VIII 



WHERE AND WHAT TO PLANT 



IN general terms the area of the United States may be 

 classed as tree-bearing and treeless regions. Much of the 

 tree-bearing portion has been denuded of its forest cover 

 to allow the land to be cultivated, and other portions to 

 supply the needed forest products. Except in the case of 

 the farmer's woodlot no part of the tree-bearing area that 

 is suitable for cultivation should be reforested ; but it is 

 manifest that such as is not suitable for agriculture would 

 best be, and to choose what species to plant on any given 

 area is a very important matter. Broadly speaking, it 

 would be safest to plant such as originally grew there, but 

 that is not always easily determined, nor would it always 

 be advisable. 



It must not be supposed that any great proportion of the 

 nearly five hundred species of trees indigenous to the United 

 States possesses any commercial value as timber trees, or 

 that many of them are worthy of cultivation. A very large 

 majority of them may be set down as worthless for any 

 economic purpose beyond acting as a cover to the soil, pre- 

 venting erosion, and, to some extent, aiding in bringing 

 about an equable flow of springs and streams. Some once 

 esteemed of little value are now being largely used. This 

 arises in part from a growing scarcity of better species, in 

 part from the discovery of their value in comparatively new 

 industries, and in part from improved methods of manu- 

 facture ; and while some are not strictly timber trees their 

 value for other purposes gives them an economic import- 

 ance that should not be ignored when considering the im- 

 portant trees of our country. Combining those that are 

 useful for what is known as lumber with those used for 



