Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-03-26
agricultural, ar.



ures are taken for keeping up the supply. 1t is
not very surprising that our father who suffer-
ed many privations to subdue the forests and
make their farms were inclined to indulge them
selves in an extravsgant waste of timber; but it
is surprising that the present generation should
be so utterly regardless of the future well-beng
of the country, to say nothing of their own and
their children personal interests, as to indulge
in the wholesale destruction Of everything that
will bring money without thought beyond the
present money value. There are many town
ships, even in Wooded Vermont where there
is not frewOod enough growing to last the popu
lation twenty-five years if the present wanton
waste goes on.
The demand for fuel in villages and along the
lines Of railroads has made the wood lot the most
available source for a supply Of the needful and
down it comes without scruple or remorse. We
have known several beautiful sugar orchards
that would pay better return for their care
and a larger rate Of interest on their value than
any other part of the farm, cut down and drawn
to market because they were the only part of the
principal that could be both used and kept, a
sort Of fnanciring that farmers are quite apt TO
indulge in. 1t must be conceded that such OPP
erations are generally paying, for there are
enough fools left to buy these denuded farms at
their former value.
OF all the many acres that yearly stripped
Of timber not one in a thousand in this State is
purpo-ely retimbered, yet we are importing lum-
Der, fence rails timber and frewood from Cana
ia and coal from Pennsylvania
But the demand, present and prospective for
timber for the ordinary purposes Of life, is by
no means the most imperious demand upon the
people or the State FIR more extended effort in
the systematic preservation Of the little remain
ing growing timber and the planting out Of
growths.
Meteorologists assert that great climatic |
changes are due solely to the telling Of forests,
and the aost sceptical have failed to confute
their arguments We may not expect to rene
dy the general climatic effects, but there are
lesser and more local effects that come within
the influence of every tiller Of the soil on how
ever small scale.
Wall protection is well known to gardeners,
and every skillful horticulturist is aware that
tender plants will survive winters when sur
rounded or overshadowed by evergreens The
most wonderful results from enclosing land
over which strong winds had swept before are
on record Frederick Tudor Of Nahant, Mass,
converted a barren piece Of land into fertile
and productive garden, simply by enclosing it
with high fences Isaac Puren Of Hightstown,
L.. l. s !
ten years growth, and be states that within the
shelter Of these screens his nursery trees as well
farm crops average 50 per cent. more than on
the more exposed portions Of the same field
Tnnumerablecases ofblightand rust of grain in the
exposed portions Of thesame field. while none was
found upon sheltered portions may be recollected
by the farmers Of our own immediate section.
Gov. Boutwell, says Farmers cannot afford
10 be rash or inconsiderate in the adoption Of
new processes or theories; but it is their fault,
oftentimes bordering dangerously on criminality,
that they resist all innovations and hold their
sons and successors to a disagreeable and IN
profitable allegiance to old and outworn prac-
tees
1t may be well for farmers in our own midst
to ask themselves if this is not true of them
selves, in regard to the subject now under con-
sderation
But the remark is often made that farmers do
not possess the information nor the means to
enable them to proftably enter upon the bust
ness of Arboriculture. To US it seems that
there are far more who have not the inclination l
who cannot wait for the return from their
investment. IT Is a characteristic of all our
far ming that there is not sufficient capital in
vested in it-that farmers are even drawing out
their capital to invest in something else beside
their own legitimate business, and as long as t
this is the case we may not look for any con- v
siderable effort in the way Of growing trees
Although the subject is not new we have not
any great amount of reliable information on the t
actual profit of growing timber the following
eral sources o
Mr. Velorous Taft of Upton. Mass. says -
- We have in the south part of Worcester coun- 4
ty. quite portion of territory that we call I
" pine plains. That territory l am told, was 2
planted with corn by the Indians, and since then n
it has been ryed to death and we have come to a
the conclusion that the best we can DO with it is .
to let it run up to wood White birch, white n.
pine, and pitch pine grow there. have in my I
mind now piece Of land that in 1888 was sold az
for FIVE dollars an acre. In 1862 | offered /
man ssventy-hye dollars for an acre Of it. which =
was mostly white pine and he thought it was
worth more Last week, . piece Of this land
vas sold for thirty dollars an acre, on which, f
sn,e was twenty years old (about twenty years q
ago) have seen rye growing q
B. F. Cutler, Esq, of Pelham, " H., has e.
several tracts ofwood land among them one which 5,
was pasture forty-four years ago when all the bI
bushes were moved for the last time, and the h
field enclosed. White birch and white pine soon Gu
sprang up in about equal quantities and were 81
permitted to grow unmolested for twenty years, ~
when the brches. and such of the pines as ap- ii
peared to be unthrifty were cleared out, making
a fair crop of wood. Twelve years later the
weaker among the pines were removed making DC
crop of twelve cords Of market wood, the refuse -
being used up at home Recently more trees ~
that had ceased to grow have been removed and Pl
there is now about one hundred and fifty trees W
suitable for timber on an acre, besides some Sc
Of less dimensions, in fine condition. '"
Levi Bartlett Of New Hampshire gives ac- r.
count of a tract of land that had been burned ar
over and grown up to pine trees from the seed. p
A portion of it had been thinned, but at profit co
-ather than expense, the fuel more than paid alb
Tor the work. At fifty years from the seed the er
growth was eighty to one hundred feet high and "a
ten to twenty inches in diameter and standing
six to eight feet apart little application of
Arithmetic will show the amount to be about 40
hree hundred cords to the acre but of course a
he timber is mostly too valuable to be measured he
2y the cord. mi
The late Hon. R. S Fay in 1862 published a IF
statement of measurements made in his planta- for
lion. The trees were transplanted when about an
hree feet high, fourteen and fifteen years before
At four feet from the ground they measured Id
white naples thirteen to fifteen inches in diane Ii'
Ter Norway NAPLES, eight to eleven inches
rock naples, seven to nine inches pin oak, ten
inches overcup, white oak, seven inches white
,ak six inches American elm from seed, ten
inches Spanish chestnut, II inches canoe
birch, nine inches Scotch larch, eight to ten all
inches Norway spruce, eight to ten inches s 81.
Austrian pine, eight to nine inches Scotch fir, -,
light to nine inches white pine, nine to ten n,
inches. raj
Large manufacturing establishments, owning am
extensive tract is Of land, cut them over at stated ca
intervals ranging from sixteen to thirty years h-
according to the kind of timber and soil, some on