Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-02-06
The Growth of Trees.

IlC6O 1oCOIU llltlL OWN IllSUOIy. Inc
stump not only tells the age, but in
what years the departed tree grew
vigorously and in what it did little
more than hold it's own. l not long ago,
in Ohio, measured the stump of SUI
gar maple, recently cut, and found it
thirty inches in diameter. The tree
had lived l25 years. In the first sixty
three years, while it stood in the dense
forest, it had acquired but nine inches
diameter. After the forest was cut
away and it was left with only a few
scattering companions, it soon assumed
a superior rate of growth which it
maintained till nearly the last, so as
to add tWenty-one inches of diameter
in,siXty-two years. The rings averag-
ed about seventeen-hundreths of an
inch in thickness, whereas in the first
sixty-three years they have averaged
but seven-hundreths.
In Sweden it is ascertained that q
forest of mixed wood on medium
soil grows about a cord of wood q year
on an acre of land. If much more
than cord is removed from an acre
in year, the production is reduced.
But to keep the production from
diminishing it makes all the difference
in the world what trees you take away,
whether you take those which
are beginning to decay or those which
are in the rapidest stage OF growth. 1t is
only by the best judgement in thinning
out, that the capital Of growth can be
kept whole, after forest has become
well established.
If we take two trees of the same
species, say an oak sapling, that is four
inches in diameter and sixteen years
old and twenty feet high. and a tree
that is twenty -four inches in diameter
and ninety years old and sixty feet
high little calculation will show us.
supposing, the thickness Of the rings
now equal, that the sapling is making
2lS of a 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 a cord of
wood in {; year. And it will take about
500 of the saplings, OF nearly four to
the square rod. And it would take
more than seventy to be cut to make
a cord, so that in so young in forest Il
year cannot be taken away without
trenching on the capital. 1t is not
in fact till forest is made. 100 years
old, that it can yield so much as cord
an acre, without trenching Oh 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 valuable per cubic
foot.
The forest | have supposed, consist
ing OF thirty 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 q cap
tai which if kept up by replacisg 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 i'm
mense returns.-EAzur Wright, in
Massachusetts PiOug gilman.