216 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



region from a scientific point of view, as well as by those who have 

 become familiar with its conditions by long* residence or experience. 1 

 An experiment begun by the Division of Forestry in 1890 has 

 thrown much light on the possibility of foresting the sand hills. In 

 the spring of that year the Division of Forestry sent a large number 

 of pines for planting on one of the worst locations in the sand hills in 

 the southwestern part of Holt County. (See PL XIII.) The land 

 being too sandy to admit of plowing, the trees were set in furrows 

 run through the grass, and have remained without cultivation. The 

 plantation contains four species, Scotch, Austrian, Rock (Pinus pon- 

 d&rosa scopulorum), and Jack Pine (P. divaricata). The Scotch and 

 Austrian pines are now 6 to 8 feet high, the Rock Pine 4 to 6 feet, and 

 the Jack Pine 12 to 18 feet. With the trees now entering upon their 

 period of greatest growth, their thrift indicates complete adaptability 

 to the situation, and unless burned out they will certainly attain suit- 

 able size for lumbering. The conclusion forces itself that the species 

 which are adapted to that location will grow on hundreds of thousands 

 of acres in the sand hills where the natural conditions are precisely 

 the same. (See PL XIV.) 



NEED OF FOREST TREE PLANTING RESERVES. 



The situation warrants the establishment by the Government of 

 extensive reserves in the sand-hill region for the growing of timber. 

 On such reserves the work of planting should be speedily begun and 

 carried over those areas best adapted to timber. It should by no 

 means fall short of covering a sufficient area to be self -protective, and 

 if its value is demonstrated to be as great as it is believed it will be, 

 the area should be accordingly extended. 



An extensive forest in the sand hills would soon have an immense 

 value to the surrounding region, whether considered for its climatic 

 influence, its products, or its example. It would influence favorably 

 the wind and temperature over a large part of western Nebraska, and 

 by retarding evaporation of moisture from the soil would make the 

 region within and about the reserve more moist than at present. In 

 fifteen or twenty years it would yield a considerable quantity of fuel 

 and posts, in twenty-five or thirty years its timber would be large 

 enough for telegraph poles and railroad ties, and thereafter if properly 

 managed it would be a source of continual revenue. 



Moreover, if the Government reclaims its land in the sand hills in this 

 way it will stimulate private owners to plant extensively, and in all 

 probability result in time in the reclamation of the entire 15,000,000 

 anvs comprising the sand-hill region. It will also be a valuable 

 example in dealing with the sand barrens of the Atlantic coast, the 

 Lake States, and other regions of the interior. 



1 P. A. Rydberg, Flora of the Sand Hills of Nebraska, Contributions from U. S. 

 National Herbarium, Vol. III. 



