Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-09-24
THERE'S MONEY In TREES
WORN OUT FARM LANDS TO BE
NEW SOURCE OF WEALTH.
An Acre Planted in White Pine is an
Insurance Policy Maturing in Forty
Years and Worth $500 at Maturity.

Unused lands in any part of the
country can be made to produce each
year from Sc to $40 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
O plot of rough and unproductive land
could change it into revenue pro-
Queer. 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 SIS to SO 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 salable
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 plant
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 large 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
Northwest preferences was given to
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 commercial
standpoint In Pawnee County, Neb.,
a sixteen-year-old catalpa plantation
gave a 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
the same species in Kansas showed
net value of $19755 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 we'll Good soil and moisture
conditions are, however, essential for
success with this tree.
Usage orange has been known to
produce as high as 2,640 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
a 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 value of
S200.54 an acre. European larch, used
for fence posts or telephone posts,
reaches an average value of 5000 to
$500. White pine plantations forty
years old have exceeded a value of
$500 an acre.
1t does not take lifetime to get
results. Catalpa often reaches post
size in from eight to ten years, and
will give service as a post for from
fifteen to forty years. Usage orange,
which reaches post size in from twelve
to fifteen years, usually lasts longer
than catalpa. Black locust, though
badly affected by the borer in some
regions, grows about as fast as the ca
talpa and has almost the same post
value. while it has the great advan-
tage over catalpa of being able to
thrive on poor land. European larchl
reaches a size suitable for telephone
poles in twenty-five years. When treat
ed with preservative it will then last
from fifteen to twenty-five years. On
favorable sites white pine will make
saw timber in from forty to sixty
wears. Already the demand for the
timber of this tree shows conclusively
that the investment will prove i'm
mensely profitable.
In every region of the United States
there is at least one forest tree, and
generally there are several forest
trees, which can be planted with
complete assurance of commercial sue
cess If the plantation is properly es-
tablished and given proper care.
The government has made a very
careful study of most of the forest
plantations in the United States Its
publications on tree planting may be
had free of charge upon application to
the Forest Service of the Department
of Agriculture at Washington. The
studies ON which they were based
were made especially for the benefit
Of farmers and other land owners, and
to prevent the waste of thousands Of
dollars annually lost by planting the
wrong forest trees or by improper
care of plantations.
| From the manner in which our nat
ural timber has been cut II is clear
| hat each region will have to be made