FOREST PLANTING IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 13 



CARE OF PLANTATIONS. 



CULTIVATION. 



Most forest plantations should be cultivated for two or three years 

 after being set out. On the heavy soils of the treeless and hardwood 

 regions cultivation becomes almost necessary. Though even on 

 these latter soils the trees will survive without cultivation, they take 

 a number of years to become well established, and meantime make 

 very little height growth. If cultivated, however, they become well 

 established during the first or second season and grow vigorously in 

 height during this time. This contrast is brought out by two plan- 

 tations of green ash, one in Iowa and one in Ohio. The soils in the 

 two regions, though somewhat different in character, are both con- 

 ducive to the growth of the species. In the Iowa plantation the trees 

 were well cultivated and had reached an average height of 9 to 10 

 feet when only 4 years old. Cultivation was impossible in the 

 Ohio plantation, because the soil was full of old roots; in consequence 

 a heavy growth of grass came in and the trees, when 8 years old, had 

 reached a height of only 8 feet. 



Cultivation serves several purposes. It conserves soil moisture, 

 keeps out grass and weeds which would ordinarily compete with the 

 trees for moisture, hastens the establishment and growth of the seed- 

 lings, lessens mortality among the planted stock, and shortens the 

 rotation. This last point is of special importance in commercial 

 plantations of the fence-post trees, such as hardy catalpa, Euro- 

 pean larch, black locust, Russian mulberry, and Osage orange, grown 

 on a rotation of from 15 to 25 years on soil with an annual rental 

 value of $4 to $6 per acre. 



On poor sandy or rocky soil, where trees of commercial value 

 can not be produced in less than 50 years, cultivation is generally 

 not advisable. On such soils the growth of grass and weeds is usually 

 insufficient to interfere very much with the growth of the trees, and 

 the expense of cultivation, when figured at compound interest for 

 40 or 50 years, more than offsets the value of the resulting increased 

 growth. 



In cultivating a plantation there is always the danger of con- 

 tinuing the operation too late in the season. Forest trees, like 

 fruit trees, are subject to damage by heavy, early frosts, and, if their 

 wood is particularly succulent at the time when these occur, may be 

 severely injured. Late cultivation is conducive to this condition 

 of the wood, and no work of the kind should be continued beyond 

 the first or middle of July. The grass or other vegetation coming 

 in after this serves a good purpose in drying out the soil, thus checking 

 the growth of the trees and hardening their wood. The danger of 

 late cultivation can not be emphasized too strongly, since young 



