Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1901-10-25

Tree Growing as a Business Prop
osition.

John P. Brown, secretary of the In
ternational Society of Agriculture
says: Upon any lands costing less
than five dollars per acre the growing
of trees may be made to pay greater
returns upon the money invested than
any known securities"
If this statement be true it is worthy
the most careful investigation and
consideration on the part of the land
owners of Vermont. There are large
areas in this state that will come
within the limit of five dollars per
acre as to value. If this land can be
profitably planted to trees it ought to
be made known and the people ad-
vised as to the kind of trees, prepara-
tion of soil and care necessary to
insure a profitable investment and a
good crop.
Seven or eight years ago Congress
enacted the Timber Culture act"
In the main it was a failure because
the wrong trees were planted and
many of those planted were neglected.
Thousands Of acres that were planted
to trees in Kansas and Nebraska
under this act, however, are now COW
cred with profitable grewths. The
soil of the Western prairies, accord
ing to Mr.. Brown, is no better than
much of the abandoned" soil on New
England hill farms, while here the
greater rainfall makes it an easier
task to produce abundant timber.
Mr. Brown names walnut, chestnut,
white pine and the catalpas as tree
crops that may be proftably raised in
New England but, generally speaking.
what trees to plant must depend upon
what have been successfully grown in
the location. Almost anything in the
form of a tree would appear to be
better than the scrub oak and dwarf
birch that now cover so many New
England fields and hillsides.
The "Catalpa Speciosa,' which
0ttluo " ut NOlC dOONC OLhCl
trees as a comparatively quick money
maker, is a hardy tree better known
in the Middle than in the New Eng
land states, but adapted to New Eng
land 1t combines the qualities of the
oak. coming quickly to maturity, pro-
ducing merchantable saving timber
in from Is to 20 years. Under fav-
orable conditions a tree of six years
growth should girth IS inches, and
10 years later should girth 48 inches.
Catalpa growths of Is or 16 years
make the best railroad ties known,
which are always merchantable.
Trees 20 years from seed will
measure 81 inches across the stump,
and a tree of 25 years growth has
produced $50 feet of lumber, board
measure. Our authority refers to a
Kansas land owner who in thinning
out 500 acres of catalpa trees of eight
years growth, obtained 1900 posts
which he sold for $1,000, leaving the
remaining trees close enough together
for further development.
The matured catalpa grows to a
height of 60 to 80 feet and will aver
age from two to seven feet in diam
eter The temptation to close plant
ing is an ever present one, it being
necessary, in order to obtain the best
returns, to allow about 100 square feet
to each tree of five or six years
growth. 1t must be always borne in
mind, too, that while trees will take
care of themselves after four or five
years, they need some care at the
start, some cultivation, and always a
deal of judicious thinning out.
The whole subject is one of deer
moment to the land owners of New
England. Good service may be rem
dered if those who have knowledge
that is the result of experience along
these lines will make it known.
Especially is the question of timely
interest just now, when in one towr
in our own county of Windham tracts
of virgin timber land aggregating some
10000 acres have recently been SOLD
for a round sum of money to be