BLACK WALNUT I ITS GROWTH AND MANAGEMENT. 35 



In a plantation 31 years old in Howard County, Ind. (PL V, fig. 

 1), the outer trees averaged 8.3 inches in diameter, breast high, and 

 the inner trees only 7.4 inches. There were 342 trees to the acre in 

 this plantation, although experience indicates that 300 to the acre is 

 full stocking at this size. Natural groves seldom contain over 60 

 trees to the acre at 60 years of age. 



Pruning. — Walnut trees may be pruned with profit, the object 

 being to obtain clean, straight boles. Logs from such trees are dis- 

 tinctly more valuable. Before the war knotty logs usually brought 

 $20 to $25 a thousand board feet, f. o. b. cars, shipping point, re- 

 gardless of size, and smooth logs were paid for on a sliding scale 

 of prices, the lowest of which was better than the flat price for cull 

 logs. In average logs the difference was about $20 a thousand 

 board feet. If pruning will double the value of a log, it is cer- 

 tainly a paying proposition. The spreading tendency of the walnut 

 tree and its intolerance of shade make pruning to some extent neces- 

 sary even in the best-managed stands. Limbs that support essen- 

 tial parts of the crown should not be taken; but smaller branches 

 and low limbs that will ultimately be crowded out should be cut 

 to hasten the natural process and give more clear wood in the log. 

 The pruning should be flush with the trunk, and care should be 

 taken not to injure the trunk. The saw is ordinarily the best in- 

 strument to use. The first cut should be from beneath, and should 

 sever bark and wood sufficiently to prevent peeling of the trunk when 

 the branch drops. A second cut made from above then severs the 

 branch. It is well to preA^ent the subsequent infection of the wound 

 with the germs of decay b}^ painting it with tar or with a good 

 water-resisting paint. 



PROBABLE YIELDS FROM PLANTATIONS. 



As there are few plantations in this .country that have grown 

 up under ideal soil conditions and have been properly tended, it is 

 impossible to judge future yields of logs from actual examples of 

 plantations, and all natural stands are spaced so irregularly that 

 they do not represent maximum productivity any more than do the 

 overcrowded plantations. The growth in value of individual trees 

 may be estimated, however, on the basis of the prices current in the 

 year 1918. Table 15 shows the values of trees of different sizes 

 delivered at the railroad. Except when they were close to shipping 

 points, it was not profitable in 1918 to cut trees under 17 inches in 

 diameter. 



It is apparent from Table 15 that the value of walnut increases 

 rapidly with age, partly because it holds up its increment well, but 

 more on account of the sliding scale of prices for logs that is every- 

 where in vogue for this species, and which places a decided premium 



