130 ELEMENTARY FORESTRY. 
increase very rapidly in good soil, and could often be made to 
yield a good profit if properly managed. However, most of the 
hard-wood lands of this section are of such good quality that 
they seem destined to be generally cleared for agriculture instead 
of being kept for timber. 
Willow for Fuel. From a number of careful estimates it 
seems quite probable that good soil planted in White Willow 
will produce at the rate of from four to six cords of firewood per 
acre per year. If, then, ten acres were taken for this purpose, 
and one acre cut over clean each year, such amount of land 
would yield about fifty cords of fuel per annum, worth probably 
from two dollars to three dollars per cord in our prairie sections. 
In starting such a woodlot it would be desirable to set the 
cuttings two feet apart in rows eight feet apart, since at this 
distance, if cultivated, they will soon cover the land, and until 
the land is fully shaded cultivation seems to be necessary in 
order to keep down the weeds and to protect from drouth. 
After the land is well shaded no further cultivation will be 
necessary. 
At the end of five or six years some thinning should be done 
on all the land, and in this thinning probably at least half the 
trees should be removed. The remainder will soon fill up the 
vacancies, and in the course of three or four years more it should 
be again thinned out, and this should be repeated as often as 
they crowd one another until the trees on the land remain about 
twelve feet apart each way, after which the land should be treated 
as coppice, and since this tree renews itself very quickly and 
vigorously from sprouts, and continues to do so for a long 
period of years, it is probable that such a plantation will last 
indefinitely. 
Willow wood makes good summer fuel, and as a fence post, 
when the bark is removed and the wood well cured, it is quite 
satisfactory, and will last in the soil about seven years. It is 
also good for poles when peeled and dried. 
The Common Cottonwood on very rich soil will probably 
yield from five to seven cords of firewood per acre per year. 
