224 



ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



The writer lived for many years on a quarter-section 1 

 of land in Nebraska that had a strip of trees all around the 

 outside and had one row of honey locust across the farm. 

 This row of honey locust trees one-half mile long ruined 

 a strip about four rods wide and injured considerably 



more. At the end of about 

 25 years they were cut for 

 posts. They required the use 

 of four acres of land for 

 most of the time. If this 

 land had been rented for 

 cash rent at $2.50 an acre, 

 and the money put at com- 

 pound interest at 5 per cent, 

 it would have amounted to 

 $487. Probably the posts 

 were not worth $200. On 

 the same farm there were 



1i '^^gffjjmijfiaSlffl groves of honey locust and 



i \1HJS|S^^^S catalpa, cottonwood and 



! lil^iiSIL box eider - AU these were 



very profitable. 



Not only are the trees 

 along a fence line a great 

 nuisance, but this is not the 

 place to grow good trees. Such trees branch so much as 

 to give more brush than lumber. Trees are social beings. 

 Many publications have recommended such planting. A 

 recent bulletin 2 presents a plan for a model farm of 160 



'A section of land is one mile square; a quarter-section is one-half 

 mile square, and contains 160 acres. 

 2Farmers' Bulletin No. 228. 



FIG. 111. An unsatisfactory fence- 

 post. The wire spoils the tree and the 

 tree spoils the fence. 



