The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-11-08


In no branch of agriculture. perhaps,
do the people of the United States SO
need instruction now as in all matters
relating to the care and improvement
of the woods and woodlands connected
with farms. The following. printed
from a recent issue of the Canadian
Hortieultsuist, is full of wise sugges-
tions:
at is generally admitted that the
forests ought not to be pastured, and
there may be few lots from which
cattle are excluded; but / have not
heard of anything more being done.
and it would be hard to say what
should be the next advice to farmers
or to forest owners. l notice in the
last report on prize farms, in Ontario.
it is said that on one of the bestof them
the wood lot was cleaned up and care
fully seeded to grass, and that. since
the farm has been drained, the black
ash trees are dying. This is manage
ment which seems contrary to all prin-
ciples of forestry, as far as concerns
the growth and life of the trees; for
the first requisite in forest life is to
keep the ground fully shaded = so
much SO that grass can not grow-to
keep it moist and free from packing,
or the tracking of cattle, and to en-
courage such growth that drying
winds may not enter.
lit seems to me that as soon as
wood gets so thin that grass is seen its
effectual growth is done. and it will
pay better to cut off one or more acres
and convert into good meadow land,
and if need be to plant out an acre of
old field with seedlings from the same
or other forests.
.sI do not find in the best forests
more than fifty large trees per acre.
and we know that NAPLES or other
trees at eight feet apart, $50 to the
acre, can be grown till they will make
half a cord of wood each; and if they
are thinned judiciously, or, in any case,
If really in vigorous life, they will in
crease faster than any old forest.
ITO preserve a wood lot, if the trees
are only of fair size, thick enough,
and few or no dead tops showing, ]
think it will answer the purpose if it is
fenced into one of the ordinary culii-
waited fields; what pasturing with cattle
may occur in a rotation will not like
" injure it, as they win not touch
trees if they can get anything else t"
ear.
II very open anu cApoScu W NiuuS
it would be well to inclose the bus
with fast-growing hedge, and in any
really open place put in seedlings till
the ground is properly covered. Any
inclosed wood / have seen soon gets
such a growth OF young trees about
the margin that it is hard work to get
into it. and if the main trees are not
too old, will, in time, make heavy
bush.
.'But have no intention of doing
this, unless, on careful survey, the
bush turns out better than it appears
at glance. After counting out the
large dead tops, the swamp elms, hol-
low basswoods. and short-lived IRON
woods and balsams. there will hardly
be enough worth saving, and these
woods have been overrun with stock
so long that the underground amounts
TO little. / intend, therefor. to close
off the old bush gradually (keeping
stock out in the meantime) one or more
acres at time, as may be needed for
fuel, etc., and then in proper place for
forest and shelter, OF on the land in-
convenient to cultivate, begin new
forest by planting out regularly just
such trees as / want for fuel, manu-
featuring, or protection. to be ready by
the time the old forest has been cut
away. s
'.lf the growing trees are of a valu-
able kind, and the owner has skill and
patience to begin and carry on judi
cious thinning, any old forest can be
rapidly improved, but / fancy most
proprietors will leave to thoughtless
employe to do the wood cutting, and
it often happens that to pick out in
ferior or dying scattered trees will
make the wood dearer than to buy it.
and it may do serious injury. l find
1t stated in late Ontario report that
the owner removed the worthless elms
from a lot and soon after found that
he had done too much thinning, for
the other, and what he thought valu-
able trees, ceased growing and soon
began to fail, and, as a rule, it will be
safer to depend on the new planting
for the future forest, at least on such
small lots as our farms will retain.
ITO me it is much more encourag-
ing. for in laying out the forest, the
various trees. the maple for fuel; the
hickory, ash, and oak for the factory;
the cherry, Eastwood. and walnut for
indoor use; the pine and cedar for out
side; feel if / were furnishing the
property with an attraction for myself
and future owners more than by the
biggest castle could find room for on
the highest hill.'
The Cultivation of Wheat.
/ have raised thirty-tive bushels of
winter wheat to the acre by the follow
ing culture, saws Col. Curtis in the
RMrdt Neao Yorker. The previous crops
had been corn and oats. This is the
usual rotation in this section of the
state. Sod ground is plowed for the
corn, and the land is manured with
barn-manure either plowed under or
put on the autumn before. The last
is the best way. If a farmer has barn
manure it is put on the surface and
narrowed in with the wheat, and if he
has none, commercial fertilizers are
used. No one thinks of getting agood
crop of wheat without some extra fer
tilizer. I'm my own case heavy coat
of barn-manure, made during the sum-
ner, was put on and well narrowed in.
The wheat was sOwn broadcast, and
as the land was clay-loam it was not
rolled, as it was not necessary for Sc
curing the needed eompactness of
soil. If the land is mellow and light
it is always best to roll it, as wheat
will do better in q firm and compact
soil. The roots take stronger hold,
and the plants will not rise up so read
lily when pried by the frost. In the
spring, if the ground is baked. erusty,
and hard it should be gone over with