14 BULLETIN 153, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



plantations, even of the hardy black walnut, have been killed back 

 to the ground by severe early frosts and winter freezing when culti- 

 vation was continued too late in the growing season. 



It is not necessary that the entire cost of cultivation be borne 

 by the plantation. Field crops of corn, potatoes, or beans may be 

 grown between the rows for the first one or two years. These will 

 not only yield a revenue to the owner, but their cultivatiion will 

 benefit the young trees. Sometimes all of the cost of cultivating can 

 be charged against the field crop, making a considerable difference 

 in the final cost of the plantation. 



The number of years in which cultivation is necessary and the 

 amount of it each year will depend, of course, upon the rapidity of 

 growth of the species planted and the spacing of the trees in the 

 plantation. Some planters have found two cultivations a year for 

 three years sufficient, except under unusually trying conditions. 

 A three-year period should be ample, with possibly three or four 

 cultivations during each of the first two seasons. The work may be 

 done at first with a two-horse cultivator, and later, when the trees 

 become larger, with a one-horse cultivator. 



THINNING. 



Every forest plantation reaches a condition after a few years 

 when some of the standing trees should be cut out. The removal 

 of undesirable trees is called a thinning. The principle is the same 

 as that applied by truck gardeners to vegetable crops which are 

 thinned out in order to get the best development of a portion of the 

 crop rather than a meager development of the whole. The struggle 

 for existence between the trees of the stand first induces rapid height 

 growth and kills the lower branches, but, if allowed to continue, the 

 more vigorous trees are prevented from making their best diameter 

 growth by the presence of the less vigorous ones. 



Where there is a poor market for the product from thinnings 

 the operation will scarcely pay for itself; where the market is good, 

 however, thinnings have been made at a net gain of from 10 cents 

 to $2 per cord. 1 In the more widely spaced plantations thinnings 

 will not be necessary until the product is of merchantable size. The 

 future, moreover, promises a better market for small-sized material 

 than exists at present, which will make thinnings profitable in stands 

 in which now they would not be. In small plantations thinnings 

 may be carried on by the owner at odd times at no cost other than his 

 own labor. When poles are cut for some farm use a little care in 

 their selection looking to the betterment of the stand will insure a 

 crude form of thinning. 



» Bulletin Xo. 2, State Forester's Office, Massachusetts. 



