New-York tribune., 1886-07-19
FOREST CULTURE.
AMERICAN TREES FOR AMERICAN PLANT
ING

TREE PLANTING IN MASSACHUSETTS, ny T.
sLR;EST. director OF tho Arnold Arboretum OF
Harvard College. Printed in tn" Annual Report OF
? .rcr pi. 2L Boston: Wright & Potter, state
Printer.
One of the papecs ~ which thesc Notes are "ad-
ditionsl' was pre2srcd by Professor Sargent
eleven years ago and the other eight years ago
The experience gained since then has tended 70
modify the authors views some questions re-
lating to sylviculture and it IL this revision OF
opinion that gives to the last pamphlet a spec'al
interest careful studen; aud observer ADVISES
the use of certain foreign trees as for example inc
Scotch and Corsican pines and European larch ior
economic planting in Massachusetts,. Ten years
later the same authority states " L AN now lH'J
convinced that the native trees OF MassachuSe'oS
are better suited to Massachusetts, than any exouc
trees can be, and that If our woods and plantations
are ever t. assume real importance ana 10 MANI
profitable returns for the money invested Ill 'ne"
they must he composed wholly or IN large part oi
our natural trecs'
Tho or,c,nal adv;ce concerning these European
snocias was not based simply the fact that they
were known abroad as profitable timber trees but
ON the fact that they were then making Iusty
growth in Massachusetts,. The later Judgment is
founded on a larger experience, which has demon"
strated that these exotios have not fulhled their
early promise. 1t is not proved that no tree VIII
thrive under other climatic conditions than those
which prevail IN ltS Orlgtldl HdOlttu. bup IL n"'
been again demonstrated that the vigorous growth
which many foreign trees show in New-Engiand
while they are young is not TO be accepted as evil
dence that they will attain n healthful maturity
The Norway spruce has been more generally planted
in this country than any other conifcrand few of our
native trees equal it III the rapdty of its early de-
velopmcnt. But before it is fifty years old 1t has
passed it's prime its foliage fails 1t becomes brown,
gaunt and unslgbtly. Many of these trees were
used in the original plantations of Central Park,
bat not half dozen of them retain the exuberant
vgor of their youth 1t may be said that the
Norway spruce has not been planted here IN forest.
anl that because it fails when standing alone 1t
does not follow that 1t would fail as timber tree
planted in the fostering companionship of other
trees and with thick blanket of leaves and mould
spread over its roots to conserve warmth ana
moisture. But our native white spruce and white
nine flourish III the open long after
the Norway spruce has gone decrepit, and 1t IS
probable that the inferior stamina of the foreign
tree would be equally manifest If the comparison
were made in forest. The history of this spruce
has been repeated here with many other eonlferS
and deciduous trees from Europe notably with
the Scotch and Austrian pines. the sycamore maple,
the European ash and the English oak.
1t would naturally be supposed that our Atlantic
States would give 4 more hospitabe welcome to
trees from Eastern Asia, and experience shows
that selections from that sylva-developed In
n region where ocean, mountain ranges. sea
currents and prevailing winds have the
same relative positions and directions as
our own-do take more kindly to naturalization
here The aIlantus, the gingko. the sophora the
knlreutria the Japanese larch and other cOnlierS.
and in the Southern States the cryptomeria, mella
and PaulOwnia seem to make themselves at nome
but they have never been grown III sufficient abund
ance to serve any economic purpose. There are too
individual trees from Europe like the white willow
which grow as well here any where. B1t after
all our own forests rich in tree species that
we have no occasion TO introduce others. That Is,
even if the most desirable European trees would
do as well here as at home we have
native trees that are better for the same
purpose The European larch, for example,
was considered the timber tree CT greatest promise
some years ago An experience of fifty years has
shown that it makes satisfactory growth up to
that age. 1t grows more RAPIDLY than the Ameri-
can arch and more rapidly than most American con-
ifers of equal value But even If it should not uit
mately disappoint the planter as so many other
exo.ics have done aud fail before attaining green
old age, there seems to be no reason for prefer
ring 1t to some American trees whose value Is es-
tlbshed. 1t will grow quickly on thin soils, but
80 will white pine-l tree of higher commercial
value. White pine will not make fence posts or
railway ties 1t is trne while the arch will endure
long without decay in contact with the ground.
For these purposes however our chestnut is supe
tior to the Iarch and makes timber more rapidly
We therefore have no need for the larch while we
can get pine and chestnut
1t is not safe to lay down the general law that
native trees are always and everywhere ssential
to successful syvculture, but even In Europe the
proitable forests are composed mainly of few
native timber trees. and yet the planters there
have been for hundred years at least experiment
ing with foreign trees In the early years of the
century the younger Michaux was commis stoned
to explore American woodlands with view to Sc
lect from our rich sylvia such species as gave
promise of economic value. But although many
of our trees are largely planted in Europe for
ment, not one of them has yet
an established position as timber
tree in European forests. In Germany experiments
are now gong OH with Douglas fir. the broad
leaved maple of our Pacific coast. shagbark hick-
ory black walnut, red oak, and in other parts of
Europe other American trees under careful trial.
Some of these may prove profitable additions to
their comparatively small list of timber trees 1t Is
not improbable, too, that some species from the
great central plateau of the European contlne Mt
which make their growth early in the season and
ripen up well in autumn to withstand the rigorous
winter, and have developed leaves of a thickness
and texture to endure long summer drouths, will
thrive treeess northwestern plains,
where the same trying conditions prevail But in
our Eastern states. with such an abundance and
variety of material at hand. the effort to accmate
,oreign trees looks like a waste of energy.
This is especially true while so many problems in
practical forestry remain unsolved. The farmers of
Barnstable County found an answer to the original
question of what to plant, as Professor Sargent
forclbly puts it, by studying the woods in sight of
their doorsteps and not by reading foreign reatses
xt..t 1. ,f,t, <-,fr
Cod can produce crop of pitch pine from the seed
as certainly as good farm land will yield crop of
corn. But all over w-England. the white pine, a
much nobler tree aud destined on account of it's