The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1904-07-07
A FoREsrRY EXPERIMENT.
Preparing to Grow Regular Crops ON
Maine Common.

Preparing to Grow Regular Crops ON q
Maine Common.
Brnnswick. Me-, is living up to the
motto of the easternmost stare OF the
Union. which is II lead" That pro-
gressiye town has set an example which
many others may we'll follow to advan-
tage Brunswick has common which
includes about eight hundred acres. A
part of it is given up to blueberries, and
another large portion is covered with
the remnants of a fine bit of forest.
Nearly all the best timber has been cut
out. but little white pine, some pitch
pine and more or less hard wood are
standing there. The local authorities
are now going to plant a. number OF
Seeding pines and oaks on the common.
and try to get little revenue from the
| venture.
Some of the inspiration for this ex-
pertinent was furnished by Professor
| Leslie A, Lee, who occupies a chair in
| Bowdoin College, Brunswick, and who
was responsible for starting number
of Young trees on the college campus
several wears ago. Further encourage
ment was afforded by the work of Paul
| Griswold Hammond, of Yarmouthville,
! Me. He is the agent of paper manu-
| featuring company, and is said to have
on his own property five hundred varie-
ties of trees and shrubs. He has been
an enthusiastic and thorough student
of foresty in America and Europe, and
realized the need of replacing by cult
walton the immense quantities of wood
which are consumed yearly for paper
making and for building.
Under the influence of Professor Lee
the town authorities have engaged Aus
tin Carey to take charge OF its expert
ments. Mr. Carey is a resident of this
town, a graduate OF Bowdoin, and is
the head forester of another paper COM
pany, whose mills are in Brunswick.
He serves the town without pay, but
$3.50 has been appropriated to cover
necessary expenses. Two nurseries
have been started. A bushel OF acorns
yielded large number OF young red
oaks. These will be interspersed
among the pines, particularly for varie-
| ty'sssake along the roads that traverse
| the common, From seventeen pounds
OF white pine seed sowed in drills under
lath screens, there are now from fifty
to one hundred thousand young plants.
''These are always marketable COM
modify" says Mr.. Carey. Half the
young oaks and ten thousand young
white pines will be set on the common.
| A thousand plants are set on an acre of
| land. This is not full stand, but MI.
| Carey knows from his past experience
| that the pitch pine now present will
multiply and fill in. These are an ad
vantage, as the two grow up together
and in time the young white pines will
overtop and kill out the less valuable
species.
The town expects to get an income in
two ways-from the sale OF extra seed
lings and from the trees when they have
attained considerable size. The land
chosen for replanting is OF little value
for biueberries, and in time can be
made to produce marketable crop OF
timber every year.
Henry Gannett, chief geographer of
! the United States Geological Survey,
declares that greater economy is prac-
tised in New England and the lake
States than other parts of the country,
simply because the lumber is more val
liable. 1.-TWO thirds of the woodlands
in the United States, which comprise, y
he says, Sin the neighborhood of 700, 900
600 acres, or 100000 square miles, lie
in the eastern part of the country, ex
tending from the Atlantic Coast to the
prairies. In the northern part of the
East, in Northern New York, and il
the lake States, where the growth il
mostly of conifers, is almost all of the
remaining supply of white pine" Mr.
Gannett adds Significantly that the pin
cries of this section have been prett.
we'll culled for white pine.-New Yorl
Tribune.