576 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



desirable form, but in all others it should be rejected despite the 

 specious arguments of the peripatetic tree agent. 



Where large areas are to be set to timber the immediate ends sought 

 should be, by the development of a plant covering, to prevent the waste 

 and impoverishment of the soil by the ordinary agents of degradation 

 and to secure the conservation and proper distribution of moisture. 

 The remote object should be the growing of a crop having at maturity 

 a market value sufficient to compensate for the labor and time in- 

 volved. 



To successfully handle such areas a knowledge of the forms pre- 

 viously existing in the particular locality is desirable as a guide in the 

 selection of forms to be used. The forests of Indiana were, however, 

 as a rule mixed forests, that is, made up of many different species, no 

 single form dominating a large area. It would follow from this that 

 in most localities almost any desirable form may be successfully culti- 

 vated. Many of our economic tree forms can adapt themselves to a 

 fairly wide range of soil and moisture conditions, and, while they may 

 not in some cases reach their maximum development, most of them 

 will make satisfactory growth under conditions apparently quite dif- 

 ferent from the normal. 



The few forms suggested as suitable for reforestration within our 

 bounds are those which have suggested themselves in a somewhat 

 extended inspection of the second growth timbers of the State, as 

 being of general distribution, of a fair range of adaptability and of 

 a high economic value. Being a matter of personal judgment, the list 

 is, of course, more liable to error than if it stood for a consensus of 

 opinion of a number of trained observers. It is probable, however, 

 that when extended areas are considered the list will stand with 

 slight change. 



Although the black walnut is naturally found in its highest develop- 

 ment in rich lowlands, it is capable of a satisfactory and fairly rapid 

 growth in many other situations. Whole hillsides, which had been 

 stripped of their virgin timber, may be seen in various parts of the 

 State to be now fairly well sprinkled with second growth walnut. This 

 frequent appearance and the subsequent persistence of the black wal- 

 nut in the second growth of partially or wholly denuded areas suggest 

 it as a suitable form for reforestration purposes in many parts of the 

 State. Its rapidity of growth, when associated with its high commer- 

 cial value, adds weight to the suggestion. So promising is the form 

 that experiments are already under way, experiments that may be 

 considered of considerable magnitude even in a problem such as that 



