The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1902-04-16
TREE PLANTING.

Study should be given to methods
| and management i'll tree growing
| that the largest and quickest returns
may be secured. Planters should ask
| for instructions from the Division of
Forestry, United States Department
| of Agriculture, as it claims to have
had ample experience from past OPP
erations to understand fully the con-
ditions necessary for success, - and
proposes to supply information free of
| charge. The Division is able to give
valuable information and advice as to
the adaptability of kinds of trees for
different soils, also as to local obsta-
| Giles or advantages likely TO affect re-
suits, and as to the best methods of
developing forest plantation so that
the work may be on lines calculated
| for greatest profit. 1t will be of i'm
| portance to determine the dangers to
which the life of the plant is most ex
| posed. as 1T is stated with certainty
| by authorities that there are wood
| destroying fungi that spread disease
| from tree to tree.
In preparing cut-over areas for tree
| planting all old decaying and fungus
| infected trees should be removed in
| order to prevent the the young growth
| from infection.
For the reproduction of forests the
| State should cooperate with its citi-
zens. The State would do well to
buy such tracts for forest renewal and
reserves, as would best guard the
public water supply, and protect large
streams and rivers from freshets or
droughts. 1t should exempt from tax
alton for a term of years all newly
planted lands. Fish and game clubs
should secure territory all along the
crests of the mountains for game pre-
| serves, plant trees and aid nature to
renew such growth as would give
contented homes and sheltered lairs
for wild animals. Residents of cities
would gain health and strength and
find plenty of recreation by spending
a few weeks yearly among the Green
Mountains on their own terra firma
converted into forest park by their
own labor. Farmers should engage in
tree planting if for no other reason
than that the crop when matured
would be valuable legacy to their
children and an encouragement for
them to remain in the State, and not
abandon their happy homes and once
productive farms.
LAWS FOR PROTECTION OF TIM.
| BER.
Laws should be enacted by the
| Legislature to protect timber from
theft or injury. Whether a man grows
! trees for commercial purposes, park
uses or a summer resort adOrnment
he does not want to have them stolen
for what the present law might give
him in settlement on the basis of lum-
Der market prices. A law that COM
pels man to accept such does not
afford reasonable protection to his
property, nor does it encourage city
people to establish summer resorts
along the Green Mountain ranges.
the worth of young and immature
trees is difficult for jurors to esti-
mate as it is much greater than the
value of the lumber that they would
produce.
Laws should be so explicit that the
timber thief can find no clause that
could afford loop hole through which
he might crawl away from the re-
sponsibility of his act, and carry with
him large margin of profits. The
breaking into wood lots and stealing
timber should be made as great a
crime as that of breaking into stores
and banks and stealing goods and
money of equivalent value. The law
that makes such robbery only tres
pass is temptation and shield to
sneak thieves who plumber the forest
Summary punishment would have
been terror to such in the days of
Ethan Allen.
The reputation of Vermont should
not be furnished by allowing thievery
to go unpublished, nor in permitting
the scenic grandeur of its mountains
and valleys to be forever dimmed by
the extinction of their foliage and
perennial green which gave name and
beauty to the State.