Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-26
opposite error which invests the trees with
certain sacredness that is opposed to the true
interests of practical forestry.

opposite error which invests the trees with q
certain sacredness that is opposed to the true
interests of practical forestry.
Tree-Cutting Is Essential.
In one of his speeches Mr.. Gladstone re-
| marked that the popular superstition in
Great Britain which invested trees with q
| considered a sacrilege, was the greatest OBJ
stacle TO a sound forest policy. There are .
few enthusiasts in this country who view
trees in the same way and consider the lum-
| bermen born enemies of tine human race, but
in reality tree-cutting is just as essential to
the forests as tree planting.
Since the introduction of Arbor Day,
forest farming has assumed an important
position in the ewes OF the Federal and State
| Governments The elaborate reports and
! experiments and publications of documents
upon the subject have disseminated knowl-
edge of the question so widely that wide
| spread interest is manifested on every side.
In other coun tries, monarchicaf and repub-
lican, government aid TO forest industry is
employed on a large scale and with great
success. Not only do State and county
governments resort to it, but societies, and
even private estate holders, consider it with
in their sphere and proper direction of
their funds and activities to plant material
this country, where immediate returns from
an investment are more frequently looked
for than in older countries, and where the
practice of forest planting and management
is not yet established, this kind of govern
ment encouragement seems most legitimate,
and when carried out on a judIcious plan,
the most feasible way of advancing the in
terest of practical forestry.
Reforestation on the Continent
Reforestation is in Its infancy in the
United States. In the little country of
Switzerland it receives more encouragement
than in this country, while Germany, France
and England have forest policies which are
rigidly enforced. Forest farming has
reached its highest perfection in Germany,
where methods of combining the agricultu-
raj use of the soil with forest planting are
in vogue. PROBABLY the need OF agricultu-
raj lands for the poorer population, rather
than any other consideration, has given rise
in Germany to this combination of forestry
with a temporary agricultural use of the
forest lands. That such use of clearings
before their reiorestation may prove an ad-
vantage to the new forest growth and be
employed to cheaper and facilitate reiorest-
alton was probably an afterthought.
This method, however, deserves more
notice among those vino are devising
cultural use of the land either pre-
cedes reforestation or is continued for a time
after the ree-planting is done, the first be-
ing called "fore-farming," the second "be-
tween-farming." The first is generally car
ried on for one to six-years, and the second
up to six years. A common rotation of
crops is rye, potatoes or millet, oats, and
then oak, pine and spruce sown with the
oats or on the stubble. BY sowing the tree
seeds with the crops the young seedlings re-
ceive protection tor three years from the
grain and stubble. In this tore-farming of
three years no soil exhaustion is anticipated.
The Plan Is Very General
Reiorestation by these methods is now
practiced in all parts of Germany, and about
5000 acres are farmed in this manner, while
about $4,000 acres of forest which originated
in the same way exist in the western prov
inces of Germany. In Hesse it has been
practlced for more than a century, and 6, 900
acres of gnely grown pine, spruce, fir and
beech forests are shown to visitors, which
have yearly average accretion of 80 cubic
feet TO the acre. In "between-farming"
crops Of grain or potatoes are farmed be-
tween the rows of trees, and by this method
sometimes surplus over and above the cost
of reforestation and cultivation of $12 to S14
per acre are obtaiued. Another method is
to use temporarily coppice for
agriculture, and about 1900 acres
in Western Germany are so used,
and larger amount in France. After the
coppice is cut in the fall the brush and soil
cover is burnt over, and bv piling an extra
amount of brush on the stumps of undesir-
able kinds these are exterminated. The
ashes are then evenly distributed, and rye
is sown and covered with the hoe In the
spring fail-places are stocked with oak,
either by sowing or planting the roots This
methoa is of value In the oak coppices
which are grown for the tan-bark, as the
quality and value Of the latter are en-
HANGED by the ashes. On the other hand,
fire has a tendency to deteriorate the forest,
and such management does no. benefit the
trees in the end.
A Machine to Plant Trees.
The most noted advance in reforestation
in this country has been the application of
mechanics to tree-planting. Practical for |
estry may receive new impetus from the |
invention of machine capable of breaking |
the ground and setting and planting from |
90, 900 to 30 600 Seeding trees, all in one mo-
tion, in one day. This machine was invented |
as direct result of the influence of Arbor |
Day and its celebration. To secure the pre- |
MUM for the greatest number of trees |
planted BY one man, Thomas A. Stratton, of |
Lincoln, Neb., devised his tree planter, and |
set in the ground II 200 trees on Arbor Day.
Since then Improvements have been made |
on the machine, so that it will plant more
than double that number in such a way that |
an average o. 95 per cent of them live and |
thrive well. 1t is estimated that Dy the new
improvements on the machine two men can |
plant six acres a dayeof trees, making prac-
tical forestry a reality for the barren, tree
less plains OF our Western States. In the
invention of this machine the United States |
stands far ahead OF the older countries in |
solving an easy way to retorest her vast
tracts of country.
Despite this fact, however, the forest areas
of the country are rapidly contracting and
the reforestaton does not yet keep pace with
the destruction of the timbered lands. The
every year is so vast that there is
still good reason for fearing the denuding of
the forests to such an extent as to cause great
climatic changes and to warrant a diminu-
ton OF the lumber trade. The American
Forestry Association is endeavoring to bring
about change in this respect by creating
cooperation between the Government and
private owners. State forestry associations
have also been organized and general for
estry policy may yet be expected, which will
extend to all parts of the country
The Utilization of White Pine,
From these societies come ioreshadowings
'f the future result of the present rate Of de-
'truction of trees. The quality and size. of
The "Inexhaustible' white pine of the North
vest is depreciating SO rapidly that every
hing is now being done to avoid waste,
Ind to utilize in some way all of the
timber. Even wormy pine is being