The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-10-15
FARM MANAGEMENT.
Trees that Will Thrive Well il
Planted on Low and
Moist Ground.
The Profit in Pork Production Depends
Almost Entirely on Providing
Cheap Food

AnS EIOns IN 1otk ff0ductl0n UeponQS
Almost Entirely on Providing
Cheap Food
Trees ON Low Land.
Much has been written in favor Of
planting trees designed to furnish tim
Der, fence posts. and fuel on high,
rocky, and sandy land. 1t has been
stated that land Of this character is of
scarcely any value for raising cultivated
crops, and is almost useless for produc-
ing grass or other forage crops. If
grass and clover do grow on land of
this class it can not be harvested with
out great expense, and the land can
accordingly only be utilized for graz
ing purposes. That trees valuable for
producing nuts, timber. and fuel can
be grown on such land is well known.
Almost all the high hills and mountains
in the country are covered from base
to summit with trees. Valuable trees
also grow among masses of rocks, Oft
en- sending their roots down many feet
in search of moisture. Most of the
great pine forests of the country are
on land SO largely composed of sand
that little else will grow on it. Many
kinds of trees appear to do best on
land that is too high, broken, rocky,
or sandy for general agricultural or
even for grazing purposes. If a farm
er owns land belonging to either of
these classes which is not now covered
with hn Il
tage to plant them as soon as possible.
There is another kind of waste land
much more common than either of
those referred to that could be planted
to trees to great advantage. 1t is the
land that is too wet to be plowed and
planted to cultivated crops, and which
in its natural condition produces little
except rushes, very coarse grasses, and
semi aquatic plants. Such land is of
very little value for grazing purposes,
As animals can only travel over it dur
ing the drier portions of the season.
Sometimes there is strip of such land
running through field or pasture. On
other farms the moist spot is of 'irregu-
lar shape. If the farm on which this
moist land is situated is quite valuable,
and there is natural fall, it will Of
course pay to put down drain-tile for
the purpose Of carrying off the water.
If the land, owing to its location, is not
very valuable, and there is scarcely any
natural decline from the part that needs
to be drained, if tiles are high and diff
cult to obtain it will be economy to
plant it with trees that will H. supply tim
Der, fencing. and fuel. There are as
good reasons for planting trees on land
too moist to cultivate as for planting
them on that which is very high, rocky,
or sandy.
Most persons have noticed that GER
tain kinds of trees will only grow on
land that is quite moist during nearly
all the year, and that others which will
thrive tolerablv well on fairly dry land
will make much more rapid growth
in soil that contains much moisture.
There are moisture-loving trees, bushes,
and shrubs as well as those which pre-
fer soil that is quite dry. There are
trees that prefer the rocky sides of
mountains, and others that delight in
very moist soils that are only found in
valleys, in the bottom of ravines. on
the shores of lakes, and on the banks
of rivers and small streams. Most
have observed that nearly all trees
that have attained gigantic or even very
large proportions stand on land that is
abundantly supplied with moisture dur
ing the entire year. Notable examples
of these gigantic trees may be found
among the expresses in the Great Dis
NAL swamp, the sycamores on the banks
of the Mississippi river and its tribu-
taries, the hemlocks near the banks of
the St. Johns and Aroostook rivers,
and the elms in the valleys of the Con-
necticut and Kennebec Trees on
mountains and hillsides rarely compare
in size with those of the same kind
found on plains or near the sides of
lakes or water-courses.
1t requires but little knowledge OBJ
servation, and reflection to understand
why trees will flourish better and attain
. larger growth on low and moist land
than on that which is quite high and
dry. The soil is richer on low than on
high land. Leaves and other vegetable
matter are blown upon it, and there de-
cay. In some places the surface is
constantly covered with vegetable
mulch. The soil becomes very rich in
sarbon and nitrogen. Mineral salts
IRE dissolved out of the high land, car
ned down by the rain, and deposited on
she low land. where they are appropri-
sted by trees and smaller plants. Trees
on low lands are much better pro-
sected from the wind than those that
stand on hills, their roots are likely to
be deeply covered with snow. They
have sufficient moisture even at times
when similar trees on elvated places
are suffering for want of it. All kinds
of quick-growing trees require much
moisture. More than half the weight t
Of newly formed wood is water, as is
more than three-fourths of the weight
Of the leaves. At all stages of their
growth the leaves are constantly evap-
Grating moisture. which must be sup
piled by their roots from.the soil.
Several kinds of trees, many of them
very valuable, can not be grown on
low. moist land. Among them are the
hickory. black walnut, rock maple,
white oak, and three-thorned acacia.
All these trees. as well as several 9TH
ers, must be planted, to insure success,
on land that is quite high and dry.
There are several other trees, many of
them very valuable for numerous pur-
poses, that will do best on low and
moist land. Among them are the black
and water ash, white and yellow birch,
the red, scarlet, or swamp maple, the
pin or post oak, the sycamore, the
vhite cedar. and the American larch,
samarack, or hackmatack. The latter
| Tree is found most frequently in swamps
that are so wet that it is very difficult
70 pass over them. Still the trees grow
Iia luxuriance, aud stand so thickly that
they almost crowd each other. Swamps
quite as wet as those located in Maine,
Michigan, and northern Minnesota,