The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1881-02-05
The Growth of Trees

Trees record their own history. The
stump not only tell. the age, but in
what years the departed tree grew
vigorously and in what it did little
more than hold its own. | not long
ago, in Ohio, measured the stump of II
sugar maple, recently cut, and found
it thirty inches in diameter. The
tree had lived lbs years. In the first
sixty-three years, while it stood in
the dense forest, ii had acquired but
niae inches Ia diameter. After the
forest was cut away and it was left
with only few scattering compan-
ions, il soon assumed Il superior rate
of growth which it maintained till
nearly the last, 50 as TO add twenty
one inches of diameter in sixtv-two
years The rings averaged about
nteen-hundredths of an inch in
thickness, whereas in the first sixty
three years they had averaged but
seven-hundredths
In Sweden it is asccrtained that a
forest of mixed wood on medium soil
grows'about cord of wood n year on
am acre of land. If much more than
Il cord is removed from an acre in a
year, the production is reduced. But
TO keep the production from diminish
ing it makes all the difference in the
world what trees you take away,
whether YOU take those which are be-
ginning to decay or those which are
in the rapidest stage of growth. 1t is
only by the best judgment in thinning
out, that the capital Of growth can be
kept whole, after forest has become
well established.
IS we take two tees OF tue same
species, say an oak sapling. that is
four inches in diameter and sixteen
years old and twenty-four inches in
in diameter, ninety-siX years old
and sixty feet high, a little cal
culation will show us, supposing
the thickness of the rings now equal,
that the sapling is making .2lS
of IL cubic foot of wood in a year, while
the tree is making 1924 cubic feet in
year. 1t will take between thirty-two
and thirty-three such large trees on an
acre To make II cord of wood i'm year.
And it will take about $50 Of the sap
lings, or nearly four to the square rod.
And il would take more than seventy
TO be cut to make Il cord, SO that in so
young Il forest Il cord Il year cannot be
taken away without trenching on the
capital. 1t is not in fact till Il forest is
made, 100 years old, that it can yield
SO much as Il cord an acre, without
trenching on the capital of growth.
But when it gets of that age, if the
right care is taken, the average cord
it yields is much more valuable than
mere fire-wood. The larger and more
perfect the sound tree, the more valu-
able per cubic foot.
The forest have supposed, consist
ing of thiriy-two two foot trees to the
acre, would make only between forty
and fifty cords of wood to the acre. If
all cut at once. But that would be a
destruction of capital which it would
take nearly 100 years TO restore, a cap
tai which If kept up by replacing every
tree cut, will continue forever to yield
a net profit Of at least ten dollars per
acre yearly.
A forest, not to be ruined, must be
managed very much as death manages
the human race. Trees must not be
taken out faster than they spring up,
nor all of one age or sect, only those
that are ripe, sickly and in. the way.
BY adopting the species to the soil.
even the poorest soils will yield inn
mense returns.-Elizur Wright, in |
Massachusetts Ploughman.