154 ELEMENTARY FORESTRY. 



2. B. has a Tamarack swamp of 800 acres, from which he has 

 cut all the timber big enough for ties. There is practically no 

 demand for the smaller post timber at present, and he asks what 

 he should do with it, and if it will pay him to hold it. The land 

 seems to be well stocked with young trees of various ages, some 

 of which have been somewhat broken down in getting out the 

 larger tie timber. 



Answer: Probably the best treatment would be to let it 

 alone. If the land is quite wet there is very little chance of. fire 

 doing much damage to it. If, however, it is liable to be dried 

 out it would be a good plan to take some precautions to protect 

 it from fire, if it can be done without too much expense. 



The Tamarack grows very rapidly, and there is perhaps no 

 tree that will pay better than this, providing the taxes are not 

 too high. While there may be no demand at present for the 

 smaller stuff for fence posts, yet within a few years such a 

 demand is inevitable, as the more accessible Tamarack is now 

 being rapidly sought after for such purposes, and is being 

 shipped in large quantities to the prairie farms. Such a Tam- 

 arack swamp, if carefully looked after, is capable of continuing 

 itself indefinitely and producing a fairly good annual revenue. 

 The advisability of perpetuating such a swamp in Tamarack 

 would depend largely on the demand for hay land, for which pur- 

 poses such land is generally well adapted. 



3. A. has 500 acres of dry, sandy land. The soil blows 

 badly, and is too light for grain. Clover does very well on this 

 land when protected with snow in winter, but is liable to kill out 

 in open winters. The subsoil is clay. 



Answer: Such land should never have been cleared for agri- 

 cultural purposes, and the sooner it can be got into tree growth 

 again the better for the soil. The land should be seeded down 

 with rye or other crop, or possibly with clover, until something 

 of a sod is formed. In this sod Jack Pine might be planted, or 

 it is very probable that Jack Pine would come well from seed 

 sown in furrows made in the sod. After the Jack Pine is well 

 established, about 500 Norway or White Pine per acre could be 

 planted to advantage. This should receive only a moderate 

 crowding by the Jack Pine, and should be protected from too 

 much crowding until it can take care of itself. This number of 



