Vol. LXVI. No. 3000. 
NEW YORK, JULY 27, 1907. 
WEEKLY, <61.00 PER YEAR. 
INSTANCE OF NATURAL RE-FORESTING. 
How We May Let Nature Work For Us. 
One thing man has to learn is to let nature work for 
him; that the more he studies to learn her ways and the 
more he works in harmony with nature the more good 
things he will possess and the fuller will be his life. 
For present gain man has denuded the hillsides of the 
clothing of trees, and this perfect and natural reservoir 
that conserves the rainfall provided for feeding the 
springs and streams with a constant and uniform supply 
is destroyed. The result is droughts, and not only arc 
the farmers’ crops shortened, but every living thing on 
the earth suffers because of this unwise interfering with 
nature’s plan. These trees are the natural homes of 
the birds which work for him, by destroying the insect 
parasites that infest his crops, and when he cuts down 
the trees the birds cease their vicarious service and he 
must resort to insecticides, with uncertain results, and 
perhaps he must irrigate some of his arid lands to grow 
good crops. Much of the work man tries to do, often 
unsuccessfully, nature would do for him much better. 
My experience as a farmer in eastern New York has 
proved to me that every farm of 100 acres should have 
20 of timber. I have had some experience in the man¬ 
agement of the wood and lumber lot on the farm and 
I have taken much pains to get actual returns from such 
lots and compare them with the returns from lands near 
them that are in grass or cultivated. I am satisfied that 
a good wood and lumber lot on the farm will return to 
its owner an annual net income of at least $5 more per 
acre than do those from grass or cultivated land near 
them, figuring hard wood at $1 per cord, in the tree, 
and lumber at $5 per 1,000 feet. From every point of 
view man needs and must have trees. Fig. 278 shows a 
lumber and wood lot in Delaware County, N. Y., of 25 
or 30 acres. It is on a side hill and the trees are mostly 
maple, birch and beech, but at the base of the hill in 
moister land is a small grove of pines. Just below these 
on the southeast side a few acres of hard wood timber 
was cut off and the land came into grass. Here nature 
has begun a work in re-foresting that is very interesting. 
On about five acres there are growing several thousand 
pine trees varying from one to 10 years 
old. These stand so close together, as 
shown by Fig. 277 that they nearly cover 
the ground. The one by which the owner 
of the land is standing is five years old, 
as shown by the branches on it. There 
is not, as far as I could see, a hard-wood 
tree growing on this land. Here we see 
nature’s plan of following hard wood 
with pine, hemlock or the soft woods. 
One explanation of this re-foresting is 
that the winds carried the pine cones 
from the trees near it over this piece of 
land and the grass made sufficient cover¬ 
ing for them so they could germinate and 
grow, but why did not seed from the 
hard wood trees near also germinate here 
and grow? Nature provides nearly all 
the seed of trees with wings. This is a 
question I leave for some reader to an¬ 
swer. 
The owner of this land, who has ob¬ 
served the growth of these trees for many 
years, told me that one of these trees in 
20 years would make 500 feet of pine lum¬ 
ber, and this at $20 per 1,000 feet would 
make the tree worth $5 standing, allowing one-half for 
marketing. Estimating 50 trees on an acre, which is too 
low, we have $250 in 20 years, or $12.50 a year per acre, 
that nature was earning for him. This is more than 
his grass lands near by are earning him as net profits. 
All the owner has to do is to thin these trees and the 
wood will pay him for doing this. Every year he 
takes both lumber and wood from this lot for his own 
use and to sell. And this lot (the older trees) will pay 
him at least $10 per acre. This represents the growth 
of his timber. This is according to the figuring of 
himself and experienced men owning such lots near by. 
FIVE-YEAR-OLD PINE. Fig. 277. 
This lot may pay better than the average one, but it is 
very evident that there is no part of the farm that pays 
better than a well-managed timber lot. There is no 
more timely or important question than the preservation 
of timber lands and the re-foresting of denuded hill¬ 
sides, where land is too steep or rough for cultivation 
and the question must be made a matter of State legis¬ 
lation, for men will not stop to consider that by cutting 
these trees they are doing an injury to themselves, their 
fellow men and all animal life, so great that it will take 
the work of several generations to rectify it. In many 
places nature will re-forest these lands if we will let her 
alone and do some judicious pruning. On some lands 
she will need some help by re-planting trees we most 
desire, but this must be done according to nature’s plan 
and will need much study to do it rightly. 
New York. _ w. H. jenkins. 
FIGHTING THE ASPARAGUS BEETLE. 
PIcre in Monmouth County, N. J., where blanched 
“grass” is nearly the only kind of asparagus produced 
for market, we are not troubled so badly with the beetle 
as are those who grow green grass. The reason for 
this is clear. First, the beetles have very little chance 
to lay their eggs and have them hatch where the farmer 
'is around with his cutting knives as fast as any shoots 
show above ground. For the past two or three years 
we have not had any severe damage done by this pest 
late in the season—that is, after cutting season was over. 
I attribute this largely to the fact stated, that the bugs, 
having their eggs destroyed at every cutting and the 
old bugs dying after the egg crop is all deposited, has 
had a tendency to lessen the numbers early in the year. 
I do not wish, however, to be understood as saying that 
we have no beetles. We have quite some early in the 
cutting season, but they have not bothered us badly 
after cutting had ceased except on young planted beds. 
On these there is a fight. A few mature bugs will find 
the young plants on the first warm days, just when 
every grower is too busy to know what to do first. In 
a few days those young plants are covered with “slugs’” 
and they are what we fear. For these there are various 
remedies used; one is blowing Paris-green from a gun 
through the foliage when wet with dew. Another is to 
brush off the young slugs on the ground. This works 
well on sandy soil, provided the weather and sand is 
hot when the work is being done; they never get back. 
On the other hand, if soil is damp and cool that method 
is useless. Still another remedy (and I think the hest 
one yet mentioned) is to mix Paris-green with Bordeaux, 
or simply milk of lime. I would prefer Bordeaux 
and spray the whole top growth. This operation re¬ 
quires a good pump and high pressure, because the as¬ 
paragus foliage is such that it is hard to penetrate, but 
it will do its work if made strong enough, 
and it should be made quite strong—a 
pound or more to 50 gallons of water. 
In some sections the writer has visited, 
where they grow green grass, their prac¬ 
tice is to allow a row of grass to grow in 
two or three places through the field as 
catch rows for the bugs, and poison those 
rows as noted above. This practically 
rids the field if done frequently and thor¬ 
oughly. The cheapest of all remedies is 
to have your planting where hens and 
half-grown young chickens can roam at 
large through the field. Where this can 
be done or fowls introduced and fed in 
the asparagus field you will have no fur¬ 
ther trouble. I raised a bed of plants last 
season from seed near the house and did 
not have to spray once, neither did I have 
any damage done by bugs or slugs. I 
now have the same piece, which is about 
one-third acre, sown to seed this season; 
plants are now about four inches high 
and no damage done as yet by the beetles 
or young. As I pen these lines I have 
been watching some hens walking, row 
after row, and crosswise as well, picking any stray bugs 
they could find. 
The crop of marketable grass this season has been 
fully up to the average. While our cut at times was 
quite light compared with last year, prices received have, 
I think, in most cases compensated for any shortage in 
yield during the early cold spell. This is certainly my 
A WOOD LOT IN DELAWARE COUNTY, NEW YORK. Fig. 278. 
