PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 35 



general pilgrimage to that beautiful spot by the farmers and their families, 

 and also that every school should visit it in a body to learn how many 

 thousands of trees and shrubs that never before were known to New England 

 have been made to thrive on Massachusetts soil. 



\Yhen you give these same trees forest conditions, instead of park ar- 

 rangement, where grass must be maintained for appearance sake, and you will 

 succeed still better than you now dream in growing forests for profit on your 

 abandoned farms. 



During the summer of 1901 I was requested to examine the lands adjacent 

 to the railway on Cape Cod, with a view to determine what might be done to 

 check the shifting sands which threaten to bury portions of the roadbed. 



There is a very large area of this peninsula, which is now absolutely 

 worthless, yet all can be made to become productive of valuable timber 

 trees, and under the protection of these timber belts may be successfully 

 cultivated with cranberries and crops suitable for sandy locations. 



The mere planting of beach grass and sowing seeds of pine and oak will 

 not accomplish the reclamation of these sandy wastes, but this process must 

 be supplemented with extensive plantings of quick-growing, hardy trees, set 

 quite thickly. One-year-old rooted trees should be used, and planted 8 by 

 8 feet. 



A moderate quantity of beach grass set at the same time will effect an 

 entire change in this region of shifting sands. Sumac, bay, yucca and similar 

 strong rooted plants of shrubby or herbaceous character will resist the action 

 of the wind, breaking its force at point of contact with the sand, and gradually 

 produce a soil in which important forest trees will thrive. 



Abele is growing well about the cape, and I found catalpa as perfectly at 

 home as in Indiana. Red oak will quickly mature in this locality if given an 

 opportunity. Ailantus is hardy and a strong grower in the vicinity. The 

 small cost of these plants and the fact that they may be obtained in unlimited 

 quantities make it advisable to do extensive planting, as it will insure to the 

 state a large income in future from an expanse which is now practically 

 valueless. 



SOIL FORMED BY FOREST. 



But trees form a soil, either shallow or deep, depending upon the root 

 system. 



By penetrating the subsoil with their tap roots, allowing air moisture 

 and frost to enter and silently break up the hard crust, one class of trees forms 

 a deep soil. As leaves die and fall away, so roots decay, new ones being 

 formed, and thus the subsoil becomes filled with vegetable mold, creating a soil. 



Such trees as have only surface roots form a shallow soil. This latter 

 class comprises the alder, gray birch, scarlet maple and dwarf oaks, while 

 hickory, walnut, catalpa and the large oaks are deep-rooted forms. 



Cultivation in farm crops for a long period of years exhausts the humus 

 or vegetable mold, which is decomposed and absorbed by the growing 

 crops, and such soils become less and less productive. Besides, erosion is 



