving the constancy of our small springs 

 and brooks, as well as restraining, in a great 

 measure, the sudden rise and overflow of our 

 rivers, is well known to observing men. Sev- 

 eral fine springs and little brooks, which were 

 familiar friends in boyhood, have either entirely 

 disappeared, or are only seen for a season in the 

 spring. 



"In wet seasons, the decayed leaves and spon- 

 gy soil of wood lands retain a large proportion 

 of the falling rains, and give back the moisture, 

 in time of drought, by evaporation, or through 

 the medium of springs. They thus both check 

 the sudden flow of water from the surface into 

 the streams and low grounds, and prevent the 

 droughts of summer from parching our pastures 

 and drying up the rivulets which water them. 

 On the other hand, where too large a proportion 

 of the surface is bared of wood, the action of 

 the summer sun and wind scorches the hills 

 which are no longer shaded or sheltered by trees, 

 the springs and rivulets that found their supply 

 in the bibulous soil of the forest disappear, and 

 the farmer is obliged 40 surrender his meadows 

 to his cattle, which can no longer find food in 

 his pastures, and sometimes even to drive tli3m 

 miles for water. Again, the vernal and autumnal 

 rains, and the melting snows of winter, no longer 

 intercepted and absorbed by the leaves or the 

 open soil of the woods, but falling every where 

 upon a comparatively hard and even surface, 

 flow swiftly over the smooth ground, washing 

 away the vegetable mould as they seek their nat- 

 ural outlet, fill every ravine with a torrent, and 

 convert every river into an ocean," — Jlddress of 

 Hon. Geo. P. Marsh. 



Several successful attempts have been made 

 within my observation, in improving rugged and 

 exhausted lands by planting them out to trees. 

 Within sight, while writing, is a knoll that has 

 been completely renovated by a plantation of the 

 white locust. It was originally a coarse, worth- 

 less gravel, barren of herbage of any kind. I 

 remember that the proprietor was laughed at by 

 bis neighbors for attempting to grow trees on his 

 barren gravel. The locusts got root, however, 

 and although their growth was slow and feeble, 

 they gradually formed a soil by the annual shed- 

 ding of their leaves; and as the soil became 

 thus strengthened, their growth became more 

 vigorous, new shoots sprang up in all directions 

 from the roots; and after a while, clover and 

 other grasses began to appear on the open 

 ground. 1 have been curious to observe the 

 gradual improvement of this land. Last sum- 

 mer, 1 noticed that the grass was very luxuriant, 

 and woidd have yielded at the rate of a ton or 

 more of hay to the acre, in the open spots. The 

 locust wonderfully endows a poor soil with new 

 energy and fertility. It seems to make its de- 

 mands for nourishment more largely upon the 

 atmosphere than any other tree, and gains foot- 

 hold in soils absolutely barren of fertility. Then, 

 again, its leaves nre small, with very rough edges, 

 lying perfectly still where they fail, while those 

 of most other trees are blown about by the 

 winds, collecting in hollows or in large heaps. 



In my notice of Mr. Rice's farming, last year, I 

 remarked that he ploughed tip a large tract of 

 unproductive hill-side, several years ago, and 

 planted it with chestnuts, in rows four feet apart 

 every way. The first sprouts coming up rather 

 crooked and scrubby, he went over the field, and 

 cut them down close to the ground, which caused 

 new sprouts to shoot up straight and vigorous. 



The trees are very thrifty, completely shade the 

 ground, and grow more and more rapidly as the 

 soil becomes strengthened by the annual deposit 

 of leaves. So well satisfied is he with the ex- 

 periment, that he is now placing other worthless 

 lands in a similar course of improvement. 



The late Hon. John Lowell, the first and most 

 zealous advocate for improvements of this kind 

 in New England, planted three acres of waste 

 land on his estate at Roxhury, Mass., to a variety 

 of forest trees, — the whole value of the land not 

 being ten dollars per annum. 



In a communication upon the subject, he says : 



"The land was about half of it ploughed and 

 kept open with potatoes for two years, and then 

 abandoned to the course of nature. The pines 

 were taken up out of the forest with great care, 

 not more than five feet high. Wherever 1 had 

 the cupidity or impatience to introduce a larger 

 tree, I either lost it or it became sickly. In some 

 places I planted acorns ; and as to my hard 

 wood forest trees, transplanted from the woods, 

 finding they looked feeble and sickly when they 

 shot out, I instantly sawed them off at the 

 ground or near it. This required some resolu- 

 tion, but I have been abundantly paid for it. 



"The result of this experiment is this— that in 

 a period of from thirteen to fifteen years, 1 have 

 raised a young, beautiful, and thrifty plantation, 

 comprising almost every variety of tree which 

 we have in Massachusetts, which are now from 

 twenty-five to thirty-five feet high, and some of 

 which, the thriftiest white pines, actually meas- 

 ure from nine to twelve inches in diameter. The 

 loppings and thinning out of these trees, now 

 furnish abundance of light fuel for summer use; 

 and upon as accurate, a calculation as I am able 

 to make, lam convinced that the present growth, 

 cut down at the expiration of fourteen years 

 from the time of planting, would amply pay for 

 the land at the price it would have brought." 



Mr. S. Brown, in a communication to the Bos- 

 ton Cultivator, says: — 



"I have one acre of land which, thirty vears 

 ago, was not worth more than ten dollars; 1 have 

 no recollection of there being a tree upon it, 

 with the exception of one apple tree, and some 

 scattering bushes; the appearance of the soil 

 was such as to forbid any attempt at cultivation, 

 and my cattle have rambled over it from that 

 day to this; in the mean time, the young pines 

 voluntarily sprung up, and became a forest; and 

 now, 1 would not thank any man to pay me sixty 

 dollars for the standing wood on that acre. Now, 

 if any man can tell me how to improve such 

 land to better advantage, I would thank him for 

 the information." 



Mr. Webster has a great variety of thrifty, 

 promising young forest trees on his estate at 

 Marshfield, which he has raised by planting the 

 seeds. There are several reasons for preferring 

 this mode of cultivation to that of transplanting. 

 The expense of planting seed is less than that of 

 transplanting trees ; the trees will be straighter 

 and more vigorous; they neither require staking 

 nor watering; and at the end of eight or ten 

 years they will ordinarily have acquired a much 

 larger growth than trees transplanted at the 

 same time. 



The success in attempting improvements by 

 planting waste or exhausted lands to wood and 

 timber, will very much depend upon choosing 

 those kinds of trees that are most naturally 

 adapted to the soil. Professor Johnston has 

 some very interesting remarks upon this point, a 

 part of which I will venture to quote. Speaking 

 of the improvements going on in Europe, in ren- 

 ovating exhausted lands by planting trees, he 

 says:— 



" The most precise observations on the subject 

 with which I am acquainted, are those which 

 have been made in the extensive plantations of 

 the late duke of Athol. These plantations con- 

 sist chiefly of white larch, and grow upon a 

 poor, hilly soil, resting on gneiss, mica-slate and 

 clay-slate. In six or seven years, the lower 

 branches spread out, become interlaced, and 

 completely overshadow the ground. Nothing, 

 therefore, grows upon it till the trees are twenty- 

 four years old, when the spines of the lower 

 branches beginning to fall, the first considerable 

 thinning takes place. Air and light being thus 



re-admitted, grasses spring up, and a fine sward 

 is gradually produced. The ground, which pre- 

 viously was worth only nine pence or one shil- 

 ling [rent?] per acre as a sheep pasture, at the 

 end of thirty years becomes worth from seven 

 shillings to ten shillings per acre. 



" On the soil planted by the duke of Athol, the 

 larch shot up luxuriantly, while the Scotch fir 

 lingered and languished in its growth. Thus 

 the quantity of leaves produced and annually 

 shed by the former was vastly greater than by 

 the latter tree. Had the Scotch fir thriven better 

 than the larch, the reverse might have been the 

 case, and the value of the soil might have been 

 increased in a greater proportion by plantations 

 of the former tree. 



"In regard to the relative improving power of 

 the several species of trees, the most rational, 

 natural rule, by which our practice should he 

 guided, seems to be contained in these three 

 propositions : — 



"1. That the soil will be most improved by 

 those trees which thrive best upon it. 



"2. Among those which thrive equally, by 

 such as yield the largest produce of leaves; 

 and, 



"3. Among such as yield an equal weight of 

 leaves, by those whose leaves contain the largest 

 proportion of inorganic matter — which bring up 

 from beneath, that is, and spread over the sur- 

 face in largest quantity, the materials of a fertile 

 soil. 



"The mode in which the lower branches of 

 the larch spread out and overshadow the surface 

 is not without its influence upon the ultimate 

 improvement which the soil exhibits. All vege- 

 tation being prevented, the land, besides receiv- 

 ing a yearly manure of vegetable mould, is made 

 to lie for upwards of twenty years in uninterrup- 

 ted naked fallow. It is sheltered also from the 

 beating of the rain-drops, which descend slowly 

 and gently upon it, bearing principles of fertility, 

 instead of washing out the valuable saline suh- 

 stances it may contain. Beneath the overshad- 

 owing branches of a forest, the soil is also pro- 

 tected from the wind: and to this protection 

 Sprengel attributes much of that rapid improve- 

 ment so generally experienced where lands are 

 covered with wood. The winds bear along par- 

 ticles of earthy matter, which they deposit again 

 in the still forests ; and thus gradually form a 

 soil even on the most naked places." 



Thousands of acres of waste lands in New 

 England, entirely unprofitable to the owners and 

 to community, might, by judicious planting with 

 trees, be redeemed from their sterility, — thus ad- 

 ding, in effect, to the territorial extent as well as 

 wealth of the country; besides in many cases 

 fivefolding the value of individual estates thus 

 planted. Numerous instances might be given 

 in proof of this statement. 



It is worthy of separate and particular consid- 

 eration that our country is fast becoming pene- 

 trated in every direction by railroads, whose 

 consumption of wood is so enormous that we 

 must look well to our forests, or they "ill van- 

 ish. The facilities of transportation which they 

 afford will induce a greater demand for lumber 

 and stuff" for turning purposes, for the manufac- 

 tories near the sea-board. Thus new and greater 

 inducements for the cultivation and preservation 

 of woodlands are yearly becoming developed, 

 urging our farmers to awake to the importance 

 of this subject. 



In treating this topic at this time, I have cho- 

 sen to give a somewhat desultory statement and 

 citation of facts and principles which are so 

 palpable as to come within the observation of 

 every one, rather than a methodical and formal 

 essay; hoping by this means the more surely to 

 attract the attention of the practical farmer. 

 F. HOLBROOK. 

 Bratdeboro', Vt., 1849. 



Newspapers. — The reading of a good and 

 well-conducted newspaper, even for the short 

 space of one-quarter of a year, brings more 

 sound instruction, and leaves a deeper impres- 

 sion, than would be acquired, probably, at the 

 best school in twelve months. Talk to the mem- 

 bers of a family who read the papers, and com- 

 pare their information and intelligence with 

 those who do not. The difference is beyond 

 comparison. — Irish Paper. 



