Successful Tree Planting in Ontario 



Mr. N. Silverthorn of Summerville Tells How He Does It. 



lu the January issue of the Coiuuliiin For- 

 tfitri/ Journal there was a dosiriptioii of a 

 fine grove of trees planted between twenty- 

 tive an«l thirty years ago by Mr. Silverthorn, 

 of Suininerville, Ont., on his thousaii'l acre 

 farm. Messrs. Fraser & I'o., the well-known 

 lumbermen of Ottawa, wrote Mr. Silvertjiorn 

 a^kiug what methods he used in jdanting 

 and the Journal is privileged to jnildi^h his 

 reply. Mr. Silverthorn writes: 



"In the lirst place I might say that the 

 face of the hill is quite steep, ami at the 

 time of planting was covered with native 

 grass. The soil is a clay and sandy loam. 

 The hill faces the north and turns southerly, 

 making a north and west wind-break. The 

 planting was in the last of May and June, 

 and was not much of a job, as I could get 

 thousaniis of seedlings close at hand, and so 

 thick that fifty could be got in a handful. 

 None of the plants was longer than from 

 five to six inches. I would get 1,00U of 

 them in a basket on one arm, and a dibble 

 in the other. I would jal> in the dibble 

 three or four inches and jjutting the plant 

 in, finish the same with two or three strokes. 

 The plants never received any attention af- 

 terwards and 9.5 per cent of them grew, al- 

 though I handled them so quickly that I 

 would plant L*,(Kin of them in a part of a day. 

 The seedlings were mostly cedar, but some 

 \\hite pine, and a very few white birch (or 

 lady of the forest). On the upper or outer 

 edge were put in here and there lilacs, sir- 

 inga, or mock orange, juneberry, and hem- 

 lock. There were a few tamaracks put in 

 here and there on the hill and they have 

 done well, but some years are preyed upon 

 almost to death by the larch saw fly. 



"As to my experience in raising ever- 

 green trees from seed, I have had none, but 

 I have had successful exjierience with wal- 

 nut, butternut and hickory. I have not had 

 success, however, with chestnuts, whirh it 

 seems our climate does not suit. Walnut and 

 hickory trees will grow under almost any 

 condition of soil, but butternut trees will 

 only thrive on light damj> ground. 



"My method of planting the three suc- 

 cessful trees noteil above was as follows: 

 After the nuts have fallen from the tree, let 

 them lie on the ground say for a month. 

 Then mix the nuts with the hulls on, in, say, 

 one-third loamy, damp soil, one-third well- 

 rotted manure, and the other one-third of 

 nut,«. Mix well together and put in a nail 

 keg, head up, and bury in the ground eight 

 or ten inches deep and leave until April or 

 May, until they have burst and show a root 

 of two or three inches. Then plant where 

 they are to grow, or in a clean bed for one 

 or two years, and then plant. 



"T might say that some twenty live years 

 ago on one of my farms there was three- 

 t|uarters of an acre near the house, of broken 

 land with a small creek at one side, that I 

 (danted with jiotatoes. In every thinl row 1 

 had dropjH'il with the jtotatoes, walnuts, but- 

 ternuts, hickory nuts and Niagara chestnuts, 

 but each kind by itself. The nuts were 

 drojqied about four feet apart, in the row, 

 the seed having been sprouted as related 

 above. The mits were covered and culti- 

 vated with the potatoes, and to-<lay with 

 the exception of the chestnuts they are a 

 I)Ieasure to look at." 



WASHINGTON FOREST FIRE ASSO- 

 CIATION. 



Tliat the Washington Forest Fire Asso- 

 ciation is keeping successfully at work is 

 eviilenced by the seventh annual rejiort of 

 the organization covering oi)erations for 

 1914. The president, Mr. Geo. S. Long, of 

 Tacoma, Wash., points out that during the 

 year only 30 million feet of timber was 

 fire killed, this representing only two- 

 tenths of one per cent of the standing tim- 

 ber in Washington state. Such an exceed- 

 ingly light loss is attributed to the excel- 

 lent co-operation between the Associa- 

 tion's jiatrolmen and the forces of the 

 State Forester and the United States For- 

 est Service. July, August and September 

 were very dangerous on account of the 

 excessively dry weather. A successful ex- 

 ]ieriment was carried out in getting notice 

 from the Weather Bureau of api>roaching 

 easterly winds which during the i)revious 

 12 years had been co-incident with most 

 of the disastrous fires. One of the fires 

 occurring last year had the peculiar origin 

 of being caused by the friction in ]iulling 

 one log over another. 



The Association carried on its work with 

 an assessment on its members of 12 cents 

 an acre. Over two and a half million acres 

 of timber land are liste<l with the Asso- 

 ciation. Scattered in among this area is 

 fully one million acres owned by non- 

 members. The Association deplores that 

 these owners do not participate in the fire 

 protection work as their limits have to be 

 guarded also for the jiroper defence of the 

 rest. The report recommends that Wash- 

 ington follow the example of Oregon in 

 compelling all timber owners to co-operate 

 in patrol of lands during dangerous sea- 

 sons. 



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