State Board of Forestry. 43 



The slow growth of trees is discouraging at first thought, when 

 our parents think of this work from the standpoint of money, but 

 many of our farmers or landholders have land which is of no 

 use unless it could be utilized in this manner, and former experi- 

 njents by men of this State goes to prove that it will not be a los- 

 ing investment to set apart a tract of land to plant to forest. 



It has been found that the cost of your time and labor in rais- 

 ing seedlings, preparing the ground, then planting, pruning and 

 cultivating the young tree is easily covered by their value in a 

 short while as posts, which you will have when you thin out your 

 growth, besides you may use ground which is only used for pas- 

 turage, and this might be continued to some extent, or if the soil 

 is suitable potatoes or corn might be grown with the seedlings dur- 

 ing the first two or three years. They are soon valuable also for 

 shade, windbreaks or ornamentation. 



The fellow with a young forest will find his land far more de- 

 sirable to the prospective buyer, thus you may be sure that the 

 trees you plant will be of worth should you not be the one to reap 

 the benefit of their maturity. 



Other evils which come from deforestation may be found among 

 the hilly regions of the State. 



As the trees disappear the soil of a hillside decreases in value, 

 since the rich top soil is easily washed away, and after a few hard 

 spring rains a hillside field may become almost worthless. 



It is also to be noted that small streams disappear and floods 

 from the larger streams are more frequent as the trees are cleared 

 away. 



It is also a fact that people all choose bottom land in preference 

 to the hilly districts for the farm home, while not many years ago 

 many almost worthless hilly regions of today were valuable. 



Droughts are becoming more common as our forests go, because 

 the loose leaf mulch then goes, leaving a soil so compact that the 

 water is washed off and only a very small amount is held by ab- 

 sorption. 



This leaf mulch also helps to prevent evaporation, and thus 

 more ground water is preserved until taken by plant roots. 



Trees take a great deal of water from the soil, and moisture 

 is constantly thrown off by the leaves. This is a help during the 

 hot months to prevent dangerous thunder storms. 



These floods and droughts destroy much animal life. A flood 

 may carry a great number of small fish out in larger streams, 

 where they are consumed by larger ones, or during a flood fish may 



