154 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



cultivated until they fairly shade out the weeds, or until they have 

 attained such size and age as will make the grove thereafter self- 

 supporting. 



The average timber claim in the first ten or twelve years of the 

 operation of the law did not always have timber enough to shade 

 out the weeds completely so as to give the trees remaining in the 

 ground all the moisture obtainable and go forward and make the best 

 possible growth. 



It seems to me that the rulings of the department have so far been 

 as liberal as we could desire, and as liberal as were safe when we con- 

 sider the ultimate value of the grove, both to the owner and to the 

 public deeply interested in its success. 



We are not, as foresters, justified in urging the adoption by the 

 department of any rulings which would make the planting of timber 

 simply the means of acquiring for each planter 160 acres of land, but 

 we should use our influence to maintain such rulings and such public 

 opinion sustaining these rulings as will make these groves, which are 

 now being planted on almost every section in the western portion of 

 the state, permanent groves of valuable timber, which will be of great 

 value to the community for long years to come, as well as of direct 

 value to the owner of the forest and farm. 



I presume we have all met a great many people who are trying 

 simply to keep inside of the law, and the rulings of the department, 

 with little regard to the ultimate value of the timber, and to maintain 

 such vigorous growth as would ultimately make a grove valuable to 

 the community as well as to acquire land for themselves. Our influence 

 as horticulturists should seek to maintain, in such a state of public 

 sentiment, and to encourage such rulings of the department as would 

 result in the growth of timber. 



It is not the purpose of this article to teach the proper methods of 

 planting, but to unite our influence as horticulturists to secure better 

 methods of planting, more careful cultivation, a better class of timber 

 on our public domain and the continued operation of the timber cult- 

 ure law. E. F. Stephens. 



