FOREST CULTUEE IN IOWA. 553 



in eight or ten years, and a grove of ten acres kept inclosed, would in 

 ten years and afterward, keep a family supplied with fuel permanently. 



The Cottonwood, poplars, and willows had been planted satisfactorily 

 for fences. The great value of white ash timber and the facility with 

 which it could be cultivated was especially noticed by several. An opin- 

 ion unfavorable to trimming was expressed by most who preferred leav- 

 ing the operation to nature. They would generally plant close in the 

 rows, thinning out from time to time as the trees became larger. 



A correspondent in Webster County, with the view of testing the 

 qualities of dilferent kinds of timber for live fences, set, in 1SG3, about 

 twenty rods of each of the following, viz : Cottonwood, Lombardy pop- 

 lar, silver maple, balm of Gilead, and three kinds of willow, in rows 9 

 inches between plants, and sowed some locust-seed. The lirst season 

 the Cottonwood grew 7 feet, the poplars 4, the maple and balm 3, the 

 white willow 3^, and other willows 2; while the locust was still less. 

 The next spring he cut down the cottonwood to 3^ feet, and the second 

 season they were 12 to 15 feet high. The growth of timber was in about 

 the same proportion as before. In the third spring he transplanted 

 several of each variety, and found that they grew much faster when not 

 crowded together. The growth of all left in the rows was quite small, 

 except the white willows. The cottonwoods did not grow C inches, 

 which proves that they will not bear crowding. His experiment showed 

 that the white willow was the only kind that would grow close to- 

 gether. Having settled these facts, he set, in the spring of 18G5, 700 

 rods of live fence, and the growth in 18G6 was 15 feet, and perfectly uni- 

 form. He did not prune. A grove of cottonwood and Lombardy pop- 

 lar set in the spring of 1SG6 was, by the middle of September of the first 

 year, on an average, 4 feet high, and some of it six. 



The Iowa State Agricultural Society, in 1870, offered a premium of 

 $1,000, to be paid in 1881, for the best 10 acres of artificial timber. In 

 1875 it was stated that four competitors had entered, and annual reports 

 are made showing management and condition. 



Eflbrts were made, in 1871, to learn how much planting had been 

 done in Iowa under the act for encouraging the growth of timber, but 

 with little result. The law was either not known or not regarded as an 

 inducement to planting. One person in Appanoose County had planted 

 30,000, and another in Lyon County 250,000. 



An act for the encouragement of horticulture and forestry, approved 

 April 6, 1872, in granting $1,000 annually to the State Horticultural 

 Society, required that $200 of this sum should be awarded in premiums 

 for the growing of forest trees in the State. 



In 1873 twenty-one premiums were ofiered for the planting of trees 

 and tree seeds in permanent timber ])lantations or belts, the number of 

 trees living to be ascertained by actual count at the end of the next 

 October. It does not appear that any awards were made upon them. 

 In 1874, and annually since, the society has offered eighteen premiums 

 for forest-tree planting — three each for the following classes, viz : — all 

 species, greatest number in groves ; — evergreens and larch in ])lantations 

 or belts ; — ash trees ; — nut-bearing trees, including oaks ; — black wild 

 cherry, elm, maple, box elder, and birch ; and cottonwood, basswood, 

 willow, poplar, and other soft wood trees. The regulations afford sug- 

 gestions as to methods, and were as follows : 



1. Persona competing for premiums mnst designate the class forwhicli they compete 

 as tor greatest number soft wooded trees, greatest number of evergreens and Jarch, &c. 

 A pLmtation may consist of a single variety enumerated, in class, or all the kinds men-^ 

 tioued. 



