FORESTRY MANUAL. 15 



or symmetry and beauty of form. Trees suitable for this use can only be 

 grown in thickly-planted belts, where the stems are forced up straight. 

 When transplanted where they have room they soon form neatly-rounded 

 tops. 



LIVE FENCE-POSTS. 



f 



The straight trees from thick groves of box-elder have a peculiar value 

 for planting on outside or inside fence-lines for posts on which to fasten 

 barbed wires. They will outlast several sets of po3ts and their beautifully 

 rounded forms of top are objects of beauty in summer and assist in break- 

 ing up wind-sweep in winter. Suel Foster suggests a method of fastening 

 the fence pickets, to which the wires are attached in the usual way, to the 

 trees. His method is to wind, spirally, a piece of fence-wire around a stake 

 driven firmly into the ground, so as to form a coil spring; with these pieces 

 of coiled wire, of suitable length, the picket is attached at top and bottom to 

 wires which hold the fastenings from slipping down the tree. The tree will 

 be somewhat scarred by the wire in time, but the damage is trifling with 

 this truly iron-clad tree. The trees for this use should be set about ten feet 

 apart, and the pickets and wires should not be attached until one or two 

 years after the trees are set. 



Gather the seeds in the fall and keep under cover of boxes or boards until 

 time for sowing, as recommended for ash seeds. Strong cuttings, put out in 

 the fall, deeply, as recommended for the poplars, will usually make a fine 

 growth the ensuing season. 



BLACK LOCUST. 



We earnestly advise the planting of the locust on our newly started prai- 

 rie farms. But we do not advise planting it alone. Plant alternate rows of 

 box-elder for fuel. These will force the locust trees up tall and straight, 

 suitable for fencing uses. We need not be afraid that the locust will be 

 smothered if the rows are four feet apart. Planted in this way, if the borer 

 makes another raid, the trees will not be apt to be seriously injured. The 

 dense foliage of the box-elders early in the season seems not .to furnish 

 favorable conditions for the deposit of eggs by the moths ; either this, or 

 the conditions are not favorable for the starting of the larvse. 



For the benefit of those who have no experience, we will say the locust 

 has no equal among our quickrgrowing timbers in durability of wood, either 

 in the air or soil, and no tree in our list will produce a second crop so quickly 

 after the first crop is utilized. 



Scald the seeds with boiling water when ready to plant and be sure to 

 plant the swollen seeds in moist earth. 



OAKS AND HICKORIES. 



If we plant acorns or hickory-nuts, we hardly expect to realize anything 

 from them in our time in the way of timber or fruit. The seedlings, as 

 usually managed, are very slow in making an extension of top, but recent 



