BLACK WALXUT I ITS GROWTH AND MANAGEMENT. 35 
In a plantation 31 years old in Howard County, Ind. (PI. V, fig. 
1), the outer trees averaged 8.3 inches in diameter, breast high, and 
the inner trees only 7.4 inches. There were 342 trees to the acre in 
this plantation, although experience indicates that 300 to the acre is 
full stocking at this size. Xatural groves seldom contain over 60 
trees to the acre at 60 years of age. 
Pruning. — T\ 7 alnut trees may be pruned with profit, the object 
being to obtain clean, straight boles. Logs from such trees are dis- 
tinctly more valuable. Before the war knotty logs usually brought 
$20 to $25 a thousand board feet, "f. o. b. cars, shipping point, re- 
gardless of size, and smooth logs were paid for on a sliding scale 
of prices, the lowest of which was better than the flat price for cull 
logs. In average logs the difference was about $20 a thousand 
board feet. If pruning will double the value of a log, it is cer- 
tainly a paying proposition. The spreading tendency of the walnut 
tree and its intolerance of shade make pruning to some extent neces- 
sary even in the best -managed stands. Limbs that support essen- 
tial parts of the crown should not be taken; but smaller branches 
and low limbs that will ultimately be crowded out should be cut 
to hasten the natural process and give more clear wood in the log. 
The priming should be flush with the trunk, and care should be 
taken not to injure the trunk. The saw is ordinarily the best in- 
strument to use. The first cut should be from beneath, and should 
sever bark and wood sufficiently to prevent peeling of the trunk when 
the branch drops. A second cut made from above then severs the 
branch. It is well to prevent the subsequent infection of the wound 
with the germs of decay by painting it with tar or with a good 
water-resisting paint. 
PROBABLE YIELDS FROM PLANTATIONS. 
As there are few plantations in this country that have grown 
up under ideal soil conditions and have been properly tended, it is 
impossible to judge future yields of logs from actual examples of 
plantations, and all natural stands are spaced so irregularly that 
they do not represent maximum productivity any more than do the 
overcrowded plantations." The growth in value of individual trees 
may be estimated,, however, on the basis of the prices current in the 
year 1918. Table 15 shows the values of trees of different sizes 
delivered at the railroad. Except when they were close to shipping 
points, it was not profitable in 1918 to cut trees under 17 inches in 
diameter. 
It is apparent from Table 15 that the value of walnut increases 
rapidly with age, partly because it holds up its increment well, but 
more on account of the sliding scale of prices for logs that is every- 
where in vogue for this species, and which places a decided premium 
