PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 207 
It cannot be the beech, which decays in three years but requires fifty 
times that period for its production. 
Is it the cypress, whose wood is so much in demand for its longevity? 
This cannot be for six hundred years are required to grow a tree four feet in 
diameter. 
The cedar of the north valued for making most ideal telegraph poles. 
This may be the tree? But no, count the rings which mark the annual increase 
on any telegraph pole, and you will be tired of counting before you have 
finished. 
Is it the red cedar? The same argument is offered against planting 
this tree, that so long a period must elapse before any benefit can be received 
by the planter. 
What tree then can be grown from which there may be a harvest within 
the lifetime of the planter? Of course the tree must be of economic value. 
It must be suited for lumber manufactures, house construction, cabinet wood, 
or for paper, or perhaps for cross ties and telegraph poles. 
There are very many trees which are valuable for ornament, for shade, 
for street, lawn and park planting, trees variegated in foliage, beautiful in 
flower, majestic in stature, and possessing every known quality for these 
purposes, but what we are seeking is a tree of economic value in manufactures 
or in commerce. What tree will fill the bill? 
Possibly the cottonwood or some form of the poplar family. Here we 
have rapidity of growth, but lack durability of wood. <A tree of large dimen- 
sions, but unsuited for most uses as lumber. Yet one valuable quality it has, 
the rapid production of pulp and paper. If we want that one quality, we can 
and should plant cottonwood, especially where sufficient moisture is available. 
What of the pines? The yellow pines of the South and ponderosa of the 
West should be protected where they are growing naturally and where they 
have made some progress. 
This is very important to protect and perpetuate these natural growths, 
but if we are to plant trees with a view to having a return bearing even a 
small interest on the investment, no one would think of planting any of 
these trees, the period of whose growth is beyond a century. 
There are many places in the semi-arid regions, however, where from 
want of summer rains deciduous trees will not grow without irrigation. In 
such locations the bull pine and other native coniferous trees should be 
extensively planted. 
The white pine presents another feature. This is a tree of rapid growth, 
succeeds in the far North, as well as in the middle states, grows upon rough 
land, among rocks, or in level sand tracts. In fact, is almost universal in its 
habits. Much may be said of white pine, and is mentioned at greater length 
elsewhere. It is a most valuable wood for many uses, but it is unsuited 
for ties or telegraph poles. It has no beauty of grain and is thus not fitted 
for cabinet purposes. 
And so we might enumerate the eucalyptus, useful in tropic regions; 
the chestnut, valuable for ties, poles, rough lumber, fence posts and fuel; 
