PREFACE. 
The present work was undertaken at the solicitation of some 
friends of the author, who felt the need of a more thorough and 
practical compend upon Forest Culture than any now before the 
public. The writer has from boyhood interested himself in the 
planting of trees, and while he cannot boast of very extensive 
operations in their culture, he hopes that the results of his own 
observation and experience, combined with what he has been 
able to collect from other sources, may constitute a work accept- 
able to those interested in the subject. 
Forest culture in America is yet in its infancy. The ener- 
gies of our rural population have hitherto been largely employed 
in the extermination of the woods; and it is but recently that 
the necessity of their partial reproduction has attracted any 
considerable attention. Time and experience, particularly in 
the prairie regions, will doubtless develop new facts in regard 
to the adaptation of the more valuable kinds of timber to the 
different soils. Species now little known may hereafter be 
extensively cultivated. 
This work is designed for the northern portion of the United 
States, extending westward to the Rocky Mountains and south- 
