The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-04-23
PLANTING WASTE PLACES.
How to Make the Sterile Spots on the
Farm Among the Most Valuable.

Farm Among the most valuable.
In all the older States and in manyo of
the new, there is more or less land that
is unfit for cultivation, owing 20 its
irregular or rocky surface. These lands
are usually considered of little value,
although when cleared of natural vege-
tation some of them will produce a
growth of grasses and other
plants valuable as food for sheep and
But there are vast tracts of such
land that are not worth clearing ever
for pastures, much of which is within
easy access of some of our oldest and
cities. From the greater part
of these lands the most valuable timber
has been removed, and they are then
left to produce whatever kinds of trees,
shrubs, or weeds may gain the mastery
in the natural struggle for existence.
At the end of twenty or thirty years, if
these woodlands are revisited by owner
or agent, whatever timber has reached
a useful size is removed and sent to
market. In many localities in the
Eastern States this system has been pur-
sued for a century or more, and for
WO hhoW Will NO "
centuries to come.
Within a hundred miles of this city
there are more than a million acres of
these wild lands that have been overrur
by charcoal burners, wood choppers.
and dealers in hoop poles, and, while
much of it is well adapted for c~ultiva-
ton, there are other tracts that are too
rough and Uneven for this purpose.
But there is not an acre of these wild
and half-abandoned lands that could
not easily be made to produce ten times
as much as they now do to their owners.
1t is true that, to increase the product,
capital would be required in making the
change from a wilderness into cultivated
fields or systematically arranged timber
plantations; but the capital and labor
are at hand, and the only thing wanting
is the will on the part of men of mean.
to enter into the work with a determine.
ton to succeed, and make a fair profit
on their Investments.
If those owning these timber lands
would incur the expense necessary to
remove worthless kinds of trees and
shrubs, and give room for the best and
most valuable kinds to grow, it would
be a great improvement upon the sys-
TEN usually adopted, and which ap-
pears mainly to consist in the removal
of such trees and saplings as have q
present value, without the least regard
to what may be most needed in the
future. If these wild lands are to be
kept for producing hoop poles, then all
other kinds of trees not adapted to this
purpose should be removed and their
places filled with the kinds required. 1t
would cost but little to remove worth
less kinds, or those of little value, and
fill up with the choicest or most desira-
BILE.
The natural growth in woodlands is
the best guide for selecting other kinds
to be planted on the same soils, and
where hickories and oaks are found
growing we may safely set out the same,
provided, of course, that the species is
adapted to the climate. But there is a
great difference in the value of species
belonging to the same genus. No one
would care to encourage the growth of
the dwarf oaks or wen even the black
jack oak to the exclusion of the white
or willow oak. The same rule may be
applied to nearly every genus of u in
digenous trees, for most of them con-
tain some valuable species and others
that are comparatively worthless, and
the experienced forester will not only
select the most valuable for propaga-
ton, but those best adapted to the soil
and climate of the region where they
are to be grown.
The waste lands, or those not adapted
to cultivation, should be kept covered
with forests of some kind. and with a
1;tt1o ,> o~l otfopf;1- -, tho !, n oo
ment of these forests they might be-
come a source of revenue for all time.
Changes can, of course. be made to
meet any change in demand; but there
are certain kinds of timber that seem to
be always wanted; if not for one pur-
pose it is sure to be for another. Among
the most familiar of these we may name
the hickory of various species. white
oak, ash, hard maple, beech, chestnut,
black walnut, wildwood. elm and
black cherry. Recently the catalps
has attracted considerable attention on
account of the rapid growth of the tree:
and great durability Of the wood when
used for such purposes as railway tie
and fence posts. The pines. spruces
and similar conifers are of course worthy
of attention, but not so much as thu
deciduous trees named, because of thu
large size and great age they must at
tain before becoming Of much value fol
lumber. But many of the deciduoul
trees become valuable at the age of tel
years and upward, at which time thu
thinning of plantations may commence
and some returns on investments be Sc
cured, and this is certainly worth coz
,idering by men whose capital is limi
ted.
Government and other well-secure,
bonds that have many years to run be
fore payment are now commanding
much larger premium than those tina
mature earlier, and we can see no goo
reason why the same idea should nc
have its influence in promoting invest
ments in forestry. Trees that will ma
ture twenty to forty years hence, an
increase in value from the start suficien
certainly ought to be worthy of the al
would if the capitalists knew more c
this promising industry. The very chea
lands now to be obtained in favorabl
locations must certainly increase in va
lie, whether utilized for the purpose
named or left idle; but if those partl
covered with forests were stocked t
their fullest capacity, they would in
very few years begin to yield a fair re
turn upon cost from the sales of timbe
taken out to give room for those tbs
are to remain until fully grown.
The same is also true of plantation
made on cleared land, for if a man ws
to make a plantation of hickories, b
would commence with about twely
thousand per acre, and as soon as the
were tall enough to make hoops fc
kegs, butter firkins, and similar woode
ware, he would cut out every alternat
plant, and have six thousand small hoo
poles to sell. A few years late
the plants will need thinnin
out again. and although the hoop poll
aLtaiaad xLoI.ld La loGc In nIauahor III