The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1850-04-16
From the New England Farmer.
Forest Trees.

Forest Trees.
Mr.. CoLE: When this country wa:
new, but little regard was paid to the
preservation Of timber as the chief OBJ
ject Of the settlers was to clear the land
and hasten il to a state OF cultivation
The market prices also Of Montreal, and
New York, have made heavy drafts upon
us, so much so that timber, both fof
building and fuel, is becoming scarce
and dear among us, and now the rail-
roads are calling for share Of what is
left along on their lines. have felt a.
ware of this stale Of things for many
years, with the exception Of the rail-
roads, the rapid advances of which have
surprised us all. More than twenty years
ago my attention was directed to this
point by Fessenden's n L Farmer, the
reading Of which was worth more to me
;han ten times its cost, not only on this
subject, but a thousand others. Thus,
foreseeing the evil hid myself " Il
has been my practice for many years, to
allow the second growth of timber TO
come along after the axe, where we get
our yearly supply of frewood, and as
soon as the young timber is Of sufficient
size TO prune, cut ont such as please
to destroy, and Trim up the best and most
thrifty trees about six feet from the
ground, leaving perhaps from eight hun
dred to a thousand trees to the acre
have now seven or eight acres Of land N
one parcel, producing dense crop Of
timber and wood, from one TO seventeen
years growth as this timber is all in
one piece, it looks mot beautifully a,
far as it has been trimmed up and thin
ned out
One part Of it, about two acres, was
cleared in 1914; crop of wheat taken
in 1915, then pastured until about 1898,
when | discovered little white pine bush
es coming up very thick all over the land.
These were allowed to stand unuolested
by the axe until 1899, at which time we
thinned out the thickest bushes, and
trimmed up the rest aboat six feet from
the ground, leaving about eighl hundred
trees to the acre. Now, on going iato
this forest, it seems hardly possible that
so great quant.,y oi timber could have
grown there IN so short time. 1t is be-
lleved that there is more timber now al
ready grown on this land. than was orig.
Inally grown on it, setting aside few
large pines. My intention is to thin out
this place so as to leave about four hun
dred trees to the acre, and trim up at
least twenty feet this season. This Is
what we call upland; timber formerly
was chiefly Of hard wood. Our owlands
or SwamPs we manage in the same way,
except we omit trimming, and let it take
care of ITSELF we cut all clean as we
go.
have observed where timber in the
swamp was originally Cedar and Pine,
the second growth is chiefly Tamarack,
the American I.arch, Hackmatack-
Ed, some Cedar, but no Pine; and on
upland, where hard wood formerly grew,
now some other varieties occuDy their
places For instance. one piece, where
the hard wood, Beech, Maple, &c, COW
cred the land, now, after the land was
burned over in dry time, and fire de-
stroyed the whole, crop of Pigeon
Cherries come mp very thick all over the
land where a Cherry tree was never be-
fore discovered.
In another instance, | observed where
the land was originally covered by hard
wood, white Pine is its second growth
and another, in the place Of Pine and
Hemlock, Maple has come up in great
abundance have lot Of trees, about
three hundred trees on some less than
half an acre, growing most luxuriantly.
1t is proper to remark, however, that new
varieties of timber do not always occupy
the land where the original is cut Off An
instance Of this kind may be seen in
Cornwall few rods distant from my
own land, where the timber was all Ce-
dar, and all taken off twenty-five or thir-
ty years ago this is all Cedar now, and
is so thick that man cannot pass be-
tween the trees in some places on ac,
count Of their nearness to each other.
II is believed that fifteen acres of good
wood land properly managed will be
amply sufficient for timber, boards, &c,
to keep buildings in repair, and firewood
for farm for ages to come. But may
not have adopted the best plan to accom-
plsh the object; and If you or any of
your readers can suggest any improve
ment on the above plan, you will greatly
oblige constant reader and lover of i'm.
provemen,.
Respectfully yours,
JOHN NJ. WEEKS.
xtr II AF.1lI-l