126 SOUTH DAKOTA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



of the farmer's expense account, unless hay or straw- 

 is used. There can be little doubt, then, that the value 

 of the thinnings from a close planted grove will repay both the 

 added first cost of trees and the work of thinning. 



One of the greatest objections to wide-planting is the form of 

 tree resulting. Trees planted six to twelve feet apart, either in 

 squares or rows, will make a lateral growth at the expense of 

 height growth. The greater distance encourages the develop- 

 ment of lateral branches, and of the division of the trunk into 

 forked branches near the ground. Such branches are of very 

 little economic value. Their worth for fuel will hardly pay for 

 trimming and they have no other use. The formation of many 

 laterals necessitates far more pruning than would otherwise be 

 necessary. The trees, having light on every side, are more apt 

 to be crooked, and hence of less use as timber, than where close 

 planted. Probably more wood is formed in wide planted than in 

 close set groves, if we consider trigs as well as trunks, but cer- 

 tainly less available timber is formed in wide distance planta- 

 tions, and it has less value for farm or commercial uses. When 

 in addition to the above, we consider the several years of extra 

 cultivation necessary, the balance would seem to be decidedly in 

 favor of close planting. 



MIXED PLANTING. The Station has advocated mixed 

 planting as against the use of a single variety in every Forestry 

 Bulletin that has been issued. This is . not only the universal 

 practice of all authorities on tree growing, but it is the method 

 of nature. It is much less trouble to plant an entire grove of 

 one variety of trees, and where the stock must be purchased the 

 planter is liable to be controlled by considerations of price rather 

 than utility. The availability of certain species as cottonwood, 

 willow 1 -, ash and box-elder, has had much to do with the making 

 of groves exclusively of one of these varieties. The intending- 

 planter should consider the problem, "How can I most quickly 

 get the best grove for the least money?" He will see that the 

 trees that grow most quickly are not of the highest economic 

 value; but he will recognize their great utility in the making of 

 a leaf canopy, and he will be lead to use rapid growing trees for 

 the greater part of his plantation, with more valuable forms inter- 



