FOREST RESOURCES OF MISSOURI. 569 



The lumber manufacture of Sioux City, on the Missouri Eiver, and oq 

 the west line of Iowa, is estimated at about 8,000,0U0 feet per annum. 



About 2,000,000 of the native cotton woods of the Missouri flats, mostly 

 from the i^ebraska side, have been sawed annually for the last twenty 

 years. Within this period tracts once cut off have again grown up into 

 timber of considerable size, and a growth of thirty or forty years would be 

 of sufficient size for sawing. This lumber is used for weather-boarding 

 of barns, &c., and, before railroads were opened, it was the lumber ]Hin- 

 cipally used for inside finishing, and for joists, studs, and other small 

 ])ieces in framing. The present price of cottonwood lumber is about 

 S14: per 1,000 feet. The timber supplying these mills is brought from 

 the country within forty miles around, chiefly on the west side, and the 

 valley of the Big Sioux River, on the line of Dakota. 



The trees found best suited i.br planting on the western border of Iowa, 

 at Sioux City, and vicinity, are the soft maples, box-elder, green ash, 

 and black walnut. The cottonwood is a native, and grows luxuriantly 

 wherever planted. All evergreens heretofore tried, excepting the red 

 cedar, have failed in that region. 



Lyon County. — This is in the extreme northwestern corner of the 

 State of Iowa, and in the prairie region. 



An experiment in planting was begun in 1871 on an extensive scale. 

 Of more than a million trees and cuttings, then set, about half were liv- 

 ing in 1875, notwithstanding dry seasons and grasshopper ravages, and 

 ranged from 2 to 20 feet in height. 



The kind planted were the white willow, cottonwood, box-elder, 

 white or silver maple, white ash, honey-locust, European larch, and 

 several species of evergreen. Among the deciduous trees, including the 

 larch, preference was given in the order above named, with a very de- 

 cided preference to the white willow, not only on account of the ease 

 and certainty with which it grew from cuttings, but from the value of its 

 timber. When thoroughly seasoned before using, it makes durable 

 fences, and it grows well in both wet and dry ground. The grasshop- 

 pers, however, are especially fond of its leaves, and may seriously injure 

 its growth in some seasons. 



MISSOURI. 



This State was originally well timbered in many parts, while extensive 

 regions elsewhere were open plateaus and prairies. 



Vei'y little evergreen timber occurs in the State, excepting some cedar 

 in the southeast part. The conifers are equally rare in Iowa, except 

 along Cedar Eiver and adjacent region. 



Mr. George Husmaun, of Sedalia, in an article published in the State 

 Agricultural Eeports (1877), has suggested a method of management 

 for woodlands which, if carefully followed, would insure continued pro- 

 duction. A given tract of woodland, say 25 to 50 acres, being inclosed, 

 a portion, say of 5 or 10 acres, should be carefully worked, all old and 

 decaying trees being cut out, and the younger growth thinned. The 

 next year, another part might be taken in like manner, and so on till 

 the whole was worked. Then by going the round again, once in five or 

 ten years, the forest would be gradually brought into a periodical work- 

 ing, more profitable than the haphazard way generally practiced. 



In planting new land with forest, he gives preference to kinds in the 

 following order: (1) locust; (2) ailanthus; (3) osage orange; (1) Eu- 

 ropean larch; (5) catalpa ; (G) white and black walnuts; (7) ash, of all 

 kinds; (8) silver maple; (9) box elder; (lO)chestnut. He would break and 

 cultivate one year before; set plants from seed-beds on land marked as 



