June 8, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



267 



The fencing', shingle stuff and small timlicr taken from this 

 clump in the process of thinning- have very liberally paid all 

 expenses. Mad this acre been left entirely to nature and 

 nature's methods of growth, there would have been at this 

 time some seventy cords of wood upon it, which for fuel 

 would have paid little or nothing over operating expenses at 

 present market values. The border frees, and a few others, 

 would have made small timber or box boards of little value. 



I have never seen the groves of trees set out by the wcaltliy 

 Massachusetts amateurs, Mr. Fay, of Boston, and others, but 

 I think they would have found their investments more profit- 

 able had they properly thinned their groves from time to time. 

 Thinning requires judgment and experience. The scorching 

 of the trees by the sudden admission of sunshine upon the 

 tender bark is to be avoided. The danger from wind is to be 

 guarded against. If the trees are too far apart they grow too 

 " liniby," and if left too close they grow too slim and too slowly. 

 One of the first points to lie learned in order to grow a crop, 

 whether of timber, corn, or any other, is the number of plants 

 to the acre which will produce the best results. Thus, too 

 many corn-plants give nubbins, or no ears at all ; too many 

 potato-stalks give small potatoes ; too many tree- plants give 

 poles instead of timber. Years ago, my idea was to have Pines 

 for timber trees very thickly set when young, so as to prevent 

 large lower limbs. This theory proves to be a correct one. 

 I then thought to thin out many times until the trees were 

 about forty-five years of age, and then to leave one hundred to 

 the acre until they were about sixty years of age, when I ex- 

 pected the trees to average each the equivalent of five hundred 

 feet of inch boards, or fifty thousand feet of inch lumber to the 

 acre. I then proposed cutting the whole or thinning again. 

 After years of observation, I thinklwasabout right at that time, 

 though perhaps eighty Pine-trees to the acre, at forty-five years 

 of age, would prove more profitable than one hundred. 



B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Forestry Division of the Depart- 

 ment of Agricvilture, in Official Bulletin No. 5 on Forestry, 

 states that 270 is in general the right number of timber trees to 

 stand to the acre 100 years for timber. If this theory is correct, 

 I am far from right in practice. Pines take less room than 

 Oaks and other branching trees. I have studied nature and her 

 ways without avail if 270 White Pine-trees is the proper num- 

 ber to be grown to the acre for timber until a hundred years of 

 age. I have with measuring-line traversed our forests, and 

 carefully studied their growths, and have consulted many 

 owners of forests and many lumber operators, who have hun- 

 dreds of acres of Pine-trees, but I find not one of them con- 

 firming the theory of growing as many trees to the acre as is 

 recommended by the Chief of the Forestry Division. 



The White Pine (Finns Strobus) a hundred years in growing 

 should certainly make 1,000 feet of inch boards at the mill, and 

 thus we should have 270,000 feet of inch lumber to the acre, or 

 an average growth of 2,700 feet per acre each year of the hun- 

 dred. This is far beyond any growth to be found in my sec- 

 tion. In my experience while lumbering I never cut 100,000 

 feet board measure upon any one acre. Set in regular squares, 

 270 trees to the acre would stand a little over twelve and a half 

 feet apart from centre to centre of trees. I can find no two 

 Pines of considerable size and tin'iftiness standing thus near to 

 each other, with any considerable number of live limbs on the 

 sides facing each other. Nor can I find such a Pine surrounded 

 by trees equally high, and only thirteen feet distant. 



One of my last object-lessons in forestry from nature was in 

 the grand old woods upon the agricultural college farm in Dur- 

 ham, New Hampshire. The land is good, at a very low altitude, 

 and all the conditions are favorable for tree-growth which has 

 been undisturbed for 140 to 150 years. Professor Pettec, of 

 the college, selected, at my request, what he considered as 

 good an acre of Pine-timber as the forest contained. Upon 

 that measured acre we found 156 live trees and thirty-four dead 

 ones, including those which hati already died and fallen. Their 

 circumference four feet from the ground varied from twenty- 

 two to ninety-eight inches. Two of these 190 trees were 

 Birches, two White Oaks, one Maple, ninety Hemlocks, while 

 the balance were White Pines. The average circumference of 

 the 190 trees four feet from the ground is fifty-four inches and 

 a fraction. The clump of New Durham Pines belonging to 

 me has more than half as much timber to the acre as has the 

 acre at Durham College, and will, barring accidents, by the 

 time the trees are one-half the age of the Durham trees, 

 have not only more timber to the acre, but of better quality. 



This shows the advantage of aiding nature in the production 

 of timber, the same as in the production of other crops, and 

 proves the profits of practical forestry. Why did the thirty- 

 four trees on the Durham tract die ? With very few excep- 

 tions, I have no doubt they were shaded to death by the other 



trees, although there were only 190 frees to the acre. A Hem- 

 lock-tree will grow in the shade where a Wliite Pine-tree will 

 die, and hence I presume Ijy mixing Plemlocks and White 

 Pines, as is the case in Durham, niore trees can be grown to 

 the acre than there could be of White Pines alone. 



[After the e.xtracts which we have quoted from Mr. Ly- 

 man's article were in the form for printing we received a 

 note from Mr. Fernow, expressing the hope that he may 

 find time soon to give our readers his views on the grow- 

 ing space which is needed by forest-trees. — Ed.] 



May in West Virginia. 

 CTILL the Roses tarry, though a few are opening here and 

 '-^ there. The Ramanas Rose, Rosa rugosa, is an early 

 bloomer, with large, showy, single flowers of a bright crimson. 

 They are very fragrant. It is delightful to know that no insect 

 finds its handsome foliage toothsome ; this fact makes R. 

 rugosa especially valuable in the shrubbery. Madame George 

 Bruant, which is a beautiful White Rose of Tea and Rugosa 

 parentage, does not possess the acidity of foliage which is the 

 protection of the Ramanas Rose, and the slugs feed upon it 

 imless deterred by copious doses of hellebore or slug-shot. 



Cinnamon Roses are now rioting over the garden, mingling 

 their fragrance with that of the Mock Oranges, Locust blooms 

 and Yellow Lilies. Valeriana officinalis, or iVIountain Helio- 

 trope, as it is called in this neighborhood, g^rows freely in the 

 Lily-beds and has a refreshing and quieting- perfume. This 

 may be only imagination, but it is true that different perfnn-ies 

 affect tlie nerves in various ways. Thus the odor of Mock 

 Orange, or Philadciphus, is overpowering to many people 

 whom the breath of Lilies-of-the- valley, of Heliotrope, and the 

 delicate fragrance of Roses and Honeysuckle thriUwith delight. 

 Staphylea Colchica has a very powerful perfume suggesting 

 Orange-flowers. It makes a handsome bush with its small, 

 trifoliate shining leaves and pure white blossoms succeeded 

 by bladdery pads. This Staphylia is now blooming and is 

 much later than its American relative, S. trifolia. 



Scotch Broom is one of the most showy members of the 

 Pulse family. To-day it is shining with bloom. The leaves 

 are wet from a heavy shower, and standing in full sunshine, 

 the whole plant sparkles joyously, fairly lighting up its corner 

 of the shrubbery, and even surpassing the Laburnums, which 

 are flowering very sparsely. Coluteas are also coming into 

 bloom. The Pulse family has representatives that extend the 

 blossoming season for these plants from May until late in the 

 autumn. Perhaps the familiar Sweet Peas, with their wonder- 

 ful capacity for improvement, are the general favorites, but 

 there are many charming members of this family among 

 annuals, herbaceous perennials, shrubs, vines and trees that 

 are rarely seen in cultivation. One of these is the Yellow-wood, 

 Cladrastis lutea. We are now enjoying- the rapid and vigorous 

 growth of a very sn-iall specimen of this beautiful tree planted 

 six weeks ago, which greets us with new twigs and leaflets at 

 every inspection. The Cladrastis is a native of Kentucky and 

 the south, and has a compact head with a tendency to develop 

 n-iore on one side than the other, even when planted in the 

 open and exposed on all sides to the sun. It has a very smooth 

 bark and beautiful light green foliage, which turns to a 

 warn-i yellow in the fall. It begins to bloom when small, and 

 has hanging panicles of flowers, often a foot in length, cream- 

 wdiite and pleasantly fragrant. 



Tulip-trees (Liriodendron Tulipifera) are now in bloom. 

 They grow to enormous size. Our largest specimen girths 

 nineteen feet four feet from the ground, and is as tall as our 

 tallest Oaks. It is perfectly straight, and forms, with its four 

 brothers, which are almost as large, a fine approacli to the 

 house, following, as they do, the line of the winding road. 

 Just now they are busy marts for myriads of bees. Their 

 profusion of green and orange Tulip-shaped blossoms, and 

 their habit of standing out as they do in relief against the 

 bright blue sky, n-iake them worth coming miles to see. 

 These are our largest trees, though \ve have one Oak wd-iich is 

 nineteen feet in circumference, and many more of great size 

 and unknown age. 



Our most satisfactory Rose is a climber with Tea blood, and 

 yet of vigorous growth and very profuse bloom. This is 

 Madame Alfred CarriiJre. It has long outgrown the trellis, 

 seven feet in height, which we thought ample when the Rose 

 was planted five or six years ago. This Rose is large, well 

 formed, double, delightfully fragrant, and is a beautiful cream 

 color -with rosy heart. It is hardy, and never receives the 

 slightest protection and very little care, yet we find it hard to 

 restrain it within due bounds. It is our favorite, though we 



