TENDENCY TO FOREST EXTENSION. a | 
TaBLeE II1.—Young pine injured by tip-borer. 
Diame- | | Height 
a Age at cee | eee ibiza = 
Tree au | ground. ea | Height. | growth 
| Years. | Inches. | Feet. | Inches. 
Tee LN Dia Tibial lc 3 a | 35 15: | 2.5 | 1.0 
3 Va Pe She aA be ies | 35 | 1.4 | 4.3 1.0 
2 kN Ee ees ied) 4 ay * een 17 | 6 | 1.0 
Ch J diced as Ba oe NN oA Cele ee ee 33 | 1.2 | 5.0 1.0 
rien Seek EN ak ee SAAN ee See | 9 5 | 1.5 5 
CR EN te aie Ae 1 ET ei! a 20 5 | 1.8 5 
7 ug a ars eG RRR Len Ee ak eka 10 5 | 9 3.0 
Loe Sei oA TE Nae aS RC Ne Grid 2 30 9 2.5 3 
DeVoe Se Tate ge td i Re RES CUPS CARE torch 20 1.0 3.3 | 1.4 
PUENTE AM are es WN oa ut oa ie) Wi lates on | 21 1.4 4.6 4.0 
| 3 
Js SIDR DY REG a a a PE Rie a 2 23 | 1.0 2.7 | 1 
THE TENDENCY TO FOREST EXTENSION. 
In all parts of the pine type there is at present abundant evidence 
of a strong tendency toward the natural extension of the pine and 
cedar forest. It is a tendency which, if encouraged, will eventually 
result in a great addition to the material resources of western Ne- 
braska. The pine is at present confined almost entirely to the slopes 
and ridges. This rougher country, with its many exposures of bare 
soil, offers a better chance for the seed to catch and germinate, vet 
instances are not lacking in which abundant reproduction is found 
in the sod at the beginning of the upland level. In former days, 
when fires were frequent, they burned more fiercely in the dense_ 
growth of grass on the upland than in the scattering vegetation of 
the breaks, and thus aided in restricting the pine to the rough 
situations. 
While the existence of small bodies of detached pine far to the 
east of the present pine region in Nebraska affords ground for the 
belief that at some former time pine was distributed much more 
widely over the State than at present, the tendency now is toward 
extension. It is certain that a large area contiguous to that which 
now contains good pine and cedar is equally well adapted to its 
growth as that which it now occupies. 
Another observation was made within the present forest areas 
which indicates that present conditions are more favorable to tree 
growth than they were a hundred years or more ago. It is that 
trees 50 to 80 years old have in many instances grown more rapidly 
than older trees did during the corresponding period of their lives. 
Stem analyses of a number of trees were made both north of the Nio- 
brara and in the Platte River section, and all showed that the younger 
