The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-05-13

and rocky, and the soil gravelly, coarse and
hard Cleared of its timber and wood once,
twice or thrice, there has been a third or
fourth crop springing up, so that the hills
are now-the time of my observation
largely covered again and clothed with
brush, shrubs and small trees, of which
there is a great variety. Chief among them
are the oak and chestnut, white and yellow
pine, hemlock, red and white birch, hickory,
white ash and butternut, and in the wet
and marshy places willow, alders and white
maple-the rock maple being more rare and
confined to the hillsides This variety OF
small trees is turned into not little cash
This is done by saving and selection, sort
ing carefully, and using each kind for that
to which it is best adapted. Their oak and
chestnut they work into fencing material
and railroad ties, for both of which there is
large and profitable demand. The maple
and alder OF the low and swampy places,
where they grow rapidly, are cut, stripped
of their bark, split fine and sent to the
powder-mils, where they bring nine and
eleven dollars per cord Thousands of
cords are yearly used in the powder manu-
facture, the maple being made into blasting
and the alder into the best sporting powder.
The white birch is sorted and sent, some to
be turned into spools for thread and other
products of the spindle and loom some,
and the larger part, into coal for the use of
the brazier and solderer, 1t being found that
the coal of the white birch has the best
qualities for these arts. 1t is not, however,
i
in the preparation and marketing of the
wood from these hard hilsides and moist
valleys that the enterprisng farmer gets all
! his gains. 1t is also in the pains he takes to
| stimulate production and growth. He
! fences and guards his wood-lots as others do
their grass and grain fields, so that the
shoots shall not he destroyed or its growth
! hindered. And If any spot fails to spring
up after it has been cleared, as the oak
clearings sometimes do, this the thrifty
cultivator plants or sets and sows with
seeds and young trees The family by
which was entertained for some days in
| 1874 had several of these planted and sowed
fields They plant the acorn and the chest
| nut, set the young pines and SOW the seed
of both the pine and the maple. barren
| and sandy hill on the farm of my enter
tainer, 4" fit for nothing" was set in rows
about six feet apart, with the shoots of the
yellow pine thirty years before. A part of
these had been trimmed as they grew up
and part left for the branches to fall off
as they grew. A " committee on improved
lands" from one of the agricultural So
cieties, visited this field in any presence,
and reported " ten of the largest of the
pines as ten and twelve inches in diameter
and forty or fifty feet in height" The whole
field had a most promising appearance
This hill of drifting sand had within the
thirty years come from mere barrenness
and waste to be worth from eighty to one
hundred dollors an acre. The pieces sown
with the seeds of the pine and planted with
acorns and chestnuts also gave fine promise.
What the farmers of Connecticut have done
the enterprising men of Vermont can as well
do Thus could they add i'll few years
thirty fifty and hundred per cent to many
of their waste and unproductive acres; thus,
too, can they keep the state clothed and
comely and perpetuate the significance and
beauty of " the Green Mountain state" By
well planned and generous tree planting
and culture can the climate and soil of Yer
mont be not little kept from deteriorating
and becoming hot and dry and barren. In
fact, to remedy such defects as these was
Arbor Day projected and made, as we trust,
an institution to be perpetuated and per-
fected. In ten years since the institution
of Arbor Day in Nebraska, groves and belts
of timber have come to greet the eye in
every direction, as we can testify. Official
testimony shows that two hundred fifty
Z thousand acres have been planted with for
+ est trees. The effect is not only marked to
the sight, but it has already begun to
modify the climate. There is no doubt
about the profit and pleasure of tree plant
ing and culture by those that have had ex-
perience in the matter A.D. B.
Williston, May II, 1885.