PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 93 



PASTURING BY SHEEP. 



. 



Next to goats, sheep are most destructive to young and tender trees. No 

 one has a higher opinion of our American wool industry and its importance 

 than I, but the prairie and plain are the places for them to feed. If it is desirable 

 that the higher mountains entirely non-agricultural should be re-afforested, then 

 care should be used in leasing lands, that these be not over pastured by cattle, 

 and not at all by animals which browse the young seedlings, as sheep and goats. 



EMPLOYMENT OF A FORESTER. 



Sawmill owners and timber dealers are not usually interested in the distant 

 future, but want the greatest present income. I would recommend that some 

 person who possesses a knowledge of trees and who is competent to consider the 

 permanent interests of your company, be employed as a forester. Such person 

 should be empowered to direct what trees shall be preserved for the re-afforesta- 

 tion of the lands. The size and character of young trees which it is desirable to 

 reserve for future growth might be left to the decision of such forester. He 

 might also have in charge the general fire protection, planning the fire lines, 

 their construction, and in case of dangerous fires in time of dry weather, be able 

 to call for help to extinguish the flames and thus save much valuable property. 



The intimate acquaintance of every portion of your lands and the character 

 of timber thereon, which a person in this position would soon acquire, would be 

 of great value to your company. If it were desirable that trees should be planted 

 for future timber, the forester might have charge of that also. A conscientious 

 man would find ample work to keep him well and profitably employed. 



A CATALPA PLANTATION. 



The time limit of the Rocky Mountain timber supply is but very few years. 

 The durability of native woods is slight. Mines must have timbers, even though 

 they be transported for hundreds of miles, even from the tropics. It is well to 

 provide for this inevitable failure in timber supply. No tree except the slow- 

 growing cedar is so durable as the catalpa. No tree possessing any value grows 

 so quickly. But the catalpa will not succeed on the higher elevations of the 

 Maxwell Grant in Colorado, and it must have water anywhere. 



The company's lands about Pueblo are suited to the growth of catalpa, 

 but the steel works dcrr.sr.:! r.'l the available water. The catalpa has been proven 

 to be successful at Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Junction City, in 

 Colorado ; also at French's ranch and other points on the Cimarron River, in 

 Xew Mexico, and in many parts of 'Utah. 



I would recommend a further examination with a view to the purchase <.f 

 a tract of land suitable for this purpose, and the planting of not less than one 

 thousand acres in Catalpa Speciosa, especially for mine timbers. This should be 

 near some railway, and preferably in proximity to the company's road, as it will 

 be extended in New Mexico. I cannot at present determine what such lands 

 would cost, nor what the water would cost, but aside from that, the expense of 



