Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-11-06
FORESTRY ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
How the Overflow Lands May Produce
Lumber Continuously.

One of the investigations with
which the bureau of forestry has peen
engaged recently is a study OF the tree
growth along the Mississippi river
from Cairo, H., to New Orleans. Bor-
dering the river is a strip OF land
about Is miles wide on either side,
which is subject to repeated over
flows; consequently large proper
ton of the area is unavailable for
agriculture notwithstanding the rich
ness of the soil.
Following the channel at a distance
Of from one-eighth of a mile to two
miles from low-water line leVees have
been erected to control the stream
Between the 1eyees and the river
there can be no question Of cultivation
because of the certainty of overflow,
hut the land easily serves to raise
cottonwoods, since the trees do not
object to the periodical high water.
Behind the levees much of the land
can be drained and cultivated Other
parts are too wet for field crops, and
found, composed of ash, oak, hickory
cypress, gum, and cottonwood.
The opportunity which the bureau
of forestry finds is this. On the mar
row strip inside of the levees cotton
wood can be grown with almost no
care and harvested when the trees are
from So to 40 years old. This wood
now has a recognized place in the
market for the manufacture of boxes,
for furniture backs, washboards, etc.
One company alone uses 600O0,000
board feet a year for making wash
boards.
Behind the levees much of the land
will undoubtedly be reclaimed for
agriculture, but until that shall be
done the opportunity to maintain a
forest of valuable trees is too good to
be lost In this forest white ash is
the most important species, both be-
cause it grows more rapidly than oak
and some other woods, and because
it is in constant demand and can be
used in small sizes. The ash has been
pretty well cut out of this forest, even
to trees as small as inches In dia-
meter. This is wasteful, and the bu-
reau recommends the application of
more conservative numbering to these
lands. This simply means that the
mature trees of al species shall be
logged carefully, and that in taking
them out the young, Immature trees,
especially those of ash and hickory,
of which there is also a small quanti-
ty, shall be carefully preserved and
able SIZE or a diameter of about 20
inches. If this is done, the owners of
the land can count on a second crop
of valuable timber before the land
may be required for farming.
Of course, under such as system
of management the forest must be
protected from fire. The practice now
is to burn out the underground period
ica1ly. That destroys al the small
trees. Forest management and fires
can not exist together, but there ap-
pears to be no necessity for setting
these fires, and since the ground is
nearly always moist, there is little
danger Of their being started accident
ally
The whole question of the profitable
management of these forest lands lies
within the control of the owners. In
stead of reaping one harvest, as they
now do, it will be almost as easy to
secure successive crops SO long as the
land remains unavailable for Farming.
When that time comes the forest
must give way permanently.