The Winslow mail., 1900-09-27
A TREE BECOMING RARE.
Scarcity of Black WaInut-Fnrn,e
Could ProftRbIy Devote n Few
Acres to It's Culture.

In speaking to the writer about the
incessant demand for black walnut
lumber and the cause of it's grow
ing scarcity leading New York tim
Der merchant recently said to a Wash
ington Star man: 1T is surprising
that there is so little attention paid
to the cultivation of the timber, espe-
cially when the labor to be expended
is so small and the return so munifi-
cent.
'There are very few farmers in the
country who cannot spare a few acres
of land to be devoted to the cultiva-
tion of this valuable wood. which is
always in active demand, and there
is no crop to which they can turn
their attention that is so prolific and
so certain of big returns on the in
vestment of labor, as that is about
all that is requisite to be expended;
and there are few localities in the
country where the soil and climate
may not be found adapted to the
cultivation of this valuable timber.
1T is an undisputed fact that there
are hundreds of farms in the United
States and Canada in which in the
land-clearing process black walnut
timber has been converted into rails
for fencing and cremated in log heaps
'to get rid of it which, if it had been
permitted to stand, would to-day be
sufficiently valuable to purchase sew
eral farms with all the improvements
and stock; and scattered trees, which
were fortunately spared from the
wreck and destruction, have been sold
from 500 to $4O0 each on the stump.
with these facts before the farm
ers of the country it seems almost in
credible that so few of them avail
themselves of so apparant an advan-
tage. True, it is a crop that requires
several years waiting for returns. but
any farmer who when starting in as
an agriculturist will plant an acre
of ground to black walnut and con-
tlnue to plant one acre yearly in the
ordinary course of nature will live to
reap yearly returns far in excess of
all the roots and cereals he can raise
by laborious and toilsome application
as a tiller of the soil
eding he should fail to
ard himself, he has made
n his family that is as safe
tent bonds and more profit
life insurance, as the plant
ack walnut means the har-
f a tree in 90 years the mini
.lue of which will be $40 and
ease in value thereafter of at
per year if permitted to stand,
inal value of from S1O0 to $500
-ee when they reach full ma
experimental black walnut
now nearing fruition in Michi-
is rapidly developing, and from
lch the owner in few years will
Up the harvest of the most profit
crop ever planted in the state,
d the owners greatest regret is
at he did not enter more extensive
into the business. He saws if he
I'd planted half his farm with black
alnuts the standing timber in 25
ars would have been worth three
1es the balance, with all his stock.
ldlngs and other improvements.
The certainty of returns is the
t feature of the business. Black
ut is in demand from one end Of
country to the other, and its
ty is becoming more apparent
year to year, dealers finding it
ifficult to obtain. 1t is one of
st valuable timbers capable of
pi''. stion, besides being hardy and
thrifty; hence the farmer who devotes
small portion of his time and op-
portunity to meet the unfailing de-
mand makes an investment for the
future which will certainly meet his
most sanguine expectations