Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-22
FORESTS IN THE SANDHILLS
Magnitude Of the Work Undertaken BY the
Government in Nebraska.
PLANTING BULL PINE on BARREN GROUND
over 100000 Acres Received for For
est GrOwth-A National Enter
prise Of vast In o~ortsnce
to the state.

Edward A. Braniff, CHIEF OF the Yale For
est school, New Haven, Conn, in a letter
to the New York Times, details the plans
OF the national governn Mt for converting
the sandhills OF Nebras n into forests, as
follows:
To make a desert productive by srow-
ing forests where prot bly, no trees ever
grew before, to modify Innate and protect
field crops by checking ne hot winds which
wither and destroy, to place within Gon-
venient reach Of a ricL agricultural coun-
try a cheap and permanent source Of tim
Der supply-these are the results which the
Bureau Of Forestry Confidently expect to
secure by the work it has just begun in the
sandhlll country Of Nebraska.
This spring the president put his APP
prevail on the scheme by declaring 211 900
acres OF the public lands Of Nebraska forest
reserves Two reserves we're created-one,
called the Dismal river reserve, between
the Dismal and Middle Loup rivers, with
s 5000 acres; the other, the Niobrara re-
serve, with 1875, 900 acres, between the Mo-
brara and Snake rivers. The division Of
tree planting Of the Bureau Of Forestry has
now its experts in the field selecting suit
able places for forest nurseries and planta-
lions. In a few years thousands Of acres
Of trees will have been set out, and forests
created by artificial methods will have
begun their struggle for life in one OF
the great deserts of the middle west.
The Nebraska work marks an advance
In forest policy in this country, and a very
important one. Hitherto the government
has been content to acquire and administer
lands which were already wooded. The very
definition of the words forest reserve would
seem to imply that the land reserved con-
tanned timber of some sort, no matter how
small and scattered.
But in undertaking the Nebraska work
the bureau has declared it's policy of grow
ing forests as we'll as administering those
which already exist; 1t has undertaken the
task OF creating sources Of timber supply
on land that cannot prohtably grow field
crops. II the undertaking succeeds, or
even IL it shows in the next few years the
proof of its ultimate success, its result Is
sure to be manifested in the creation OF
more reserves in the prairie lands Of the
middle west and the planting Of forests on
q far greater scale.
A "FOrest" Reserve.
A forest reserve was once regarded as
land which actually bore timber; now 1t
may not bear a stick of timber, and still
be a forest reserve. And it may be far
more valuable for a forest reserve II en-
tirely barren OF forests than II heavily
wooded. There are few places in this
country in which trees cannot be made
to grow, and there are millions Of acres
which will not prohtably grow field
crops, but will produce valuable forests
with very little care.
The sand-hill country Of Nebraska comes
within the latter classification. The land
"a utterly uaalaga for Aa1d rrona and the
grazing value of most Of 1t Is inconsider-
able. But It will grow forests. and grow
them with profit to the owner, as the
government has proved by experimental
splanting. This idle waste contains within
It sources of great wealth and usefulness,
this desert of shifting sand has the capacity
for producing timber crops where every
tree finds a ready market.
Around the sand hill district is a wide
belt of rich agricultural lands populated
by prosperous farmers. The one great
need is for a convenient and cheap source
Of timber supply. The farmer must have
wood for fence posts and poles, and lum-
Der for his house and barns.
Timber is a rare article in the middle
west; It must be transported for long dis
%tances, and prices are high. A forest in
the sand-hill country would cheaper the
cost Of wood for the farmer, and thus be Of
great and general benefit; and 1t would be
a lasting benefit, for under the manage
ment Of the governments foresters It would
not be swept away in a few years by the
iumberman. but would be made to yield
crops perpetually.
Profitable Planting.
Until very recently practical American
foresters have regarded the planting of
trees for profit with disfavor. Many ex-
periments have been made Of tree planting
in the middle west by private enterprise.
but seldom indeed have they met with sue
cess. The cost OF setting out the planta-
lions has been great and the results gen
orally have not Justified the expenditures,
But within the last few years experts OF
the bureau Of forestry have found methods