THKI-: Pi. ANTING Xi:i:ni-:i> JN TKXAS. 29 



tree is then multiplied by a basal area valuation of $1 per square inch 

 and the product is the value of the tree. By this means it is entirely 

 possible to assign a definite Value to a shade or ornamental tree. One 

 of the eastern States lias calculated by this method that healthy, well 

 formed trees two inch is in diameter at breast height are worth $3, and 

 this value increases with diameter until a tree sixteen inches or over is 

 worth $100 or more. At this valuation, which has been upheld in 

 courts of law, one can readily see that shade trees are good investments. 

 City trees also, unlike most other civic improvements, do not depre- 

 ciate for a long period of years, but under proper care and at little 

 expense increase in value with age. 



Profits in woodlot planting are derived from the sale of wood products 

 -and vary in amount according to the species planted, the care given the 

 growing trees and the length of time elapsing before the timber is mar- 

 keted. With selected species and proper methods of management it is 

 possible to grow fence post material in fifteen years or less in this State. 

 Larger material would require a proportionately longer time. A few 

 figures showing returns from actual plantations in different prairie 

 States may be used to indicate what may be expected. In eastern Ne- 

 braska* a twenty-one-year-old green ash plantation yielded a gross 

 revenue of $148 per acre on an investment of $39.17. An osage orange 

 plantation produced $381.20 revenue from the sale of posts and poles 

 on an investment of $90.25 in thirty-two years. Honey locust during a 

 period of twenty-nine years produced a gross income of $193.43 on an 

 investment of $60.50. All these figures are on an acreage basis and 

 -compound interest at 5 per cent is included in the figures of cost. The 

 gross returns could have been increased under better methods of man- 

 .agement. In Reno county, Kansas, on the well known Yaggy catalpa 

 plantation, f the trees after ten years, under the best methods of initial 

 planting and subsequent management, have yielded an annual return 

 of $19.75 per acre. These returns are low when compared to the yield 

 of cultivated field crops, but in view of the benefits and conveniences 

 derived from a small woodlot such planting is amply justified. 



The principal value of windbreak planting lies in the beneficial effects 

 upon crops grown on the protected areas. Figures of increased jield 

 as a direct result of the protection afforded by the shelterbelt have al- 

 ready been shown. Their beneficial effect on stock and ranch buildings 

 has also been mentioned. These are to a certain extent intangible 

 values but the product of the thinnings made in the windbreak are a 

 source of direct financial return and must not be disregarded. 



CITY FORESTRY. 



Cities, both large and small and in all sections of the country, are 

 awake to the necessity for systematic management of their street trees 

 and as a result a new field of work has been created city forestry. 

 City forestry concerns itself with the establishment of municipal nurs- 



*United States Department of Agriculture. Forest Service Circular No. 45. 

 fKansas Experiment Station Bulletin No. 108. 



