Mar. 1910.] Conditions in Central and Western Kansas. 345 



of the old College farm to catalpas. The soil of this plat, while 

 not so decidedly poor as that of the planting of 1872, is very 

 thin, and is underlaid by a hard, poor subsoil. Plantings were 

 made four feet by two feet, four feet by four feet, and four 

 feet by eight feet. All were given good, clean cultivation for 

 two years. The third season the trees set eight feet by four 

 feet were cultivated; those set closer were large enough to 

 make cultivation difficult. The ground was well shaded and 

 fairly well covered with leaves, so the lack of cultivation did 

 not seem to affect their growth. Each season the trees were 

 trimmed to prevent their branching too low for the formation 

 of good posts. Results show that the time required for trim- 

 ming was well spent. 



In the rows set four feet by two feet, many of the trees died 

 or were cut out within a few years after planting, before the 

 wood was of any value. Subsequent thinnings gave wood and 

 stakes enough to pay for the work. This planting, for the last 

 eight or nine years, has been practically a four-by-four-foot 

 planting. The trees which were removed seemed to have little 

 effect in causing a taller, straighter growth, the trees in the 

 four-feet-by-two-feet block showing little difference in height 

 and somewhat less in diameter ; in other words, the additional 

 trees were of no benefit, but, on the contrary, were a detriment. 

 In a part of this planting where the trees had been left at the 

 original distances until 1900, the trees in one of the four-foot 

 rows had more than twice the amount of posts and wood as the 

 trees two feet apart. 



Comparing the plantings originally 4x4 and 4x8, the thin- 

 ner plantings have given the best results. Ten rows, 4x4 feet, 

 117 feet long, contained 251 trees having 85 good posts. Ten 

 rows, 8x4 feet, 117 feet long, grew 228 trees, having 280 good 

 posts. The trees in the wider rows have a greater height and 

 diameter, the average diameter in the planting 4x8 feet apart 

 being slightly under six inches ; in the rows, 4x4 feet apart 

 the average diameter is nearly four and one-fourth inches. 

 The average height is about the same, eighteen feet. 



In some cases, where trees were thinned by cutting off just 

 above the ground, the new shoot from the stump made such a 

 straight, rapid growth that the cutting back seemed to secure 

 the formation of straighter posts. As might be expected, the 

 second-growth posts grow to a suitable size for use in less 



