Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-07-03
M0NARCHS OF THE WHITE PINE
REGION HAVE BEEN LAID
Low.
VALUE OF NEW PINE GROWTH.
Forest Planting Becoming More and
More a Desirable Invest
ment.
FOREST AS A PAYING CROP.

eastern states was destined to disap-
pear except for ornamental purposes.
There are many reasons to believe that
that time will never come, yet the nature
! and habits of the tree and the short
slghtedness of the people make the
| statement more than mere suspicion
| Not a great many years ago within the
| white pine region, there were magnificent
stands of old growth pine Every old
| inhabitant today will tell you how they
| stood on his fathers farm when he was
boy, their clear, straight trunks aud
gnarled Hat tops high above everything
else. Many an old house back in the
country has floor boards and cupboard
doors that are more than 3 feet Wide.
which were made from such trees.
Old Monarchs Gone.
These old monarchs of the northern
| forests are gone now, except for isolated
trees or clumps scattered widely over
the region, A woodlot owner recently
guided me several miles back into the
hills in order to point out three mag
niiicent pines which have been standing
| probably for more than $50 years. One
could never mistake them from others
Of later generation.
Before the advent of the portable
sawmlll, it was Improbable to cut and
haul logs any great distance to market.
The trees We're felled, rolled together,
| and burned when new lands were
| cleared. Log rolling days are still
| pleasant memories TO New England's
| Oldest inhabitants. Those were the DAYS
| of the large farms with great herds OF
| cattle and many oxen. Sheep roamed
| the hills in far greater numbers than
| they ever. do today. Immense areas
| were required for pasturage, and extern
| siye fields supplied the hay and grain
| for the winter feed. Ok pastures are
| not known today, yet they were common
in the days gone by.
Today farming has moved westward,
| and large farms in the hills have been
| reduced or abandoned entirely II is
true, of course, that men have learned
| to cultivate small areas often as profit
| ably as their fathers did larger tracts of
| land. Every Industrious farmer went
| over his pastures each year and removed
every chance pine that had seeded from
some adjacent tree. Now every wise
| farmer leaves the young pines to grow
Acres of New Trees.
1t may not be very strange to know
! then that today there are more acres
actually growing trees than there. were
| nifty or sixty years ago. There is not
more timber, of course, for much of the
valuable forests have been removed with
1 in the last fifty years. Such land is now
! covered with a poor quality of hard
/ woods. The valuable forests today are
| the old fields and pastures which have
| grown up to pine.
Everyone knows that broadeaf trees.
| such as birch, maple and oak, usually
/ take the place of pine when it is cut.
! The pines do not sprout as a rule, and
| when a pine forest has been cut over
| without leaving any trees for seed, there
| is no chance for young pines to again
occupy the land Worthless birch aud
| MAPLE with their light seeds, usually
/ take possession of the cut-over lands.
! This type becomes known as sprout
| growth and is of little value to mankind.
| White pine, deprived of its right to the
| ctlt-oyer lands is, however the predomi-
| mating tree of the abandoned fields. The
owners no longer cut down the young
! pines, but encourage their growth. In
| a suitable soil. with sufficient light and
with occasional mature trees to supply
| the seeds, the abandoned fields alone are
providing for our future commercial tim
| Der.
Value of New Pine Growth.
A southern New Hampshire lumber
| man recently stated that if he had left
| a few sturdy pines for seed trees on the
| wood lots he has numbered during the
| last thirty years, the present value Of
/ the Young growth would be worth more
| than all the timber he has cut during
4
/ acres Of land, once growing pine, which
| are now producing nothing better than
| gray birch and maple. Often fires have
| been allowed to burn over the ground
| until the only growth remaining is scrub
/ by and worthless. But fires are not the
menace they used to be. Farmers are
| learning the value of young pine growth
! and the starting Of fires to clear land is
| not common. Fires set along railroads
| and by careless boys are now the most
| serious ones.
| With increased safety to forest
growth. planting becomes more aud more
| n desirable Investment. Every acre OF
| land should be producing something Of
/ value to its owners is the general opin-
| ion Of every landowner in this era Of
| progress. Tie planting of white pine
| Is often the only means Of getting an
/ income from some lands. All the vacant
! land and pastures cannot seed them
! selves and the cost Of planting them will
| soon be paid for by the increased value
! of the land.
| But many people say, at win never
/ do me any good. | will never live long
| enough to realize anything. from my !a-
! Dor and expense" Experience Of hun
| dreds has shown that this is a grave
| mistake. One does not have TO wait uD-
| til their planted lands have grown mer-
| charitable timber. Everywhere people
| are seeking to invest their money ia
| young timber, and they are WliilIg 10
| pay good prices for 1t.
Seeding Up Waste Lands.
| Many farmers are planting all their
/ vacant and worthless land with pine and
chestnut and are buying similar lam Of
other people for the same purpose.
| Where the expense of the operation is
| $40 or So per acre, in few years the
| land viii be worth so or 500 ch
| Investments easily bring to I per cent.
| interest to the owner on his money in
| vested. 1t is little realized that growing
/ trees on the rough New England hill
sides can with little care be made 10
/ accumulate cord Of wood per acre
| annually. Such il the case. however,
/ aud it is needless to say that one does
! not have to invest his earnings In cop
| per or other doubtful stock from wnich
/ he mag never see any returns.
There are many ways by which IN
l owner may seed up bis waste land with
1 pine Some people have met with far
| success by gathering the cones early iu
/ the fail before they opeE. drying them
| out and scattering the seeds during the