The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-06-03
PROFIT IN FORESTS.
ONE WAY OF MAKING WORN OUT
FARMS PAY FOR THEMSELVES.
The Feasibility of Planting Abandoned
Acres to Different Kinds of SaIable
wood-Most Trees Require Many Years
to Mature, but Some May Be Cut Early.

| Acres to Different Kinds of SaIable
Uood-Mcst Trees Require Many Years
to Mature, but Some 5Iay Be Cut Early.
| A good many people who would like to
! live on farms of their own in summer
months are deferred from purchasing forty
or eighty acres by the fact that there seems
| to be no way of getting any interest out of
| the capital invested. A good deal has
| been said recently about the abandoned"
| farms of New England, and the low prices
/ at which they have been and are offered
! for sale have attracted many longing eyes
| from the city;s hot shops and close count
! ing rooms
! IF could see any way Of making even
1 the interest out of one" said New York
1 commission merchant the other day, I'D
| buy fifty acre farm, repair the old house
on it or build a plain one and turn my
| family loose there every summer. There
| would be no need then of keeping the
| children well dressed, as one has to do
even in country hotel or boarding house,
I and no bills to pay, except for food and &
servant or two. But the very fact that
! these farms are cheap is due entirely to the
poor quality of the soil. If farmers could
make wheat and oats and stock pay well
on these lands they would not abandon
them. / have 10 time to farm any way,
and to employ others to do it for me would
be throwing away money, if the sod was
Rs rich as the Mississippi bottoms
Now, what this man wants." said an
enthusiastic student of forestry, lis knowl-
edge of some crop which, once planted,
will take care of itself for hundred years;
pay him some interest on his money while
it is coming to maturity, if he gets his
land cheap to begin with; and at the end
of forty years be worth more than fifty Of
the original farms. Such crop is to be
found in forest trees"
Forest treesl" exelaims the New York
er. ''Do you take me for Methuselah?
Before fifty years are over l viii be en-
gagged in other pursuits than money max
ing theologians tell me-"
You don't need to wait fifty years." is
the answer of the forestry enthusiast
''They don't wait that long out west, where
forestry is being carried on to some extent
already. There a man plants his prairie
wood lot with various kinds of trees, some
OF them quick growing varieties, others of
, the slower sort. He plants them close to-
gether for several reasons. One reason is
that the trees may force their way sky
ward before spreading out. Forest trees
are m&sthke in their proportions generally.
Each seeks to spread its foliage in the sun
light above it's fellow. Plant the same
kind of tree in an open field and it spreads
its branches out from the first. Sunlight
is all around it and there is no reason for
exertien. This tree is more symmetrical,
On the whole, but not nearly valuable
for timber as the long, bare trunk of the
forest tree.
Another reason for planting them close
together is that they may be thinned out
with profit as they grow. In a few years
the owner begins to cut out his small trees
and sell them, to be made up into barrel
hoops. AS they grow larger, they are in
demand for hop poles. Larger still, they
make fence posts and are wanted for wood
pulp in the paper mills, and then the re-
mainder are far enough apart to be let
alone TO grow into stout timber. This crop
of small stuff, for hoops, poles, etc, does
not cease at any time. 1t keeps coming
up, year after year, among the bigger
trees.
THE secret is to make the right choice
of trees. Probably the most valuable sort
are black walnut, wild red cherry and
white ash. There will always be de
nand for these woods in the manufactures
and the supply grows steadily less. The
other day a man bought a tract OF forest
land in one of the southern states and sold
one big ''curied" walnut tree on il for al
most half as much as he paid for the place.
One hundred dollars is not an unusual
price at present for a big black walnut
tree of the ordinary variety. In parts Of
Illinois the early settlers cut up black wal
nut for fence rails Some years ufterward.
when the rails had rotted away, the farm
ers were grubbing gp the sturnps and sell
ing the gnarled roots at a handsome profit
A farmer in this or O Deighborlng state
who has many wild cherry trees On his
land need not worry much over grain and
root crops. SpecHIs5ors will come ont
from this city and pay well for the priv
ilece of cutting his trees for him and car
rying them away.
$50 that it takes no argument 10 prove
that fifty acres Of such wood is fortune
in itself, equal 70 a life insurance policy for
the owners children sTd source Of con
stand pleasure, some profit and little e1-
uense To him while he lives. II can be
realized on, too, at any time after the trees
begin TO approach maturity. Hickory and
buiternut are both valuable woods, and
the mats from these trees are always ssls~
bic
The demand for Christmas trees also
grows veGTly Canadian forests are Low
bang ..TaSn os1 for New York = supply.
"On George Fanderuiits purchased place
in HCrsh Carolina forestry Is gong 70 Be
carried On IN a large and intelligent vsy.
He Jozsssses "a advantage over pra!r1e
farmers 10 having q large part of bis tract
covered with trees already. buf be prcposes
t. show that. contrary 70 the accepted aIsa
Of treating woos1lzD 81. IL j. Bot necessary IL
order 70 make Hsonry out nf Il 70 6EstnOy
the forest New York Tribune