Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-20

future supply of cedar lies In change OF
ownership. The pencil companies are the
most interested in the future of the tree,
and 1t would seem that the most practical
solution of the problem Is for these COM
panies to purchase the land on which cedar
makes a good growth and manage 1t on a
conservative basis.
The advantages of such an ownership are
plain. Timber can be raised at a cost which
insures fair profit. If the tract is large
one, the cost of exploiting will be much less
than under the present expensive system.
BY locating the mill near the tract to be
managed from 2 to 3 cents per cubic foot
Will be saved on freight rate alone. Lastly,
1t would be unnecessary to spend thousands
OF dollars each year in sending buyers over
the country. This will remove another
great source of expense.
Cost Of Planting.
The initial cost Of planting will vary with
the cost of seedlings. If these can be OBJ
tanned from the immediate neighborhood. as
is usually the case. the cost will be reduced
to minimum If they have to be hauled
or shipped. however. the cost would be 81
per thousand. One man can plant 500 trees
per day. and VITA wages at 81 per day and
a spacing feet by feet. the total cost Of
seedlings and planting would be AS4 per
acre.
After the plantation has been established
according to plan. the young cedar will re-
quire very little care. A man should be
hired by the year to guard the crop from
theft and fire and also to supervise the
cuttings.
When the young cedar has reached the
age of twenty twenty-five years the
crowns should completely fill the growing
space. To encourage growth the stand
should then be thinned. Practically one
half the stand should be removed (as
shown in the diagram), which would leave
the trees spaced approximately SO by 80
Trees to be removed should always be
IL, I~,,o Tho vxrf!l
care in leaving the most thrifty trees where
they do not interfere too greatly with spac-
ing This thinning should easily pay for
itself in second-class posts.
The young stand is now at an age when
the final quality Of the wood can be more
less easily adjusted at a small expense
and pruning. while very impracticable and
uncertain in its benefits to most of our
practiced on red cedar. This should be
done when the trees are less than four or
five inches in diameter, which would allow
a complete growing over and considerably
will receive but little benefit by this prac-
tlce.
The Second Thinning
When the remaining stand is thirty-five
or forty years old the crowns should again
be crowding, but to stimulate height
growth the second thinning should not be
made until about the forty-ffth year, when
height growth will be completed. BY this
encouragement of height growth for forty
years the limbs are spaced farther apart
and the trees have a greater merchandise
length.
The object now Is to put on diameter
growth. To do this will require heavy
thinning which will bring the remaining
stand to the final spacing Of II by II feet
The 1875 trees removed will furnish posts
worth at least 6 cents each, stumpage. To
make the value of this thinning conserva-
tive. so per cent of trees are thrown out Of
the yield for failures and undersize. The
remaining 227 trees should furnish $50
posts, or $1,000 per acre.