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Show DOES FORESTRY i PROVE PROFI- ! TABLE? j The old Idea that wo must plant trees for our grandchildren to harvest har-vest was prevalent mauv years. Aay-' one planting or caring for young forest for-est trees to any large extent was supposed sup-posed to do so from purely altruist. motives. I know that that vlow of " U the 'subject would not appeal t many and that could not expect mucl progress In tree planting if we followed fol-lowed It alone. Bight years ago we planted eight hundred catalpa trees on one acre. We now know that larger profits could have been obtained by planting twice that number. These trees were one-year-old seedlings. The carefully ns -for a corn crop, and the gtounrf was plowed nLd prepared as young trees carefully cultivated ror two yenrs, since which time no tlmo has been spent on them, except n few hours each March In cutting c?" tho lower limbs. The trees arc nov eight Inches In diameter and about twenty-four feet In holght. There nr new oii the acre approximately eight hundrccd fence posts' worth on the ground, at least fifteen cents, encl or fifteen dollars a year, for tho use of tho land. This Is not a bad rental considering the small amount ' bor expended. Dut w0 know now tho It would bo a very wasteful process to cut theso young trees, because there Is almost a second post to each tree above the one we could use, and In six year more three posts per tree can be cut without any doubt. We havo this plan outlined for the future of the grove: In the next two years we will cut about three hundred of tho poorer trees and use them. This will leave the five hundred hun-dred best trees to grow to larger size. By the tlmo they aro fourteen or fifteen fif-teen years old they will make three posts to tho tree, when there will be fifteen hundred posts on the acre. Then wo will cut two hundred thr making six hundred posts, leavjng thrco hundred trees to grow to telephone tele-phone pole size, when they will bo worth one dollar and fifty cents each It thero Is no advance In price. Thoro would then bo ft total of four hundred and fifty dollars' worth Wk from tho acre. Besides the thinnings Mg? for posts for farm purposes came In W ' conveniently. Eight years ago 1 made this same cstlmato at a forestry meeting, and many thought I was. too optimistic, . but now wo have tho trees to show for tho first part of the estimate, and If they come up to our expectations as well for the next ten years, we will bo satisfied. Wo havo planted each year since and now have good trees of different species growing on five acres of land on a farm which otherwise would bo without any timber supply. This Iiqb been done at a total ex-penso ex-penso of about one hundred dollars, and wo feel that It has already added add-ed many times this amount to the selling value of the farm. We are sure that anyono having a treeless farm can well afford to devote a few acres to these quick-growing timbers. Horatio Markley. |