The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1907-09-12

Unused lands in any part OF the
country can be made to produce each
year from Sc to $50 an acre through
the intelligent planting Of forest trees,
is the report from the Tribune's Bu-
reau in Washington. This is the con-
viction of the national forest service
Were advantage taken of this fact
every farmer in the country who has
plot of rough and unproductive land
could change it into a revenue pro-
ducer. Were so-called abandoned
farms. especially their least fertile
fields, planted with trees they would
go on producing wealth automatically
year after year. An acre planted in
white pine is an insurance policy ma
turing in forty years and worth $500
at maturity. A hundred such acres,
costing now from S5 to $40 an acre,
would be a handsome legacy, and the
payment of premiums. upon it would
be no great hardship. as the trees and
their value grow without laborious at
tention or cultivation. There are tim
bers which like insurance policies,
mature at early dates. The first cost
of putting out the timber compares
not unfavorably with that of taking
out the policy, for the land is salabie
in proportion TO the development of
the timber
Reports from all parts of the coun-
try TO the forest service show that the
last season has undoubtedly been char
acterized by a more extensive plait-
ing of forest trees than any previous
year in the history of the United
States. The work is progressing very
favorably in every state in the Union
1t has been most extensive in Califor-
mia, in the great Middle West and in
the New England states. But even in
the South. where planting has been
more or less limited because of exist
ing natural forests, the scope of the
work has greatly broadened
The trees planted have been mainly
hard woods. Several laNgc nursery
men. however. report greater sales of
conifers for forest planting than they
have ever made before In the Mid
die West catalpa, black locust, Usage
orange and Russian mulberry were
the favorite trees; in the North and
white pine, chestnut, larch and
spruce; in the South the native conf
fers held the lead. and all that is said
here of the North and Middle West is
applicable to any worn out fields in
New York and New Jersey.
A few figures readily show the value
Of forest planting from a commercial
standpoint. In Pawnee County. Neb,
a sixteen-year-old catalpa plantation
gave net return of $152-17 an acre
at the time the plantation was cut.
This meant an annual profit of 1924
an acre. A ten-year-old plantation of
TIE same species in Kansas showed q
net value of $197.55 an acre. Still
another plantation, in Nebraska, gave
a net income of $170.50 an acre when
fourteen years old, which amounts to
an annual Income of $3.50 an acre
Several equally striking cases could
be cited throughout the entire Middle
West, and it is known that where the
catalpa will succeed no other tree will
pay so well. Good soil and moisture
conditions are, however, essential for
success with this tree
Usage orange has been known to
produce as high as 2,64O first class
posts and 2,272 second class posts an
acre, and it is well understood that
no posts are better than those of
Usage orange. Land producing such
a forest as this could hardly be put to
q better use, since timber is the cas-
lest Of all crops to raise. and from
now on will never go begging for a
market.
Red cedar, in plantations twenty-five
years old. has reached a value of
$200.54 an acre. European larch, used
for fence posts or telephone posts.
reaches an average value of 5000 to
$500. White pine plantations forty