Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1875-07-30

OMAHA, July u Inc eNtensiNe IeaulhS
given my letter on forest Saving" pub
lished in The World recently, encourages
me to write something on Forest Grow
ing" IT is not so difficult as many people
imagine 10 grow forest timber. The lack Of
correct in Information on this subject is, be-
leve, to a great extent the reason why so
little timber is planted. II farmers only
knew how to plant, and when and what TO
put out, many OF them, l believe, would
raise trees.
The ASH.
The ash is one of the very best trees for
forest culture. 1t grows rapidly, is easily
raised and of great money value. Mr..
Hollenbeck, of Nebraska, has, in Douglas
county, piece of ash timber he planted in
1861, and many of the trees now measure
SO inches in circumference and are over 80
feet high. Mr.. Budd, of Iowa, has grove
that has done still better. He says ten
acres, thinned to 6 feet apart contained 12,-
600 trees, and at twelve years of age were
inches in diameter and 35 feet high. The
wood from thinning paid all expenses of
planting and cultivation. The bodies of
the trees cut out sold for 40 cents each and
the tops were worth ten cents more. Ten
acres of this timber, twelve years old, was
estimated TO be worth $4,000. Young ash,
if cut low at eight years of age and light
furrow turned over the stumps, will sprout
and be ready for the second cutting in
eight years. Mr.. Budd says ten acres of
black ash planted for hoop poles in rows
four feet apart, may be halftrimmed in
five years, and at 8 cents per pole will yield
$1,620. The remaining half or 81, 900 poles,
cut two years later for large hoop poles, at
cents per pole will yield S4,s60. The ash
seed should be sown in the fall in rows two
feet apart and covered with one inch of
earth. In winter scatter litter Of straw
three inches deep over the ground. The
straw should be renewed early in the
spring. The plants will grow as soon as
the frost is gone and be twelve to fourteen
inches high by fall. This will make an adj
mirable nursery, from which the trees
should be transplanted when one year old
and set out in the forest ground four feet
apart. Work the ground the same as for
corn and keep the weeds down. The clos
err the trees are planted the straighter they
will grow and be free from lower limbs.
THE WALNUT.
The walnut is a favorite tree and very
useful. 1t grows admirably in rocky
ground, and thrives best in land with a
yellow subsol To prepare the land fur
row out as if rcorn and drop the walnuts
one in hill, ur feet apart. Cover lightly
with hoe or Tough. The seed should be
planted soon aher it falls from the tree, and
is best dropped with the hull on. If this
cannot be done, bury the seed-but by no
means allow it to dry. Seed is also good
dropped in February and covered in the
spring. The frost cracks the walnut-shell,
and the sprout will start out soon amer be-
ing covered in April or May. Forty acres
of walnut timber will yield tho farmer in
Ten years more than if the land is planted
every season in grain. The trees.will grow
the first year len or twelve inches, the Sec
ond thirty, and the third year four to five
feet. The first and second year the ground
may be planted between the rows with po-
tatoes or corn and it will not hurt the young
trees, walnut strikinga deep root and draw
ing its sustensnce from the subsoil. To
make the trees bear nuts early dig under
and cut the tsp-root. Fruit trees that do
not bear may also be made to bear, by cut
ting their main or top roots. Mr.. Hollen-
beck has a grove Of forty acres of walnut
planted in 1865 and the trees average %
inches in circumference and are rs feet
high. Many of them bore nuts four years
afler planting and six years from planting
the trees had peck of nuts each. Three
bushels of walnuts with the bulls on will
three-quarter bushels hulled will plant the
same amount Of land.
sUGAR-MAPLE.
Mr.. Pinney, an experienced tree-grow-
er, says an acre of sugar naples at twenty
five years of age will average one foot in
diameter and produce 1000 pounds of sug-
ar annually. When the trees measure
twenty inches they will give 10000 feet of
lumber worth $500, besides great deal
OF fuel. A popularity of this tree is its
body increases in size faster than the top.
1t can therefore be planted very closely.
Two hundred trees will grow on an acre.
Maple seed ripens in October and should
be planted in rows the same as ash, but
not so thickly. After planting allow the
tree TO stand two years in the nursery and
then transplant TO ground where it is to
grow permanently.
SOFT MAPLE.
The soft maple, in its wild stale an I'M
couth and scraggy tree, when grown close
ly in cultivated grove is much improved
in appearance and a most useful tree. l
have seen numerous patches well-shaped,
and eight or ten feet high at three and four
years of age. In Nonoma county, Iowa,
maple trees, seven years old from the seed,
were large enough to make three ten foot
rails, and an acre yielded 5000 rails. This
limb er is always in great demand for man
ufacturing purposes. 1t beats the walnut
three yea RS in growth of ten years. The
seeds ripen in June, and should be sown in
mellow ground as soon as they fall. Plant
one and a half inches deep with drills, in
rows twenty inches apart. They will come
up in six days. Keep the weeds out until
the plants get a good start. The first year
they will grow eighteen or twenty inches.
They should be transpanted the next
spring and set out 300 TO the acre. They
will grow four to five feet the second year.
A soft maple planted in 1851 Is now forty
three inches in circumference four feet
from the ground.
ELMs.
The white elm is fine forest tree, and
the demand for this wood is every year in
ereasing as the old stock disappears. Plow-
handles, cheese-boxes, chairs, and many
manufactured articles are made from this
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