The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-06-23

growth and the starting of fires to
clear laud 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 and
more desirable investment. Every
acre of land should be producing
something of value to it's owners is
the general opinion Of every landown-
er in this era of progress. The plant
ing Of white pine is often the only
means Of getting an income from
some lands. All the vacant land and
pastures cannot seed themselves and
the cost of planting them will soon
be paid for by the increased value of
the land
But many people say, cit will nev-
er do me any good. I will never live
long enough to realize anything from
my labor and expense. Experience
of hundreds has shown that this is Il
grave mistake. One does not have to
wait until their planted lands have
grown mcrchantablc timber. Every
where people are seeking to invest
their money in young timber, and they
arc willing to pay good prices for it.
Many farmers are planting all their
vacant and worthless land with pine
and chestnut and arc buying similar
land Of other people for the same pur-
pose. Where the expense Of the opcr-
alton is ten or twelve dollars per acre,
in few years the land will be worth
forty or fifty dollars. Such invest
ments easily bring 5 to per cent in
tercst to the owner on his money in
vested. Tt is little realized that
growing trees on the rough New Eng
land hillsidcs can with little care be
made to accumulate cord Of wood
per acre annually. Such is the case,
however, and it is needless to say that
one docs not have TO invest his earn
ings in copper or other doubtful stock
from which he may never see any re-
turns.
There are many ways by which an
owner may seed up his waste land
with pine. Some people have me!
with fair success by gathering the
cones early in the fall before they
open, drying them out. and scattering.
the seeds during the winter or carly
spring. Tt is better still to drop the
seeds, few together, in spots pre-
viously cleared Of grass or turf and
then press them into the soil with the
| foot.
Successful planting Of wild seed
ings is often done by transplanting
little trees growing in thick punches
or in the shade where they can never
mature. The most successful planting
is done with trces-two or three years
old-bought from nursery men and
set out five or six feet apart each way.
This should be done in the early
spring before the growth starts.
Chestnuts should be kept in moist
sand over winter and planted in the
spring. They grow rapidly.
The advance in prices of lumber
and the extensive box and cooperagc
mills throughout the northwest have
made sad inroads in our timberlandS.
Not only is the old growth timber
largely gone, but lumbermen even find
profit in trees that are scarcely six
inches in diameter. The time is past
when trees can be allowed to grow
to immense size. 1t is figured that
pine yields the greatest returns for
the money invested between the ages
of 40 and GO years. Chestnut requires
even less time.
Those who have studied the matter
say that the time is at hand when the
forests arc to he considered as crops
to be pImtcd. thinncd and harvested
like other crops. When this practice
becomes more universal and people
learn more clearly The value of grow
ing timber. there will not be thous-
nnds Of acres of unproductive land
III every State, a constant cycSOrc to
the people, and yielding no returns to
| the owners.
The United States Forest Service
at Washington furnishes free of
charge pamphlets and other informal
tion on the methods Of planting dcsir-
able species. and where the seeds and
young plants may be obtained, togcth-
cr with range of prices.
SUMMER EXCURSION RATES