Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-09-16

OF the Common in the past. Apart
from the gain to the public lands of the
measures employed. they afford a
striking and educative object lesson to
every farmer in the neighborhood, and
should ultimately make of him an anna
teur forester to the extent of his wood
land holdings.
OF the work which has been undertaken
the nursery and tree planting have most
Of interest to the casual paSSerhy Inc
tree chosen for exploitation was the
white pine. Commercially valuable. swift
of growth, a sturdy fighter, adapted to
low grade lands, it has justified the faith
that chose 1t. Clifford Pinchots admira-
bic study of this tree shows that its aver
age growth for the first half century OF
its life is at the rate of a foot year.
Long ago Maine lost her supremacy to
the pine lumber market. and steadily the
centre of production moved westward to
PENNSYLVANIA, Michigan. Wisconsin, and
now is to be found in Minnesota. When
the forester has found his audience. how
ever and his counsel is followed. he vast
areas of low-gradc lands Astounding in the
Pine Tree State will be roclOthcd with
productive forests: and while the expert
ence of the investor who lately realized
two hundred dollars an acre on a tract
which he planted with seedlings forty-five
| years ago may not be repeated. the com
mcrcial value Of syvicultural methods
will have bccom" acknowledged. In
TRANSFORMING from tn" nursery onto the
common as we'll as in relocating naturally
| sown seedlings the future forest has BE- en-
set out in squares of twenty trees at the
| 81 Of HI, ia H..
The trees in each square are four lc"t
| apart and the centres of the adjacent
squares thirty feet apart. By this group
! ing the growing trees Will mutually CO.
operate. both in protecting themselves
from wnd-lcril and in clearing their
lower trunks of branches. while M ura
seedlings Of one kind and another can lie
Depended upon to ill up the intervening
spaces. Tn" seedlings We're set "ut either
in burrows or else in shallow wells formed
| by turning up blocks of sod with the
spade Competition from rival Vegetation
is thus guarded against for the first
cuupl, of years, after which I'M" the
vigorous white pine can fight its own hat
ties against either the burberry t.ri~n"s
or thu. less militant pitch pine. Th' cost
of sto, king an acre in this m.rl,t'r with
dollars Fire protection avrlL&r., Ie,esihly
three cents annually per a'r.. which
means a total expense of siX d'ii.ir@ and
fifty cents ON an acre which a. !t.. ''tl of
fifty years should have i lumh, + lai,:.' OF
approximately sevcnty-fiv. dollars.
What great thought of G"d thu was
when he thought n tree" ~, banned
I;us<in. What wise and thrifty mo. ,sht
| h., Ia.
Il tree. He thus improves ON thu n lne
of the SingIc-taX doctrinarc. for ~ is
planning not to pay taxes upon hi land
but to pay taxes out of his land.
. From such modest means Of instruction
; as this experiment furnishes the innanl-
tants of Brunswick, no less than from the
7 more extensive enterprises carried on by
the National and State governments and
: millionaire owners of lars" estates. * I"
: come that Knowledge which will eventual
= ly reform our treatment of the woodlands.
, When the object lesson no LONGER has to
, he brought from across the SEA hut can
be seen in our own United States at
= Brunswick. Me, for example. or else
: whore. the future of forestry ani the SUE
1 cess of the principles for which it con
tends are assured.
!, How strangely Ignorant the pubir IS.
n moreover. of the numerous services rel'-
@ dyr.d by the tree before ii i cut. In View
@ Of this Widespread thou2ntlc~@nt% -. 'S-
r"ci..ly as Joined to the Anl'rIo,,! passion
" ior immcdihtencSs and hunger Tor visible
o results. how tranSpdrcntly evident The
!, necessity for municipal action ami COY
N crnmental supervision! II takes Il l.rriod
; equal to the lifetime OF two modern
I tnanciers to bring tree to its maturity.
= mike the kings business" which re
, quircS haste. forest culture requires
Il tim: and this is the average money
n seeker is unwilling to allow. Tine private
, individual refuses to wait a century Tor
" his dividends. Nor has paternal Ilid" Yer
= been educated to the C"nN lotion that II -
$ noblrr for a father to save a piece Of for
a est and will it to his son. living work
of nature and an ev"r-increasins source
e of wealth. than To reduc. it to m"urriu'
t. waste and turn over to the scion the price
% Of the desolation To i few paitiS S,"r.>
and bonds. E,Sth"tically and economical
< h.. is a sur, friend Of the race who pre-
q serves forest and if he he surpassed.
n il is only hy thu man who plants tree.