Show 7 7 1 3 N 4 at 4 16 14 A ANOTHER JOB FOR SANTA tree farming Is one of sarit claus off season activities when he busy ir with his toy J follops he be Is making an inspection tour of 0 bl his 3 christmas tree farms amerl cas cals forests with increasing use of good forestry practices re prodoc themselves prolifically lyp not only assuring boys and girls of the plenty of yule trees but also providing wood for a multitude ot of Us CHRISTMAS CROP J 01 jos supplying santa with trees i fafole r the if now ranks as big business r 11 features santa claus may make his toys in a workshop at the no pole but he grows his christmas trees right here in thee the uni kunii states and growing trees for the old man with the long wh beard is big business this year the men who help him v harvest a crop that is expected to top 18 m million i lion trees many folks living in the country or in smaller towns will follow the old american custom of chopping their own tree but most of the ever greens destined tor for tinsel and bright lights will come from commercial stocks and the annual yuletide demand has created a really big busl business in normal years americans cut from 14 to 18 16 million trees tor for the christmas observance the most m marketable arke table conifers are those between 6 and 10 years in age and they come from nearly all states except those in the great plains area pines predominate in the pacific northwest douglas firs are being harvested for the season in the great lakes area and northeast firs balsam and spruce are being cut in most of the rest of the nation trees are being selected from the many species of pines long leaf loblolly sugar white torrey monterey jack short leaf and others even canada Is cutting trees for the american market and soon the tightly bundled evergreens ever greens one to eight to a bundle will be moving by trainloads train loads to the cities last year G R kirk company which operates on a nationwide basis shipped 1110 carloads of trees from the pacific northwest to states west of the mississippi while supplying its east eastern ern customers with another 1500 c carloads from a canadian source farmers in two northwestern montana counties recently sold more than a half million dollars worth of trees it has become an important source of their annual income christmas trees are not only bis big business but also an old business in seattle a comparatively young city by eastern standards the J hofert company Is busily filling orders for its consecutive s season eason other smaller firms trace their beginning back more than a hundred years and amateurs have been cutting their own for upwards of three centuries the tradition that has made santa claus a tree harvester also has made the old saint a first class forester supplying the vast christmas demand over the years has become more and more a matter of growing trees tor for this particular market species age and size have become factors closely linked with price also there was a danger of forest depletion resulting from heavy cutting among young trees practices good forestry so santa has applied forestry to his job and become what woods thinking folks call a tree farmer his helpers who have followed him into have tree growing success stories to tell one of the best comes from helper james L woodbury of morrill maine woodbury farms acres of which he has devoted 10 to the holiday product for some time he has shipped one and a half box cars full of trees each year soon he expects to be shipping two cars he says he can go on raising christmas trees indefinitely and that he makes more money per acre from his tree pai pa than from any other part of 0 j farm arm the soil of Wood burys lys 10 ai a tree farm Is the poorest on place yet it has paid him as nil as in a season and this expected to top that figure in 11 I 1 woodbury cleared the 10 acre tr tri for pasture but the firs came bi ba and live five years later he harvested i first crop of christmas trees wl he discovered that the trees gr gp faster than he could cut them resigned himself and ever since I 1 been applying good forestry to T T christmas tree patch to produce creased growth W heaviest harvest probably the nations big christmas tree producing area H acre Is in mason county in the st of washington which cuts and s jbf in the neighborhood of a trees each year but even with ia heavy annual harvest the growing lands are ready after eni months with another crop of ei greens about a dozen ope operate raU gather their trees in mason and the management plans they api ply to their forests assure theral them christmas tre trees es tc to cut on ad a 8 tamed yield basis forever borrowing a page from forest destries dus tries which have inaugurated i nationwide tree farm program st si ta Is eating his bis cake and keeping kee P in too he is producing his trees sell I 1 f with an eye on the tutu while santa himself has not baff be awarded a certificate of enroll enrolling mU with the tree farmers of america fair percentage of the 15 milli mill acres of forest land now operal opera under strict tree farm manageri mana gemi i will produce trees tor for the chrisan Chris tn rg market on these woodlands wh i trees are grown like crops tor fr cd mercial uses christmas cuttit will be largely th innings the moval boval of selected trees to per accelerated growth among those ma ining nineteen states are active 1 ll 11 I this movement with the possibility that the white beard ed spirit of christmas may b given a new role as patrol saint of the nations major tree growing effort in one additional respect cad mas trees this year are expected follow the trend of the times w higher prices christmas 1946 found many dealers with t if fl sold stocks and this years or dilloo have been more conservative win last years estimates esti matel fewer tritt il usually mean higher prices dealie bu 1 declare and cite the price of loth la ft asked and paid for a tree in mi ali 11 hattan battan one year when a last mint mini shortage developed however the dealers may 09 it americas woodlands have I 1 trees and santas helpers are luk deep in their busiest season with deadline set at christmas eve tr TK may be big business and young g and spruce may be dollars in it I 1 bank the night before Chri christao Christ mi but no stock quotation on W va street can fall fail as fast as yule ti values on christmas morning |