46 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS UPON TREE-PLANTING. 



sometimes can be gathered late in the spring. The seeds of the elm and soft maple 

 should be planted as soon after ripening as possible. The sugar-maple seeds may be 

 gathered in October, and may be sown in autumn or mixed with sand and kept damp 

 (not wet) in a place cool enough to prevent vegetation till spring. They may be sown 

 in drills, and when two or three years old they can be thinned out by transplanting. 



Preparafion of soil and mode of planting cuttings. — The ground must be lirst broken 

 and the sod thoroughly decomposed. Then plow to a depth of ten inches and harrow 

 till (inely pulverized. For a hedge a strip eight feet wide should be prepared in this 

 way, the cuttings being set in the center of the strip, leaving a margin of four feet on 

 each side for cultivation. In planting, stretch a small rope on the line and rake smooth 

 under it. A man with an armful of cuttings then goes along, sticking them in butt-end 

 first, and, if for a live fence or hedge, one foot apart. They should be pressed in deep, 

 leaving not more than one or two buds out. One man can easily stretch the rope and 

 rake the ground, and a lively lad of hfteen to twenty can stick them, at the rate of a 

 mile a day. The cost of 5,2a0 cuttings is $15.85 ; the rest is labor. 



Mode of cultivation. — As soon after planting as the weeds and grass show themselves 

 commence hoeing carefully. Hoe all of the four-foot margin thoroughly, and soon af- 

 terward, when the cuttings have started so as to see the rows distinctly, pass with a 

 horse and cultivator up and down the row often enough to kill grass and weeds and 

 leave the margin mellow; this hoeing should be repeated several times, care being 

 taken not to cut or injure the cuttings or young trees. After harvest, the weeds and 

 grass should be pulled up and burned. Success depends upon thorough cultivation 

 the first season. The second year will not require more than half the labor of the first, 

 and at the end of the second year no further cultivation is needed, beyond a liberal 

 mulching of manure. 



Under this treatment, the cuttings in five years will have grown from 25 to 35 feet 

 high, and from 8 to 7 inches in thickness, forming a sufficient fence against horses and 

 cattle, and an effectual wind-break. Ten acres planted in this way, 8 feet apart, will, 

 in five years, not only furnish all the fuel and fencing necessary to support a small 

 farm, but will also afford some income from the fence-poles that can be spared to 

 neighbors. 



Planting should begin as soon as the frost is out of the ground, and may be continued 

 till June. Fall plowing is preferable ; and if after spring plowing, the earth should be 

 pressed firmly down on each side of the cuttings as the planting progresses. 



Estimate of the cost of planting forty acres. — In the first year, the emigrant can get set- 

 tled and break up one acre for a forest-tree nuisery. This should be done by the mid- 

 dle of June. Break the sod 2^ inches deep, and thoroughly. About the 1st of October, 

 plow with a stirring-plow, to'the depth of at least 6 inches— 8 or 10 inches would be 

 better — and then harrow. As soon as the seeds are ripened, gather those that are to be 

 used, as ash, sugar-maple, box-elder, nuts, acorns, &c., from the woodlands that skirt 

 the rivers aud lakes, suflicient for three-fourths of the acre, leaving the remaining 

 fourth for white willow, cottonwood, and lombardy poplar cuttings. On this acre 

 20,000 trees will grow and do well three or four years. Plant in drills, rows 3.^ feet 

 apart, using plenty of seed. If it comes up too tliick, the thinnings may be set else- 

 where. In March or April, procure cuttings of cottonwood and balm of gilead, from 

 the river-bottoms, not less than f of an inch in thickness, and as soon as the frost is 

 out of the ground finish the acre with these, in rows 4 feet apart, and the spaces 1 foot 

 in the rows. They should be cultivated carefully as already described. This acre will 

 afford trees enough to plant 40 acres, leaving a surplus. It is recommended that this 

 acre be in the form of an L, north and west of the house and baru-yard, and at least 

 10 rods distant from buildings. Enough trees will be left, after planting the 40 acres, 

 for a wind-break where most needed. 



By the second year, a strip along the north and west lines, five rods wide, should be 

 broken up, making (if a square quarter-section) almost ten acres, and wheu duly pre- 

 pared, this may be planted the second year, or the following spring. By widening 

 this strip every year, before the end of five years the tract will be in timbers with no 

 other cost but labor. 



PROFITS OF PLANTING. — STATEMENT OF MR. O. B. GALUSHA, OF 



ILLINOIS. 



In a lecture at tbe Industrial University of Illinois, in 18G9, the fol- 

 lowing instances of forest growth aud profits of timber culture were 

 mentioned by Mr. O. B. Galusha:^ 



A few miles from my residence are a few acres of ground which were cleared of timber 

 sixteen or seventeen years since. There was then left upon the ground a growth of uu- 



^ Second Annual Report of Board of Trustees of Illinoia Industrial University, p. 352. 



