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The Rural Science Series
EpiTep sy L. H, BAILEY
THE FARM WOODLOT
The Rural Science Series
The Soil. King.
The Spraying of Plants. Lodeman.
Milk and Its Products. Wing. Enlarged
and Revised.
The Fertility of the Land. Roberts.
The Principles of Fruit-Growing.
Bailey.
Bush-Fruits. Card.
Fertilizers. Voorhees.
The Principles of Agriculture.
15th edition, revised.
Irrigation and Drainage. King.
The Farmstead. Roberts.
Rural Wealth and Welfare.
child.
The Principles of Vegetable-Garden-
Bailey.
Fair-
ing. Bailey.
Farm Poultry. Watson. Enlarged and
Revised.
The Feeding of Animals. Jordan.
The Farmer’s Business Handbook.
Roberts.
The Diseases of Animals. Mayo.
The Horse. Roberts.
How to Choose a Farm. Hunt.
Forage Crops. Voorhees.
Bacteria in Relation to Country Life.
Lipman.
The Nursery-Book. Bailey.
Plant-Breeding. Bailey. 4th Edition,
revised.
The Forcing-Book. Bailey.
The Pruning-Book. Bailey.
Fruit-Growing in Arid Regions. Fad-
dock and Whipple.
Rural Hygiene. Ogden.
Dry-Farming. Widtsoe.
Law forthe American Farmer. Green.
Farm Boys and Girls. McKeever.
The Training and Breaking of Horses.
Harper.
Sheep-Farming in North America.
Craig.
Cooperation in Agriculture. Powell.
The Farm Woodlot. Cheyney and
Wentling.
Fic. 1.— The Ohio buckeye (4’sculus glabra).
THE FARM WOODLOT
A HANDBOOK OF FORESTRY FOR THE
FARMER AND THE STUDENT
IN AGRICULTURE
BY
E. G. CHEYNEY
DIRECTOR OF THE COLLEGE OF FORESTRY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
AND
i
J. P. WENTLING
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF FORESTRY
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Neto Work
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1914
All rights reserved
Lh,
Copyrriext, 1914,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1914.
Norwood jBress
J. 8. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
To
THE LATE
DEAN SAMUEL B. GREEN
TO WHOSE ENERGY AND FORESIGHT THE PRESENT
DEVELOPMENT OF FORESTRY IN MINNESOTA
IS LARGELY DUE, THIS BOOK IS
DEDICATED
PREFACE
Ir is the purpose of this book to aid the farmer in the
establishment, care, and utilization of such small patches
or plantations of timber as may be maintained in connec-
tion with the farm. The actual operations and the infor-
mation necessary to conduct them are described accurately,
we hope, but in a brief and popular style. The history and
significance of the forests are briefly sketched as a back-
ground for the more specific data which apply directly to
the woodlot, but the complicated and technical problems
which are encountered only in the management of large
tracts of forest have been carefully avoided.
It is hoped ‘that the volume will prove of value to the
woodlot owner as a handbook in the proper management
of his tree crop, and as a textbook for the agricultural
student, who should be familiar with the possibilities of
all his farm lands.
The authors are under obligation to the United States
Forest Service for plates 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 24, 25, 27,
29, 30, 33, 34, 36 to 54, and 56 to 62 inclusive.
E. G. CHEYNEY,
J. P. WENTLING.
University Farm, St. Paur, Miny.,
May 1, 1914.
vii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE Forest ; . a fi
Forest economics, 2—the classification of lands, 5 —
the prevailingly unprofitable farm lands, 10 — products
of the woodlot, 12
CHAPTER II
Tue Puace or THE Forest In Farm MANAGEMENT .
Capabilities of the woodlot, 17 — locating the wood-
lot, 19— summary of previous discussions, 21 — the
clearing of a farm, 23
CHAPTER III
THE GROWTH OF THE TREE ‘ : : : ;
Functions of different parts, 29—life history of the
tree, 36
CHAPTER IV
DENDROLOGY. . : 5 : ; F : ‘
The conifers, 42—the pines, 43 —the larches, 46 —
the spruces, 47 — firs, 49 — hemlocks, 50 — white cedar,
51—red cedar, 52 — the broadleaf trees, 52 — maples,
54 — ashes, 60 — oaks, 64— chestnut, 71 — beech, 72 —
elms, 73— poplars, 76— willows, 80—birches, 82—
hornbeams, 84— walnuts, 85—hickories, 87 —locusts, 88
ix
PAGES
1-14
15-28
29-39
40-90
x Contents
CHAPTER V
PractTicaAL SYLVICULTURE OR REGENERATION OF WOODLOTS
Natural regeneration, 91 — selection of system, 92 —
strip system, 94——- group system, 96 — coppice system,
96 — direct seeding, 98 — seeding and planting, 103 —
collecting and storing seeds, 107 — the farm nursery,
112— growing coniferous seedlings, 112 — growing broad-
leaf seedlings, 119 — spring operations, 123 — field plant-
ing of nursery stock, 126— treatment after planting, 129
— woodlot plantations in mixture, 130-
CHAPTER VI
Practical SYLVICULTURE — WoRK IN THE WOODLOT
Time of thinning, 143 — kind of thinning, 146 — re-
sults of thinnings, 149
CHAPTER VII
Forest PROTECTION . ‘ < ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘
Fire, 153 — grazing, 160— mismanagement, 165 —
trespass, 166 — windfall, 167 — sunscald, 168 — insects,
168 — gypsy moth, 170 — brown-tail moth, 171 — pine-
destroying beetle, 174 — spruce-destroying beetle, 175 —
elm-leaf beetle, 177 — bronze birch borer, 178 — forest
tent caterpillar, 179 — fall web-worm, 180 — the locust
borer, 181
CHAPTER VIII
Forest MensuraTion . ‘ : : : .
The unit of measurement, 183 — allowance for defects
in scaling, 187 — cordwood, 192 — the height of a tree,
194 — valuation survey, 196 — stem analyses, 199 —
cruising methods, 200
PAGES
91-183
134-152
153-182
183-205
Contents xi
CHAPTER IX
PAGES
Forest Utiuization . a 7 : ‘ , p - 206-224
For construction timbers, 207 — fence posts and rails,
208 — railroad ties, 209 — implement parts, 210 — fire-
wood, 211 — logging, 2138 — felling, 218 — dividing the
logs, 215 — skidding, 216— hauling, 218—the chief
uses of our common woods, 219
CHAPTER X
By-rropucts oF THE NortHERN Woop.ot A P » 225-237
Maple sirup and sugar, 225 — the sugar maple, 226 —
season, 227 — equipment, 228 — tapping the trees, 229
— collecting sap, 230 — boiling the sap, 230 — making
sirup, 230 —sugaring-off, 232 — yield per tree, 233 —
effect. on tree, 283 — wintergreen oil from black birch,
235 — tanning materials, 235 — specifications of extract
wood, 237
CHAPTER XI
THE DURABILITY AND PRESERVATION OF Woops 4 . 238-258
Factors influencing durability, 239 — naturally dura-
ble woods, 241 — substitutes, 242 — cause of rot, 243 —
method of seasoning logs and timber, 245 — seasoning
lumber, 245— coating of timbers, 246 — coal tar, 247 —
oil paint, 247 —lime whitewash, 247 —charring, 248 —
general rules on preserving timbers, 248 — preserving
materials, 250 — brush method, 250— dipping, 251 —
open-tank treatment, 252
CHAPTER XII
-ARBORICULTURE AND ORNAMENTAL PLANTING . P . 259-276
Selection of ornamental trees, 259 — transplanting
large trees, 263 — pruning, 266 —to improve shape of
tree, 267 — how to prune, 269 — table of ornamental
trees, 270
xii Contents
CHAPTER XIII
PAGES
History oF THE Forest. 5 5 . ss Fi . 277-300
Development in Germany, 277 — the North American
experience, 282 — Forest Service in the United States,
287 — development of forests in Canada, 292
CHAPTER XIV
Forest INFLUENCES. , 3 ‘ . ‘ . 801-3820
Influence on precipitation, 302— on run-off, 302 —
erosion, 308 — lessening of evaporation, 312
CHAPTER XV
TaBLEs AND RuLES.. ‘ e : 2 ‘ 2 . 9821-337
Relative hardness of woods, 821 —fuel value and
weight of dry wood, 322 — weights of cordwood, 324 —
land measure, 324 — weight per 1000 of seasoned lum-
ber, 325 — well-seasoned fuel, 325—cordwood on an
acre, 326 — shape of the ax, 327 — tables of growth,
328 — yield tables, 331— volume tables, 333 — table
showing durability of fence posts, 337
THE FARM WOODLOT
THE FARM WOODLOT
CHAPTER I
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FOREST
Farm forestry is the raising of a timber crop on a farm
or in conjunction with usual agricultural operations. It
differs from other or general forestry only in the extent of
its operations. In a broad way, all forestry is agriculture
because it is the rearing of a crop from the land. The
United States Forest Service is one of the divisions or
parts of the Department of Agriculture. Forestry is
taught in the colleges of agriculture. Professional for-
estry is only that large application requiring all of one’s
time and demanding special preparation as a life work.
Farmers must undertake to grow timber crops with as
much care and forethought as they produce other crops.
In many parts of the United States and Canada the forest
must be planted outright ; in other regions it is a question
of maintaining and improving the natural forest. In any
case, the farmer must recognize not only the value of
wood and timber to himself, but also the importance of
the forest to the country and to mankind at large.
It should be understood at the beginning that forestry
has to do with woods, and not with city planting, shade
trees, or home lawns or parks. Separate trees do not
B 1
2 The Farm Woodlot
make a forest any more than separate buildings make a
city. The term “city forestry” is a contradiction. A
wood or forest has its own life, and it produces and it
meets a certain set of conditions. The cultivation of
separate trees is arboriculture ; if the subjects are fruit
trees, the cultivation of them falls in the domain of po-
mology.
FOREST ECONOMICS
The forests have never received the proper credit for
the great part they have played in the rapid development
and civilization of this country. So strenuous was the
struggle of the early settlers to subdue the forest and wrest
from it the land necessary for their farms, and so omni-
present was that forest, that it came to be considered as an
enemy to be fought; the benefits accruing from it were
lost in the sum of injuries.
And yet that very abundance of forests —so often
considered as a curse — was an enormous factor in the
civilizing of the country, in the rapid rise in the Ameri-
can standard of living. Lumber was at that time by far
the cheapest building material. This cheapness of lum-
ber brought a neat house within the reach of every man,
and with the neat house comes the increased pride in the
home, the increased self-respect and with it the rise in the
standard of living.
Men with no capital at all could hew themselves a
home from the forests. With an ax they built log cabins.
In the winter they worked in logging camps and earned
the money on which they could live while they cleared
the land and started their farms. Fence material grew
in the fields. Fuel was everywhere.
The Significance of the Forest 3
Later, settlement moved westward to the prairie and
the plains. Sod huts for years were the only homes they
knew. The dread of the winter was acute because of the
scarcity of fuel. The building of good homes and towns
was slow on account of the lack of building material. It
was only the construction of railroads that carried civili-
zation and comfort rapidly across these treeless areas,
and much of the freight in the earlier days was wood in
one form or another. Even the rapid building of the
many railroads was due to the abundance of tie timbers.
The railroads, the great civilizing highways of the prairies,
are laid on millions of wooden ties.
Nor does wood play a much less important part in the
world to-day. In spite of the innumerable substitutes
that have been brought into use, the wood consumption
is greater per capita than it was in the days of early settle-
ment. For every substitute introduced, many new uses
for wood have been discovered. While it is possible by
care and economy of use greatly to reduce the per capita
consumption of wood, the experience of European coun-
tries has shown that no nation can enjoy the highest
prosperity without the produce of forests.
While there are certain parts of this country in which
the timber supply has run far short of the demand, the
development of our transportation facilities has been such
that other timbered sections have always been able to
supply the want without hardship to the denuded section.
Thus it is that the sources of lumber have been pushed far
back into the mountainous regions of the West and the
less densely populated parts of the Southeast, without
the knowledge being very painfully impressed upon the
4 The Farm Woodlot
people of the East and the Central States, their own
timber supply having long since fallen far below their
needs. This cannot continue and the time will come, and
that at no very distant future, when there will not be
enough forests left in the whole United States to supply
the demand. Nor is there much hope of very lasting
supplies being available for us in other countries. America
is the last great treasure-house of virgin timber in the
northern hemisphere. The timber of South America,
the only southern continent that has a great excess, is
not suitable to our needs. The much talked-of forests
of Canada are wholly inadequate to supply the demands
of two nations for any length of time.
It is imperative that the United States shall grow the
timber necessary for its own use, and that a beginning be
made at once. Already the time necessary to grow the
timber for our own needs is short. We may call our
country an agricultural country and a manfacturing coun-
try; but classify it as we may, it must be a timber-pro-
ducing country or our other interests will inevitably suffer.
At present, the care of our forests, reproduction of our
old forests and the creation of new ones are neglected,
because it is said that such work will not pay. The
experience of European countries, most of which have
passed through exactly the same stages of development
as ours, proves conclusively that it does pay. It goes
back directly to the old question of supply and demand.
It is necessary only for the demand sufficiently to exceed
the supply to make it pay to raise trees on what is now our
most valuable agricultural land. This condition, however,
will never obtain except in peculiar districts, because, and
The Significance of the Forest 5
only because, we have enough poorer land to produce all
the timber we shall need.
Germany at one time had a much larger area of forest
than she needed. At that time, as with us now, they cut
the timber needed without reference to the future. It
did not pay them to grow new forests while there was a
sufficient supply from the old ones. This continued until
the area of timber land was reduced to a low percentage.
As the supply diminished, the price increased until it was
apparent that some of the poorer qualities of land being
used for ordinary agriculture would produce more revenue
if devoted to the growing of forests. When the forested
area became again too large, the prices fell and some of
the forest land reverted to general agriculture. These
trial balances showed plainly that about twenty-six per
cent of the entire land area had to be devoted to timber
growth if the proper balance was to be utilized to the
greatest financial advantage.
The classification of lands
Here is the crux of the whole question of the develop-
ment of our country, — the classification of our lands so
that they may be used in the most productive capacity.
Up to the present time this has not been done. All efforts
in this direction have been unsatisfactory because they
have not been based on the proper data. A chemical
analysis of soil establishes certain facts in regard to its
chemical constituents; in certain rare instances it deter-
mines the possibility or impossibility of that soil support-
ing a certain kind of plant growth; it may indicate that
a soil is chemically suited for certain crops; it shows the
6 The Farm Woodlot
effects of different vegetation on the soil, the elements
used by different plants, and indicates the best method
of increasing fertility ; but as a means of determining the
true economic value of that soil it is wholly inadequate.
The result is the same with the physical geological
analysis. It brings out certain facts regarding the soil
that are of value in testing the different theories of growth,
and in determining the results of various cultural opera-
tions. It does not touch the question of economic values.
Reconnaissance, biological and ecological surveys de-
termine the kind of vegetation that the soil now sup-
ports, and the data secured in this way may be used by
the application of certain empirical laws to predict what
kind of commercial crops may be grown more or less
successfully on that quality of soil. But even then, al-
though they give more reliable data on the possibilities
of plant growth, they do not determine the economic
value of the soil.
Why, then, are all these methods inadequate? For the
very sufficient reason that the economic value of the land
depends only partly on its quality, and is in many cases
entirely independent of it. The value depends wholly on
economic conditions that may or may not involve the
quality of the soil as a factor; it may be a negligible
factor to-day and of vast importance to-morrow, and vice
versa. A piece of land in Nebraska ideal for the produc-
tion of corn had no economic value a hundred years ago;
to-day its corn-producing capacity is worth $100 per
acre. And yet there are parts of that very corn land that
are to-day more valuable for other purposes, wholly inde-
pendent of its quality.
The Significance of the Forest 7
This shows that the economic value of land cannot be
permanently fixed, nor its use determined once for all
time. The use, the value, and hence the classification of
all land is subject to change with differing conditions in
the commercial world, and no inherent qualities of the
soil can bind it permanently to one particular use. What,
then, is the true basis of land value and hence land classi-
fication? Clearly, the productive capacity of land is
governed by economic conditions only, — conditions that
are subject to change and that may change completely
the productive capacity, and hence the classification. It
is these changing conditions that are ignored by ordinary
methods of classification. More depends on the price
of timber and the price of grain than on the quality of the
soil. If these premises are true, — and no evidence can be
produced against them,—a permanent classification of land
is not practicable.
In the near future, — in fact it is already upon us, —
the question of the division of our lands into the two great
classes of tillable and forest land will be a pressing
one. How shall we meet it? On what shall the classi-
fication be based? Once and for all it must be clearly
understood that such classification is only temporary and
subject to correction at any time. With this in mind,
we must proceed on the only just basis: a comparison of
the net revenues obtainable from the land under other
crops and under forestry. The revenue from farm crops
is usually available from pieces of similar land in the im-
mediate vicinity. The production of the forest is a little
harder to determine and a little less certain, but it can
be secured. A study of the forest growth on the nearest
8 The Farm Woodlot
similar land will furnish the data for calculating the future
value of the forest crop, and the conversion of these figures
into terms of annual revenues will make possible compari-
son with usual agricultural revenues. Since the forest data
are not based on actual results obtained on that land, a
margin of safety must be allowed. On the other hand,
the trend of lumber prices is upward and the tendency
toward increased cost of producing other agricultural crops
must be carefully studied. We find ourselves involved in
studies of growth, fertility, market and labor conditions.
This is a complicated problem, but it must be solved if we
are to realize the best possible returns from our land in the
future.
The greater part of our land, when considered in the
mass, is too clearly of either one class or the other for its
use to be questioned. There are, however, two classes of
land that are near the border line, the use of which
must be decided by careful study: these are the farm
lands that are so run down as to produce little revenue or
that have lost out in the competition with cheaper land
in the West, and the undeveloped land that was originally
forest land and has not yet been cultivated. The dis-
position of these lands is very important, for its improper
use means a tremendous loss to individuals, and more
especially to the nation.
As an example of this doubtful class, the “hill
lands” of New York or some of the poor farm lands of
New England may be considered. Some of these lands
have never yielded an income under tillage and should
never have been cleared ; others yielded a small net revenue
when first cleared, but have since ceased to be profitable.
The Significance of the Forest 9
Some of these lands have been known to yield as high as
$1.50 per annum net profits to the acre under forest, even
without care. Under proper management, this could be
doubled or trebled. The capital invested is next to
nothing and the labor expended is small. This, it is to
be remembered, is true of lands that will not pay any
net returns under usual agricultural crops, and it is true
of practically all such lands that are not swampy.
Another example of doubtful land classification is the
jack-pine land of the Lake States. It will yield a small
but respectable yearly revenue under timber. Under
other farm crops the yields are so small as to make profits
doubtful.
But even in such cases, the classification cannot be
more than temporary; and is often reversed by outside
influences. Some of the “hill lands” near the railroad
stations may show profits from usual agricultural crops,
while those farther away are no longer cultivated. .Some
of the jack-pine land which can be fertilized and is properly
located may yield a large revenue in vegetables. A change
in the location of a railroad might upset the whole scheme.
There are many sections — usually the poorer ones —
which consider it a disgrace to have any of their lands
classified as non-agricultural, or more strictly as non-cul-
tivable. They think that it gives the section a bad name,
that it will keep away settlers. This is a mistaken idea.
It would be much better frankly to divide the land into
classes and devote each class to its proper use. How much
better for the community is a thrifty forest yielding its
steady income, than a farm on which some poor man is
wearing away his very soul and growing poorer every year!
10 The Farm Woodlot
The prevailingly unprofitable farm lands
In some cases, there are farms on which all the land is
of a high tillage quality, too valuable as a crop-producer
to be devoted to other purposes. There would be no place
for a woodlot. But even under these conditions, if they
extend over a large enough area, a point will be reached
Fic. 2.— Two crops— maize, and the farm forest.
at which the products of the woodlot will become so high-
priced that it will pay to raise forest trees on a certain
proportion of that good cultivable soil. That is, the prod-
ucts of the woodlot would be more valuable than the
other crops that could be raised on that same land.
Should the area devoted to woodlots become too large,
The Significance of the Forest 11
the prices would fall and some of the lots would revert to
other agriculture. That is true no matter how valuable
the land may be.
On most farms, in no matter what section of the coun-
try, a certain percentage of the land yields but a small
profit — or none at all— under farm crops. In ninety
nine cases out of a hundred, such land is abandoned and
lies absolutely idle and a drag on the remainder of the
farm, for it does not even pay its own taxes. That is poor
economy. Why abandon a piece of land merely because
it does not yield quite so high a revenue as the remainder ?
Why narrow our scheme of management by confining it
to the land best suited to certain crops? Abandoned land -
on a farm is always a sign of shiftlessness or of an un-
developed plan. Each plat should be devoted to the pur-
pose for which it is suited, and rare indeed is the land that
is best suited to idleness. The farmer’s problem includes
the management of his whole farm, not of some one par-
ticular crop, and his scheme of management should include
as careful a plan for the poor land as for that of the best
quality; in fact the poorer lands usually require more
careful planning.
The best general solution for the utilization of this
unprofitable farm land is to make it a woodlot. This fits
readily into any scheme of farm management, produces a
good profit and adds to the value of the farm in many
ways. No land on the farm is of such poor quality that it
will not support tree growth, and some land of the poorest
fertility will produce excellent crops of certain species of
trees. The little work connected with it comes in the win-
ter, when it does not interfere with any of the farm work.
12 The Farm Woodlot
When the forest is already standing on the waste land,
as is usually the case in natural forest regions, the handling
of the woodlot becomes a question of proper management
to improve its sylvicultural condition and to increase the
growth. In a prairie region, or where the original forest
has been cut away, it is a question of selecting the proper
species for planting and caring for the plantation so as to
get the greatest profits. All those operations are described
in the chapter on sylviculture.
Products of the woodlot
As already stated the woodlot increases the value of the
farm in many ways. Probably the most important feature
of the woodlot in most sections is its production of fuel.
Most farmers use wood entirely for fuel. If this fuel is
not produced on the farm, it usually must be bought at
cash outlay — we are considering a settled community
in which all the wild lands are under private ownership
(for that will soon be the condition everywhere through-
out the country) — and in addition will have to be hauled
for long distances. The bulkiness of the material makes
this hauling alone very expensive: A woodlot under
proper management will easily yield a cord of wood to the
acre yearly for an indefinite period.
Besides the production of cordwood, proper handling
will produce a limited amount of sawlogs. The profit
from these is usually very high, because only selected logs
are taken and the quality of the timber is very high.
Usually the market is close at hand and the cost of logging
consequently very low. Even now the woodlots of the
The Significance of the Forest 13
country produce some 80,000,000 ft. B.M.! of sawlogs.
This could easily be doubled by proper management;
and it is safe to say that the present area of the woodlots
would be much more than doubled if the farm lands were
all put to the use for which they are best adapted.
Posts, most of which are now shipped from long dis-
tances at great expense, can be grown at home, and the
cost of fencing be very much reduced. Telephone poles
for local lines can be grown; railroad ties are eagerly
bought by the railroads. Nor must it be forgotten that
all of these products yield more or less by-products in the
form of cordwood. All of them, also, can be cut in the
winter when men are otherwise idle and expensive horses
are standing in the stable.
In many cases, this woodlot can be so located as to fur-
nish shelter from damaging winds to the farm crops or
homestead. The difference between a cozy home nestling
in the shelter of a neighboring woodlot, and a house
exposed to the winds of winter and the hot dry winds of
summer, may not be calculated exactly in dollars and
cents, but it certainly means much to those living therein.
The esthetic feature of the woodlot is also incapable of
exact valuation, but it certainly adds much to the attrac-
tiveness of the country. It does away with the appear-
ance of shiftlessness always accompanying waste land.
Further, it is yielding a revenue from land that otherwise
‘would be a drag on the remainder of the farm; and it is
preparing the way for still greater profits later on — for a
generation or two of forest growth will rehabilitate farm
1B.M. is the customary abbreviation for board measure, ?.e. for square
feet of surface of boards 1 in. thick.
14 The Farm Woodlot
land that has been run down beyond the possibility of
successful cropping. The fertility of the land is renewed
and increased by forest growth.
Lastly, but not of the least importance commercially,
all these features greatly increase the sale value of the land.
There is no doubt that a well-regulated woodlot with its
appearance and its possibilities for production will in-
crease the attractiveness of a farm sufficiently to raise its
sale value several hundred dollars.
A few examples of the results of forest management in
Europe and parts of America will assist in showing the
possibilities of the woodlot as a money-producer. Large
areas of the German forests, artificially planted and care-
fully tended, yield a net annual revenue of $4 to $8 per
acre. Only a few of them yield less than $2.50 per acre.
One forest in Switzerland yields as high as $14 per acre.
Such large profits as these, in many cases higher than
the revenues from our good farm lands, are not yet
possible in this country owing to the low cost of lumber,
but already plantations of white pine in New England
have yielded six per cent on the investment annually,
and that under rather careless management. It will be
some time, possibly, before such profits can be realized on
our large forest areas, but, owing to the ready market and
the possibility of more complete utilization, the woodlot
can already be made to participate in them.
The initial expense of establishing a woodlot is small,
the expense and care of conducting it are almost negligible,
and the returns, considering the quality of the land on
which it grows, highly satisfactory. There are very
few farms that can afford to be without a woodlot.
CHAPTER II
THE PLACE OF THE FOREST IN FARM MAN-
AGEMENT
THE time has come when the woodlot should be given
its proper place in every scheme of farm management.
There was a time when every man in the prairie country
considered it good farming to put all of the land he could
plow into wheat; that time has passed. Even in the old
East, the early farmer too often thought of his farm in
terms of tillage and mowings and pasturage rather than
including forests. All land is not suited to the produc-
tion of wheat, nor can the best wheat land maintain its
fertility if planted to wheat continuously for a long series
of years.
The key to successful farming to-day is the careful
classification of land (see page 19) and the no less careful
selection of the crops best suited to each class. The
enormous yields secured in some parts of the older coun-
tries are partly due to very intensive methods, but are
more largely dependent on the detailed study of the same
piece of land through several generations so that every
peculiarity of the soil is known, the crop exactly suited to
it selected. These methods will bring the highest yields,
but of course the cost of production and the market must
be carefully considered in order to obtain the highest net
returns. The high cost of labor may in one case prohibit
15
16 : The Farm Woodlot
the crop which will bring the highest yield; the lack of a
market may prevent it in another.
This proper choice of crops seems simple enough, but
the idea makes its way very slowly against the customary
practice. Because there was no market for a crop ten
years ago, it is still avoided to-day, although conditions
may have changed so completely that it would now be
the best-paying crop on the farm.
It is this misplaced conservatism that has for so many
years kept the woodlot from its proper place in the scheme
of farm management. When there were large areas of
natural timber, the woodlot products were so plentiful
that they had no value, and no one could even imagine
the time when they would be scarce. The settlers who
occupied the treeless prairie all came from the regions of
plentiful timber. They still remembered the back-
breaking labor of clearing up the forest, and hesitated to
sacrifice any of that beautiful open land to the growth of
such a worthless crop — for so it was in their country —
as forest trees, even though they were paying excessively
high prices for lumber, posts and all the fuel they used.
To them every square foot planted to trees was a sacrifice
of good, productive land, — land which might be produc-
ing what they considered a valuable crop,—to produce
something which had no intrinsic value.
These conditions have changed now in the timbered
area, and they never really existed in the prairies. The
woodlots in the hills of the forested East to-day yield as
high net revenue as some of the more fertile cultivated
lands of the valleys, in spite of the utter lack of care and
the violent abuses they have suffered. And even the fertile
The Forest in Farm Management 17
prairie lands of the West, owing to the exigencies of the
market, will sometimes yield a higher revenue when planted
to trees and properly cared for than any other crop will
average for the same period, while at the same time the
woodlot will be of inestimable value to the rest of the farm
in other ways.
CAPABILITIES OF THE WOODLOT
A few illustrations will demonstrate this very clearly.
In New England, plantations of white pine made forty
years ago on poor gravelly land, depleted by a long series
of cropping, have yielded as high as forty thousand feet of
box boards to the acre, worth ten dollars a thousand on
the stump. This was sufficient to pay 6 per cent interest
per annum on the value of the land and the cost of estab-
lishing the plantation. That was from a quality of land
which would not at that time have produced any other
crop which would have paid nearly as high returns. Yet
the owner looked upon this as waste land and so little appre-
ciated the value of the crop that he sold it for half its value
without taking the trouble to investigate its true worth.
There are throughout the New England states many
neglected, run-down farms that have grown up to volun-
teer crops of white pine. These crops have established
themselves without expense to the owner and have never
had care of any kind. In spite of this neglect, they have
produced crops more valuable than farm crops and have
at the same time rejuvenated the soil.
Warren, in Bulletin 295 of the Cornell Experiment
Station, records an abandoned field in New York that had
grown up to such a volunteer crop of trees. This field
c
18 The Farm Woodlot
of thirty-five acres not only received absolutely no atten-
tion, but was even mistreated. At the end of twenty-two
years the timber crop was sold for $106 per acre, a
return of $4.82 per acre per annum from land which
would not sell for $15 per acre. This is not an isolated
case ; there are acres of others which have done as well.
In the prairie sections of the Middle West, where there
is no natural timber, there have been very few plantations
made for commercial purposes. There are thousands of
plantations, but they are so small and so highly valued for
their protection and esthetic effect that they are seldom
cut. A conservative estimate will show, however, that
they have a high intrinsic value for timber, posts and cord
wood, entirely apart from the valuable protection they
afford to homes, stock and crops.
Consider, for example, the following data collected
from a windbreak plantation near Crookston, Minnesota:
The plantation is two rods wide and contains five rows of
cottonwood trees planted four feet apart in the row.
This means 1650 trees per acre. These trees will all
make one post, and half of them two. This means 2475
posts which have a value of .08 apiece for treating pur-
poses, —a yield of $198 per acre in twelve years, or $16.50
per annum, over the cost of production. This is almost as
much as the gross returns from a wheat crop. Should there
not be a market for so many posts, the forty cords of
wood will find a ready sale at $5 per cord, and the profits
will be practically the same. The wheat crop so highly
valued and universally planted in this section will not
yield a third of this, and there is no grain crop that will
average such a high revenue for such a long period of
The Forest in Farm Management 19
years. Yet there are millions of acres of wheat planted
every year, and not an acre of forest except for the pro-
tection of less valuable crops.
These examples (and they are typical of thousands of
other cases) show clearly enough that the farm woodlot
deserves a definite and respected place in every scheme of
farm management.
LOCATING THE WOODLOT
It is clear, then, that there should be a woodlot on
every farm. The next thing is to choose the proper loca-
tion for it. For convenience we shall discuss this under
two heads: the hilly country of the East, and the level
prairies of the West.
In comparison with the prairies, nearly all of the
eastern farm lands may be considered hilly. On almost
every farm there is a tract of land ill suited to cultivation,
either on account of the steepness of the slope or the poor
quality of the soil. In some cases it is so poor that it is
not cultivated at all; in others it can be forced to yield a
slender crop which is often produced at a loss. In either
case it is the place to choose for the woodlot. The steep-
ness of the slope does not in any way interfere with the
growth of the trees, which require little, if any, cultivation
in that country, and the roots of the trees hold the soil in
place, prevent the hillside from eroding and burying the
richer soils of the valleys. Nor is the poor quality of the
soil much hindrance, for trees may do well on soil which is
too poor to support any other crop. Every one of these so
called ‘waste places” on the farm is capable of producing
a very respectable revenue from the growth of forest trees.
20 The Farm Woodlot
Even in the prairie districts (and with the prairies are
here grouped all the flat lands of fairly uniform quality),
there are patches of land, some large and some small,
which are poorly suited to cultivation and naturally sug-
gest themselves as woodlot locations.
In the comparatively few cases in which the land is of
uniformly good quality throughout, the necessity for wind-
breaks may aid in the location of the woodlots. In all
the prairie sections this will be true, no matter what the
character of the land. The cold winds of winter and the
hot, drying winds of summer are now recognized as great
obstacles to successful farming in these exposed regions.
Homes are made uncomfortable, stock suffers and exces-
sive supplies of forage are made necessary by the bitterly
cold winds of winter. Soil moisture is evaporated, and,
in many cases, the immature crops are burned up in the
fields by the hot, dry winds of midsummer. Dry-farm-
ing methods and the selection of drought-resistant species
are far from successful. Windbreaks are an absolute
necessity.
These harmful winds blow consistently in a definite
direction. Windbreaks should be placed at right angles to
them and at sufficiently close intervals to protect the inter-
vening spaces. These spaces should not much exceed a
quarter of a mile in width, as a windbreak cannot be
expected to extend its influence over a distance much
greater than ten times its height. A number of such
breaks would, however, prevent the formation of the
diurnal! winds which do so much of the damage. The
1 Winds which rise with the sun each day and go down with it; local
winds made possible by large unbroken areas of overheated surface.
The Forest in Farm Management 21
location of these windbreaks is dictated by the necessity
for protection, and there is no reason why these same
breaks should not serve the double purpose of protection
and wood production. An increased width of wind-
breaks will greatly increase the efficiency of the break and
make it an adequate source of wood supply without with-
drawing nearly so large an area from cultivation as would
be necessary if the windbreaks and woodlots were separate.
The land thus devoted to tree growth should never be
less than 5 per cent of the farm, and in many cases 20
per cent of it can be so used to advantage. In the case of
patchy land, the size of the woodlot should be governed by
the area of the non-tillable land, provided always that it
did not go below the minimum, as stated above. If the
proper soil classification has been made, it cannot exceed
the maximum, — for there is no money in farming poor
soil. The land for this purpose should not be grudgingly
set apart or considered a loss to the farm. It forms as
distinctly legitimate a part of the scheme of farm manage-
ment as wheat, oats, corn or any of the other cultivated
crops, and in wood products alone will pay a higher rent
on the quality of land it occupies than any of them,
entirely apart from, and in addition to, its value as a
windbreak, a harbor and breeding place for insect-eating
birds, and a most pleasing feature in the landscape.
@) SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS
Every farm should have a woodlot, — some large, some
small, according to the quality of the soil, but there is no
land so valuable that it will not pay to put a small part
of it in a woodlot.
22 The Farm Woodlot
The woodlot should not be used as a pasture. No
farmer would pasture his wheat crop; why then should he
pasture a crop that is even more valuable? If shade is
needed in the pasture, let him plant some good shade trees
there and fence them off until they are large enough to
take care of themselves. If the trees are taken care of,
they will be worth a great deal; if they are injured by
grazing animals, they will be worth much less. The
value of such pasturage is comparatively nothing.
The woodlot should be located on the poorest land on the
farm. The quality of the soil is very important in the
production of grain crops; for the growth of trees it is
unimportant. In this respect many of the woodlots in
the East are now poorly located. In the original clearing
of the farms very little attention was paid to the quality
of the soil, and the woodlot was often left on the most
fertile part of the farm. On the prairies the plantings
should be so located as to furnish the best protection to
the cultivated crops, the stockyards and the homestead.
Heretofore, the idea of protection has been too much
restricted to the homestead. This is important in increas-
ing the comfort of the home, but the protection of the
crops is far more important from the financial viewpoint.
The increase in yield within the influence of the wind-
break will often exceed 50 per cent. It is often objected
that such a break destroys the fertility of the adjoining
field for a rod on either side of it. This objection is
easily overruled when we stop to consider that an in-
creased yield of 10 per cent in the area influenced by a
thirty-five-foot break will compensate for a total loss on a
two-rod strip next to the break. Moreover, there is
The Forest in Farm Management 23
always more or less of a loss along any boundary, whether
it be a fence or a row of trees, so the windbreak should
not be charged with too much waste. In any case the
wood produced in the break will more than pay for all the
land it occupies or wastes entirely aside from the protection
it affords.
Lastly, the profits from groves already harvested show
that there is not a section of the northeastern United
States or Canada where a farm woodlot of the proper size
will not produce a crop more valuable, that is, yielding a
higher net revenue per annum, than any grain crop.
Therefore the woodlot should always be given a prominent
and definite place in any plan of farm management, not for
any sentimental or esthetic reason, but because it is a
money-maker, the best one on the farm.
THE CLEARING OF A FARM
There is one type of farm on which forestry must
necessarily play a much larger part than it does on the
older and more settled parts of the country or on the
windy prairies, yet it has so far received absolutely no
attention. This type comprises those farms that are now
being cleared in the timbered or cut-over regions.
It is very natural that little attention should have been
given these farms in a forestry way. These districts have
always had a superabundance of timber. Logging has
been the principal business. Most of the settlers have
taken the claims for the sake of the timber on them, or
because they were cheap stump land. Many of them have
worked in the logging camps and have the logger’s con-
tempt for anything except big, clear saw timber. They
24 The Farm Woodlot
care nothing for young growth and have no conception of
the land ever being able to produce valuable timber again.
To them the forest is a mine, not a growing crop.
None of these men has ever cleared any land, and he
has no idea of what it means to clean up a hundred and
sixty acres of stump land so that it can be cultivated.
The wrong way
Without any definite plans, or any estimate of costs,
persons pick out the place that seems the easiest to clear
and build a small shack in the middle of it, absolutely
regardless of the character of the soil. Most of them know
very little of farming. They have never actually figured
on the results they expect to attain, and have an indefinite
idea that they are going to clear the whole farm in two
years. They have astill hazier, but more strongly rooted,
idea that the more often a piece of land is burned over, the
easier it is to clear.
Under these conditions it is natural that they should
not only take no precautions against fire, but should even
use every effort to have the land burned over as often as
possible. In a very few years every growing thing on the
farm is destroyed except the almost indestructible and
rapidly growing brush. The land is reduced to a tangle of
worthless “bush,” and all tree seed and tree seedlings
have been destroyed. The density of the brush soon
makes the volunteer growth of trees impossible and even
successful planting very difficult and expensive.
Less than an acre is the average area cleared the first
year, and the man who has ten acres of cultivated land at
the end of five years is the energetic exception. He has
The Forest in Farm Management 25
had but little time to work on his own place. He had no
capital to start with, and must live. Clearing land is hard,
discouraging and lonesome work. He finds more imme-
diate returns and more congenial work in the logging
camps in the winter, on the drive in the spring and in the
harvest fields of the established farms in the fall. This
enforced absence from home makes it impossible for him
to keep stock of any kind or have a garden, the only
‘two lines of work open to him with the land at his dis-
posal.
Should he stick to the place long enough to clear up ten
acres, he almost invariably plants it up to the grain crop
most popular in that section. Distance from market,
forced neglect and lack of facilities generally destroy the
possibility of profit; he cannot eat the crop himself and
is no nearer self-support and prosperity than he was be-
fore.
In nine cases out of every ten the settler becomes dis-
gusted or completely discouraged, lets the so-called
‘‘farm’”’ go for taxes and moves on, probably to repeat the
performance at some other place.
Such methods, or lack of method, have broken the
hearts and discouraged the lives of thousands of men. It
has delayed the development of our timbered cut-over
lands a half a century and has left our country burdened
-with thousands of abandoned claims, worse than worth-
less waste lands which might just as well be producing
millions of revenue and supporting countless, prosperous
homes if the tree value of the land had only been con-
sidered in the first place.
26 The Farm Woodlot
The right way
The first necessity for a man who is attempting to clear
a cut-over or timbered claim, unless he has unlimited
capital and does not have to depend upon the farm for his
livelihood, is the realization that land devoted to the
growth of timber is capable of producing a good revenue
if protected from fire. Without that realization his success
must necessarily be very limited and very uncertain.
Next, he must bear in mind that not all land is worth
clearing. Many a man has devoted his whole life and
sacrificed his family in the effort to clear a farm which
proved to be useless when it was cleared. Select good
land; a poor farm is worse than none. That same land
will produce good profits in timber; as a farm it will be
only an expense to the owner.
A piece of good land chosen, the next thing needed
is a definite and comprehensive plan of operation. Five
acres is more than the average man can clear alone in a
year. Eighty acres is more than he ought to attempt in a
lifetime. If he is going to accomplish anything, he must
be on the place all the time; if he is going to be there all
the time, the place must support him from the very start.
This means that the first crops must be such as he can eat.
Fortunately these can be raised on a small patch of the
right kind of land.
The first step, then, is clear. The first clearing should
be made in the place best suited to a garden. From this
he can easily raise enough to support him and sell enough
more to buy the mere necessities of life.
The brush land furnishes good pasture for cattle and
The Forest in Farm Management 27
sheep, especially when it is seeded between the stumps,
and advantage should be taken of it. Eighty acres will
suffice for cultivated land and pasture for the first genera-
tion at least. This area should be selected at the start
and fenced off. There should be a definite plan of develop-
ment for this eighty acres covering the next forty years,
but the details of it lie beyond the province of this book.
Our business lies with the other eighty acres. It has
been explained above that this eighty acres will not be
needed in the plan of farm development for at least forty
years. If this land is burned over and pastured, as is the
common practice, it will steadily deteriorate and will
produce absolutely nothing. In the meanwhile the taxes
are piling up and the eighty acres of unused land — pro-
ducing no revenue — is hanging as a lifeless burden on the
rest of the farm. The tract cannot pay its way, and the
rest of the farm must not only pay the taxes, but must
eventually pay for the clearing of the land as well.
This is almost the universal custom, but it is quite as
foolish as it is universal. Experience has proven con-
clusively that any of this timber land and cut-over land
— if the soil is good — will grow up to a volunteer crop of
timber, provided it is protected from fire and grazing,
and that without any work or expenditure on the part of
the owner. Just how valuable the crop of timber is will
depend on the character of the soil and the consequent
character of the forest. It will vary from forty cords of
firewood in some types to forty thousand feet of valuable
box board lumber in others. In either case it will be suffi-
cient to pay the taxes for the forty years, pay the expenses
of clearing the land, if this seems desirable, and often in
28 The Farm Woodlot
addition will pay a higher net revenue per acre than the
rest of the farm has averaged in these early stages of de-
velopment.
_A very conservative estimate of the value of this eighty
acres of volunteer timber crop at the end of the forty
years would be $6400, and in some sections of the country it
would be three times as much. This is an unearned incre-
ment which is not to be despised, and yet it is being
absolutely ignored and thrown away on tens of thousands
of farms in the United States and Canada to-day.
Nor should all of the timber ever be cut from the farm,
even where the height of its development has been at-
tained. In these regions of plentiful timber it is but
natural that the value of the woodlot should be under-
estimated or altogether ignored. But there could not be
a greater mistake. It is an economic impossibility to
cultivate all the land in any section. Part of it must be
in timber. Many illustrations of the truth of this can be
seen in the older settled districts. Take, for example, the
most highly developed portions of the country, places
where farm land has reached a ridiculously high figure and
waste space is done away with. These sections in the
timber belt show from 10 to 25 per cent still in forest; in
the prairies the established woodlot is the farmer’s most
cherished possession, and the acreage devoted to this pur-
pose is steadily increasing. It can never be otherwise.
Why, then, should the pioneer struggle to clear all of
the timber from his farm when he or his descendants will
most certainly be obliged to replace some of it? The correct
handling of the woodlands of an uncleared claim is the most
important factor in the management and development of
such farms and should receive the attention it deserves.
CHAPTER III
THE GROWTH OF THE TREE
No book on forestry, no matter how ‘‘popular” it may
be, would be complete without a brief sketch describing
the parts of a tree and how it grows, — for on that knowl-
edge is based the management of the woodlot in all its
phases.
A tree is a plant of upright growth which usually
attains a height of at least fifteen feet. It consists of an
upright branching stem, roots, leaves, buds, flowers and
fruit. The stem is usually unbranched below, when the
plant is grown, forming a trunk or bole.
The leaves, the most evident part of the tree in summer,
are the factories where the food for the nourishment of the
whole tree is prepared. In this process they take in
carbonic acid gas from the air, and give off oxygen as a
waste product. They may be almost any shape, from the
feather-like compound leaves of the honey locust to the
needle-like leaf of the pine or the mere scale of the arbor-
vite, and the size varies greatly. No matter what
their shape or size, they perform the same functions of
manufacturing the raw materials taken from the air
and soil into carbohydrates for plant-food.
If the leaves remain on the tree over winter, this tree
is called an evergreen; if the leaves all fall off in the
29
30 The Farm Woodlot
autumn, it is called deciduous. Even the evergreens do
not keep the same leaves all the time; they are only called
evergreens because they never lose all their leaves at the
same time. The white pine needles remain on the trees
from two to four years, the red cedar seven or eight and the
other evergreens range between these two. In falling,
they give back to the soil chemicals that the tree has
drawn from it, and more besides. It is this which causes
the continued growth of forest on a piece of land to increase
the fertility of the soil.
The roots supply most of the raw material with which
the leaves work. They are underground branches spe-
cially adapted to absorb moisture from the soil.
Some trees, such as the oaks, hickories, walnuts and
some of the pines, have practically only one root, a large
one called a tap-root, running straight down into the
ground. This is an inherited quality and cannot be modi-
fied very much by a change in the environment.
Others, such as the spruce, tamarack and balsam, have a
lateral system of roots which lie on or very near the sur-
face of the ground, while still others, like our maples, ashes
and elms, have a combination of the two, or a mixed system.
These are a little better able to change and adapt them-
selves to new conditions.
These roots, by reason of very fine rootlets, or root hairs,
suck up water from the soil and in solution with it certain
small quantities of lime, magnesia and potash, — the raw
materials for plant-food. This water passes through the
roots, up the stem of the tree and out the branches to
the leaves. Here the excess water evaporates through the
pores, and the leaves work up the mineral salts and the
The Growth of the Tree 31
elements obtained from the air into sugar and starch from
which the wood tissues are made. This passage of the
water up the stem in the early spring is known as the
“rising of the sap.’”’ Since this is the only way the tree
has of securing food, it is absolutely essential that these
necessary materials be in soluble form. Should they be
present ever so abundantly in insoluble combinations, or
poisoned by salts or acids, the tree would nevertheless
starve. This often happens with all kinds of plants, and
is well known by most farmers.
The roots also fulfill the further purpose of holding
‘the tree upright. Naturally the trees with the long tap-
root running deep into the ground are the firmest, because
they have the best grip on the soil. Such trees are prac-
tically never uprooted, — they break off first. Those
having the mixed root systems are also fairly firm and not
easily blown over unless they have been grown in a very
protected location and then suddenly deprived of their
protection, —for, as explained above, they easily adapt
themselves to conditions and would not take a deep hold
on the ground unless forced to it by constant strain. The
shallow-rooted species have a still weaker hold, and are
easily upset even when most carefully trained to with-
stand the wind. The roots are much quicker to respond
to the necessity of giving stronger mechanical support
than to the exigencies of a new moisture or soil condition.
The stem, trunk or bole.— The trunk of the tree an-
swers the double purpose of transporting the water supplied
by the roots, and supporting the crown; its branches
spread the leaves to the light.
If a cross-section of the stem is studied, its structure
32 The Farm Woodlot
may be quite plainly seen. In the center is a small spot of
pith varying from a mere pin point in the pine to a half
inch in diameter in some of the sumacs and elders. This
was the original live tissue from which the rest has grown.
Surrounding it are a number of concentric rings, very
distinct in the oak, almost invisible in the black gum.
Each ring represents the growth of a year. The inner
portion of the ring is usually of a lighter color and softer
texture. This is the spring wood. It is formed in the
spring when the tree is living on the food stored over from
the preceding season, and the walls of the cells, of which all
wood is composed, are very thin. The wood of deciduous
trees, the hardwoods, is usually full of little holes, the
cross-sections of hollow cells; in the conifers, or softwoods,
the holes are so small that they cannot be seen with the
naked eye. The outer portion of the ring is of darker
color and harder tissue. This is the growth of the summer
or autumn, when the leaves are furnishing an abundance
of food, and the cell walls are very thick. The contrast
is very much stronger in some woods than in others.
In the tropical forests, the trees either do not show these
rings at all, or, when present, they do not represent years
of growth. There the growth is continuous throughout
the year, except when interrupted by drought; there is no
cold weather to bring about a rest period. Consequently
rings, when present, represent periods of drought instead
of years, and the age of the trees cannot be ascertained
definitely in this way. If the trunk examined is an oak,
there will be evident streaks of white wood radiating from
the central pith, like the spokes of a wheel, only in broken
lines. These are called the pith rays or medullary rays.
Fhe Growth of the Tree 33
They are lines of living tissue running at right angles to
the other fibers and furnish a storehouse for the surplus
food saved over from one season to another. It is the
splitting of these rays that makes the silver grain in quarter-
sawed oak; they are also important as the starting point
for checks in seasoned lumber. They are present in all
woods but are so small in many species that they cannot
be perceived without the use of a microscope. A further
variation may be noted in the appearance of the cross-
section. The outer portion, varying with the species,
from three to fifty rings in width, is of a lighter color than
the inner portion. This is called the sapwood. It is
through this porton of the stem that most of the water, or
sap, passes. Girdle this and the food supply of the tree
is cut off.
When the tree is young, all the wood is sapwood. At
varying ages in the different species, by some process as
yet not thoroughly understood, this sapwood undergoes a
change. It ceases to conduct the sap, and is strengthened
by certain injections that harden and mature it and
darken the color. The change is both chemical and physi-
cal. It is then known as heartwood, and practically
ceases to play any active part in the life of the tree, save
as a mechanical support for the crown. The change
from sapwood to heartwood does not take place at any
particular age. The sapwood may extend through twenty
rings on one side of the tree and only half a dozen on the
other; the line separating the two is very irregular.
Surrounding the stem is a layer of bark. It varies in
thickness from a sixteenth of an inch in the paper birch to
six inches in the big trees of California, but is always pres-
D
34. The Farm Woodlot
ent. Its purpose is to protect the growing tissue. There
is always a soft, pulpy inner bark and a woody or corky
outer bark. The various forms that it may take are as
numerous as the species of trees, and in many cases as
distinctive. A close examination shows that the bark
is divided into annual rings, and were it not for the fact
that the hard outer bark cracks and scales off from time to
time, the age could be told from the bark as well as from
the wood. This bark covers the entire tree, stem, roots
and branches.
As yet we have not discovered the source of growth, and
unless we know what to look for, may not find it at all. It
is most easily seen in the spring. Between the bark and
the wood is a very thin layer of mucilaginous living tissue.
During the growing season this tissue grows in two direc-
tions, outward to form the bark and inward to form wood.
It is by means of this tissue that all diameter growth
takes place. This is called the cambium and like the bark
envelops the whole tree. Where this layer is taken off,
diameter growth ceases.
The buds are arranged on the branches in regular order
at the base of the leaf stems. They are formed in the
autumn, when the tree is maturing its season’s growth, for
the winter protection of the tender growing points. The
- buds at the ends of the branches are called ‘‘ter-
minal’’ buds, those along the branches, “lateral” buds.
These buds are of two kinds: flower buds, which will
produce the flowers in the spring; and leaf buds. The
flower buds are often to be distinguished by their larger
size. They are more easily damaged by frost than the
leaf buds.
The Growth of the Tree 35
The flower is that part of the plant which produces the
fruit. Many persons do not know that trees produce
flowers and fruits. They confine the term flower to the
ornamental blossoms of certain garden plants, and the
term fruit to such things as apples and oranges. Never-
theless, every plant of the higher orders puts forth flowers.
In the trees, most of the flowers are very inconspicuous.
There are three different arrangements for the tree flowers.
In some species, such as the cherry and the mountain ash,
the flowers are perfect, that is both sexes are represented
in the same flower. The second class, the elm, oaks
and pines among them, have the different sexes in different
flowers on the same tree. The third class have the differ-
ent sexes on different trees, the cottonwoods and willows
being of this class. This is the reason why some cotton-
woods spread the objectionable cotton over everything
and others do not; why some holly has red _ berries,
others none.
Fruit. — Every tree which produces pistillate flowers
bears fruit. We use the term carelessly and frequently
confuse the fruit and the seed. The fruit is the seed, —
one or more in number, — together with the seed covering,
whether it be a hairy catkin, a fleshy drupe or a dry
samara. The flower is the generative organ that produces
the fruit, and this fruit contains the seed that produces
the small tree.
The fruit is important in this discussion only because
it produces the seed. These seeds are of almost innumer-
able shapes and sizes ; the important ones will be described
later on. The means by which the seeds are distributed
is the only point that must be taken up here. Among the
ri
36 The Farm Woodlot
species with which we are’ interested at present, there
are only two means of distribution: the wind and the birds.
The fleshy fruits, such as cherries, hackberries, red cedar
berries, and the like, are eaten by the birds and dropped,
often far from the tree on which they grew. The heavy
nuts can only roll or be carried short distances by squirrels.
All the others are supplied with some means to facilitate
wind transportation, as tufts of hair, wings, leaf attach-
ments, and the like.
LIFE HISTORY OF A TREE
With the above description of the tree and its parts in
mind, it will be easy to follow out a brief sketch of its
life history. When the seed is first placed in the ground,
it begins to absorb moisture. This softens the outer
coating of the seed and causes the fleshy portion within
to swell. Moisture and warmth start the growth in the
embryo of the seed, — the real germ of life. The covering
splits, the primary leaves or cotyledons appear above the
ground and the root grows downward. The plant at
this stage feeds on the fleshy part of the seed, the endo-
sperm. At this stage it is almost impossible for any one
but an expert to distinguish the different species, since
the cotyledons do not, in many species, in the least
resemble the mature leaves. The arborvite and the pine,
for example, are hardly distinguishable the first season.
The plant is established on an independent growing
basis if the root strikes readily into mineral soil, but if,
through any difficulty the endosperm is exhausted before
the root takes hold, the seedling shrivels and dies. The
different species vary greatly in their habits of growth in
The Growth of the Tree 37
the early seedling stage. Some, like the nut trees, devote
most of their energies to establish their root systems. The
tap-root of a one-year-old hickory is often as long as, or
longer than, the stem. Others, like the cottonwoods and
willows, make a rapid height growth with a comparatively
small root system. The hardwoods, as a rule, make much
more rapid growth for the first few years than the soft-
woods. Most of them put forth mature leaves and grow
a foot or more in height the first year. Most of the soft-
woods or conifers retain their cotyledons through the
first season and do not put forth any real leaves. They
rarely attain a height of over three inches the first year,
and many of them not more than two. They are so small
that they are usually overlooked in the woods unless one
is familiar with their appearance. All this growth of the
first season comes from the central pith. The cambium
is formed as the diameter growth continues. As autumn
approaches, growth ceases, the wood is matured and the
buds are formed to protect the growing points, — arranged
in regular order along the stem of the hardwoods, in a
whorl at the top of the coniferous stem. The leaves of the
hardwoods fall and the little trees are ready for the winter.
In the winter season, the hardwoods, as far as we
know, take an absolute rest, although there may be more
or less movement of fluids. Everything is prepared for
the cold weather and the leaves are gone. The ever-
greens are as well prepared as the hardwoods, save that
they do not drop their leaves. This is sometimes detri-
mental and even fatal in some open winters on the open
prairies. The sweep of a south wind forces evaporation
from the leaves when the ground is still frozen hard. In
38 The Farm Woodlot
this way, the tree is robbed of its normal amount of mois-
ture, and the leaves and twigs become shriveled, some-
times so severely that they cannot recover. The warmth
of spring starts growth in the plant once more. The sap
rises in the trees, the buds open, the leaves and flowers
come out, and the live tissue, that completely covers the
tree, stem and branches in an unbroken layer, begins
growth. During this period, the tree feeds on the surplus
food stored away the year before. The growth from the
growing points in the buds produces length of branch or
height of stem. The cambium produces diameter growth.
Neither stem nor branch ever grows in length except at
the end. There is a common belief that the fence wire
nailed on the trunk of a tree will rise as the tree grows.
This is not true. The trunk grows only in diameter.
This spring growth is producing the thin-walled layer
of cells found in the inner part of the ring in the cross-
section. When the leaves come out and the work of
manufacturing food begins, the thick-walled cells of the
outer part are formed. Through the summer, more food
is produced than can be used for growth, and this surplus
is stored away in the pith rays for the growth of the follow-
ing spring. This completes the yearly round of life in
the tree. The following years of growth are the same as
this second one.
At ages varying with the species, flower buds are formed
and fruit produced. This occurs in some species, like
the jack pine, at the age of seven or eight years. Such
early fruiting, however, is premature and the seed, if
any is produced, rarely possesses any vitality. This is
more or less true of the first seed produced by any plant.
The Growth of the Tree 39
By repeating this annual program, the tree continues
to grow for an indefinite period. Some species are natu-
rally shorter-livedthanothers. Thegray birch, forexample,
rarely lives more than thirty or forty years, while the big
trees of the Pacific Coast are some of them three or four
thousand years old. There does not appear to be any
definite limit to the age of trees, but when growth becomes
slow and their vitality low they become subject to the
attacks of insects and fungi that cause death and destroy
the wood after they die.
The thrifty tree may be picked out by its general ap-
pearance and the shape of its crown. So long as growth
is rapid and healthy, the crown retains a conical shape.
This is true of both conifers and hardwoods. When the
tree has attained its height and the growth is less strong,
the crown broadens and flattens out. This flat-topped
appearance shows that the tree has practically finished
its height growth and is growing only in diameter and
this only to a slight extent. Extremely old trees some-
times lack enough food for growth throughout the cam-
bium and lay on increment only in the upper portions.
This condition is usually followed very shortly by death,
—a death, however, that requires many years for its
fulfillment.
CHAPTER IV
DENDROLOGY
Tue study of the kinds of trees, and of their botanical
characteristics, is dendrology. The study of the cultiva-
tion or growing of trees in forest plantations is sylviculture.
A completer distinction between the two terms may be
made, in order that the reader may never be confused.
Sylviculture means forest-culture. It is derived from
sylva, meaning forest, plus the word culture. It deals with
forest crops as agriculture deals with farm crops. As
used in forestry, sylviculture means the producing of
forest trees for forestry purposes. It includes the growing
‘ of forest trees by sowing and planting, or what is known
as “artificial regeneration,” and the growing of forest
trees by caring for established forests so that the best and
most useful trees are produced and new trees spring up
naturally, or what is known as “natural regeneration.”
In either case, nature is aided to produce the best results
in the shortest possible time. In its broadest sense,
sylviculture includes everything that is connected with
the life history of a forest. Nature alone is oftentimes
slow and uncertain, and since the forester must attend to
the economic side, it becomes necessary to render aid,
such as supplying seed and plants and by furnishing the
most desirable trees, which nature does not always do,
and by aiding in the production of the best trees in a
minimum amount of time.
40
Dendrology 41
Sylviculture is primarily an art and as such it is based on
ascience. Thisscience is Sylvics. Sylvics is the knowledge
of the sylvicultural characteristics of forest trees. It treats
of the life history of forest trees as individual species, or
of a tree, while sylviculture deals with a collection of trees
or with a forest. Before sylviculture can be practiced
with any intelligence, a knowledge of the requirements of
each species of tree, such as soil, moisture, climate, and
the like, must be secured, and: upon this sylviculture must
be based. Sylvics begins with a knowlddge of the number
and kinds of our forest trees and their ready identification
as to genus and species wherever found. This has to do
with the simple botany of trees, their botanical character-
istics, similarities and differences, and is called Dendrology,
from dendron, meaning tree. Sylviculture should then,
properly, begin with a study of the tree flora (as in Chapter
IV) and be followed (as in Chapter V) with a discussion
of sylviculture.
The scope of dendrology is large and includes much
that must be omitted here. The present treatment,
however, will include a study of sufficient distinguishing
characteristics of our common trees to enable any student
to identify such as come to his attention.
Our trees fall very naturally into two great groups : —
Conifers, — meaning cone-bearing trees, such as the pines
and spruces. (Nearly all our conifers have needle-
shaped leaves, and with the exception of the larches
all our northern conifers are evergreen.)
Broadleaf trees, — meaning trees with broad leaves, such
as the elms and oaks. (All our northern broadleaf
trees have deciduous foliage, 7.e. the leaves fall from
42 The Farm Woodlot
the trees every autumn and new leaves appear
in the following spring. The term hardwoods is
often used instead of broadleaf trees.)
THE CONIFERS
The cone-bearing trees are of first importance in any
scheme or practice of forestry. Pine, hemlock, fir, spruce,
redwood and cypress timber provide the greater part
of framework and finishing material in wood construction.
Key to the Common Conifers
I. Fruit a woody cone made up of overlapping cone-scales :
seeds winged, two from each fertile scale.
A. Leaves needle-shaped, single or in clusters.
1. Arrangement of leaves from 2 to 5 in a cluster,
usually over 2 inches long, evergreen (or
persistent). The pines.
2. Arrangement of leaves, in brush-like clusters,
many not evergreen (deciduous).
The larches.
3. Arrangement of leaves single, short, scattered
over the twigs.
a. The leaves standing on short stalks and
spreading out in all directions from the
twig: twigs rough after leaves fall.
The spruces.
b. The leaves not stalked, and appear to be
arranged in two ranks: resin blisters in
bark of trunk: cones large, upright,
seales falling with the seed.
The firs.
c. The leaves on short stalks, and appear to
be in two ranks: no resin blisters in bark:
cones small, pendant or pointing outward.
The hemlock.
B. Leaves seale-like,
very small and
closely pressed to
the twig; Branches
flattened: cones
very small with
scales opposite and
in pairs.
The white cedar.
II. Fruit a small, fleshy,
blue berry: leaves
seale-like, also awl-
shaped: branches
not flattened.
The red cedar.
The pines. Figs. 3, 4
The pines are very
ancient trees, having
evergreen needle-
shaped leaves and
bearing their seed in
cones. They are
amongst the foremost
lumber trees in this
country. They pro-
duce hard and soft
wood marked by light
and dark bands of
wood in which there
is much resin. Great
pine forests once oc-
Dendrology 43
Fic. 3.— Mature white pine. —A good
seed tree.
44 The Farm Woodlot
Fic. 4.— Mature Norway pine. — Pinus resinosa.
curred in the
Lake States and
in the East and
South, but the
lumberman has
destroyed prac-
tically all of
them. The great
pine areas have
been so com-
pletely cut. over
and burned that
most of our pine
land does not
now produce
pine, but instead
worthless brush
and small un-
important trees.
The pines do
not sprout as
do hardwoods.
Trees under
twenty years of
age rarely bear
good seed and
when all others
are cut, there is
no chance for
new pine trees
to grow.
Dendrology
Tue Kinps or Pings
45
“NaME LEAVES ConEs Bark S1zE
Pinus 5 in a cluster,/4-8 in. long,| Gray, deeply | 80-125 ft.
Strobus blue-green and scales thin and furrowed high, 2-4 ft.
White pine soft, 3-5 in. without spines and thick, in diameter
long smooth on
young trees
Pinus 2 in a cluster, | 2-3 in. long, egg-| Light red 50-90 ft. high
resinosa 5-6 in. long shaped, with brown or 1-3 ft. di-
Red pine and dark green small spines cinnamon ameter
red, in
broad plates
Pinus 3 in a cluster,}1-3 in. long, | Reddish brown| 30-70 ft. high,
rigida yellow-green, egg-shaped, scaly, or 1-2 ft. di-
Pitch pine 3-5 in. long, with small broken by ameter
stiff sharp spines irregular
on scales furrows :
Pinus 2 in a cluster,/2-4 in. long, | Dark gray, | 40-90 ft. high,
divaricata 1-2 in. long, smooth, scaly, rough 1-2 ft. di-
Jack pine thick, twisted, strongly and rather ameter
sharp pointed curved, per- thin
e sistent for
years ’
Pinus 2 and 3 in a|3-6 in. long, | Cinnamon red | 60-200 ft. high,
ponderosa cluster, 3-15 hard, with to black, 3-8 ft. di-
Bull pine in. long, yel- sharp curved divided into ameter
low-green, points on end} -large plates
shiny of scales
Pinus syl- 2 in a cluster, | 1 to 2} in. long,| Reddish gray |20 to 50 ft.
vestris 1 to 2 in. long, small de- and scaly high, 10 to 15
Scotch pine twisted and ciduous spine, in, diameter
sharp pointed, single and
blue-green clustered
Our pines are known by such names as “hard pines,”
“soft pines,
966
yellow pines,
906
white pines,
966
pitch pines,”
all of which are given them by the lumberman and the
carpenter, depending on the amount of pitch any piece
46 The Farm Woodlot
may contain or whether it is hard or soft and whether
the color is white or yellowish. These names are confusing
and uncertain. A standard common name should always
be used in speaking of any of these trees so that others
may know what kind of pine is meant.
The Scotch pine and Austrian pine are not native to this
country, but have been introduced from Europe. They
are valuable trees for planting in certain places and are
used particularly in farm plantations.
The larches
The larches are distinguished from the pines chiefly
by their leaves. In summer the foliage is very different,
and in the winter the larches are without leaves as are
the oaks and elms. Of the three larches occurring natu-
rally in the United States but one is found in the eastern
half. This one is the common tamarack of the north
woods and chiefly of the swamps. The European larch
is a species introduced from Europe and is a better and
larger tree than our native tamarack. It is used for
ornamental planting and, to considerable extent, for farm
planting. It is a valuable tree for the farm woodlot
as it is a rapid grower and produces very excellent wood.
The wood of the larch is hard, durable in the soil and
is resinous. Our native larch is distinctly a swamp
tree of. the northern states and Canada, and in most of
the tamarack swamps it does not attain very large size,
usually forming excellent pole and post wood.
The larches do not sprout, and new trees must always
be grown from seed.
Dendrology 47
Tue Kinps or LARCHES
NaMeE LEAVES Cones Bark Size
Larix In brush-like | Small, _ light. Thin, reddish} 50 to 60 ft.
laricina tufts, about brown, 3 in. and in small high, 18 to
Tamarack 1 in. long, long, globular scales 20 in. in di-
bright green, ameter
turning yellow
in autumn
when they fall
Larix In brusb-like | From $ to 14in. | Dark grayish | About 100 ft.
europxa tufts % to 1 long, much brown and high, and
European and } in. long, larger than in small from 1 to 2
larch bright green, the above scales ft. in diam-
falling each eter
autumn
The spruces. Fig. 5
There are seven native spruces in the United States,
three of which occur in the East. Of these three, the red
spruce is the most important. White spruce is next in
value and the black spruce of least value. The Norway
spruce is a native of Europe and has been introduced into
this country largely as an ornamental tree. It is a rapid-
growing and comparatively short-lived tree. The conical
crown with its beautiful drooping branches becomes open
and ragged after about thirty years. The spruces are
important timber trees. The soft, light-colored straight-
grained wood has many very important uses. The red
spruce furnishes the best wood for sounding-boards used
for all kinds of musical instruments, and the white spruce
supplies the best material for wood pulp from which
paper is made. The spruces are readily distinguished
from the other cone-bearing trees, chiefly by their leaves.
The Farm Woodlot
48
eee}
\ we aN
Wits AM SN
PALA AMP TAA Aji 72
WLI
(Picea canadensis).
g
Cone of white spruce on right.
White spruce twi
5.— Three spruces.
Norway spruce cone on left.
Fic.
Dendrology 49
The leaves are single and are arranged on all sides of the
branch. They are short, stiff, and usually sharp pointed.
Tue Kinps or SprRucEs
NamME LEAVES ConEs Bark Sie
Picea Blue-green or|On short stems|Gray-brown, | 60 to 100 ft.
canadensis pale blue, 4 2 in. long, breaking high, 1 ft.
White spruce] to } in. long slender and into thin to 20 in.
pale green scales in diameter
Picea Dark yellow- | Stalked, 14 to Thin, red- | 50 to 80 ft.
rubens green, very 2 in. long, brown, high, 1 to 3
Red spruce glossy, about greenish scaly ft. diameter
3 in, long purple
Picea Blue-green not }% to 1 in. long, | Gray-brown, | 20 to 60 ft.
mariana glossy, 4 in. ovate, gray- scaly, thin’ high, 6 to 18
Black spruce long, stiff brown, per- in. diameter
sistent for
many years
Picea Dark-green, 4 to 7 in. long, | Thin, reddish| 50 to 100 ft.
excelsa usually shin- light brown brown high, 1 to 2
Norway ing, 4 to 1 in. 5 ft. in di-
spruce long, pointed ameter
The firs
Of the nine firs in the United States, two occur in the
eastern part ; one of these, the balsam fir or more commonly
known as the balsam, is northern. This tree is readily
recognized from the nature of its cones and the resin
blisters in the bark. The firs do not have resin in the
wood as do the pines and spruces. This resin or balsam
that occurs in the bark is collected, and furnishes the
Canada balsam of commerce. The cones stand upright,
and when mature they fall to pieces, leaving nothing on
E
50 The Farm Woodlot
the tree except the slender axis to which the cone scales
were attached. The wood is light, soft, not strong,
coarse-grained, brownish yellow in color and is very
perishable in the soil. It furnishes poor lumber and is
largely used for fuel; also for poor-grade lumber used
largely for making packing boxes. The firs are used to
some extent for ornamental planting about farmhouses,
and the average northern woodlot usually has some
balsam firs scattered among the other trees.
Tae Common Fir
NaME Leaves ConEs Bark S1zE
Abies 1 to 1} in. Upright on 3 in. thick,|40 to 60 ft.
balsamea long, dark branch, dark rich brown, high, 12 to
Balsam fir green above, rich purple, 2 scaly, with 20 in. di-
white under- to 4 in. long numerous ameter
neath resin blisters
The hemlock
Of the four hemlocks in the United States, two are
eastern and two are western. Of the eastern species,
Tsuga canadensis is found usually among the trees of the
woodlot or farm forest throughout the northern states
from Minnesota eastward. The hemlocks are large trees
with many limbs and a rough, reddish bark. The leaves
are arranged on opposite sides of the branches and are
short and shiny above and light colored beneath. The
cones are very small for such a large tree and occur on
the ends of the branches. The wood is brittle, coarse-
grained, stiff and splintery and hard to work. It decays
very quickly when used in moist places. The bark is
Dendrology 51
very rich in tannin and is usually more valuable than the
wood.
Tue Common Hemiock
NaME LEAVES ConzEs Bark Sizn
Tsuga Green above, | } in. long, light | Cinnamon red | 40 to 70 ft.
canadensis white under- brown, on or dark high, 2 to 4
Hemlock neath, about ends of gray, deeply ft. diameter
$ in. long branches furrowed
and rough
The white cedar
The white cedar is frequently called arborvite. There
are only two species in the United States, one eastern and
the other western. The eastern species is a tree of the
northern swamp regions, and along streams. The white
cedar is often cultivated and is very valuable for decorative
planting. It forms an excellent hedge. Almost every
northern farm forest has white cedar scattered in the wet
places. The wood is light, soft, rather brittle and coarse-
grained, pale yellow-brown and very aromatic. It is
very durable in the soil and is an excellent wood for fence
posts, telephone poles, shingles, and so on.
Tue Common WHITE CEDAR
Name LEAVES Conrs Bark Size
Thuya Scale-like, 4 in. | } to 4 in. long, | Thin, light 40 to 60 ft.
occiden- long with brownish yel- red brown, high, 1 to 3
talis resin gland low when shedding in ft. diameter
White cedar mature vertical
strips
52 The Farm Woodlot
The red cedar
The red cedar is often called the red juniper. There
are about eleven species of junipers in the United States,
but only one that grows to tree size in northeastern America.
The red cedar is a tree of dry and gravelly places and is
found mostly along fences and in old abandoned fields.
It grows aburidantly on the steep dry ridges along rivers
and small streams. The red cedar is readily separated
from the other conifers by its fruit, which is a cone changed
to asmall blue berry. These berries are usually found on
the trees at all times of the year. The wood is light,
fine-grained, weak, ‘easily worked and very durable in the
soil. Cedar oil is distilled from the wood, and the shavings
of the wood are used to preserve wooléens against moths.
The fragrant wood is used for many special purposes,
as in making pencils and pen holders. As a post material
about the farm, the red cedar is of great value.
Tue Common Rep CEepar
NaME LEAVES Cones Bark Size
Juniperus Scale-like and{|} in. in diam-j Thin, light | 20 to 50 ft.
virginiana awl-shaped, eter, appear- brown high, 8 to 18
Red cedar | dark blue- ing as a blue-} tinged with in. diameter
green green berry red, sheds
in strips
THE BROADLEAF TREES
The trees with broad leaves are widely different in
kind and the number of species is very large. They
comprise the common hardwoods and softwoods.
Dendrology 53
Key to the Genera of the Common Broadleaf Trees
I. Branches, leaves and buds opposite.
A. Leaves simple with large lobes: seeds in pairs and
winged: buds- mostly round
. and red. The maples.
B. Leaves compound, without lobes but toothed: seeds
single and winged: buds pointed
and dark brown or black.
The -ashes.
II. Branches, leaves and buds alternate.
A. The leaves simple.
1. Leaves with large lobes: fruit an acorn: buds
sealy and clustered on ends of
twigs. The oaks.
2. Leaves not lobed but toothed on edges.
a. Seeds in a burr.
1. Burr large and very spiny: nut dark
' brown and edible: bark fur-
rowed vertically.
The chestnut.
2. Burr small with short blunt spines: nut
three-sided, light brown and
edible: bark gray and smooth.
The beech.
b. Seeds not in a burr.
1. The seeds disc-shaped and papery,
ripening as new leaves appear:
branches very fine and often
zig-zag: tree vase-shaped.
The elms.
2. The seeds very small, attached to tufts
of cotton.
a. Buds usually large, covered with
* many scales: bark usually
smooth and light colored.
The poplars.
1 This key includes only the common and useful trees of the farm woodlot.
54 The Farm Woodlot
b. Buds small, covered with one
hood-like scale: silky under-
neath scale: bark dark colored.
The willows.
3. The seeds in a small woody cone: buds
with many scales: bark smooth,
with horizontal markings, roll-
ing back horizontally in thick
or thin layers. The birches.
4. The seeds in a growth resembling a
hop with many seeds each in a
papery sac: bark ashy gray
and scaly: branches very fine
with small scaly buds.
The hornbeam.
B. The leaves compound.
1. Fruit a large nut with a rough shell and an
entire husk: pith in twigs
honeycombed and brown: buds
gray and silky.
The walnuts.
2. Fruit a medium-sized nut with a smooth shell
and a divided husk: pith in
twigs solid (not honeycombed) :
buds gray or yellow.
The hickories.
3. Fruit a bean-like pod: branches with small
brown spines: leaves doubly
compound: buds sunken into
the bark of the twigs each be-
tween a pair of spines.
The locust.
The maples. Figs. 6, 7, 8
The maples are fast-growing trees and are found in
almost any woodlot. They furnish high-grade and valu-
Dendrology
Fig. 6. — Silver or soft maple (Acer saccharinum).
55
56 The Farm Woodlot
able wood and have a dense-foliaged crown, making most
of them valuable for decorative planting. The maples
may be recognized by their opposite, broad, coarsely lobed
(
4
— Sugar maple (Acer saccharum).
7
Fia. 7.
leaves, their winged seed growing in pairs, and their
opposite buds usually rounded and dark red in color. The
red and silver maples produce their red blossoms before
Dendrology 57
the leaves are out and their seed is ripe in early summer.
The sugar maple and box elder bloom after the leaves
if
Fic. 8.— Box elder (Acer Negundo).
are out and ripen their seed in the fall. The sugar maple
is the most valuable species for wood as well as for its
good qualities as a shade tree. It is an excellent fuel
58 The Farm Woodlot
wood. The red and silver maples are very commonly
known as soft maples. They are faster growers than the
sugar maple but do not furnish wood as hard and valuable.
They prefer moist soil and will produce good fuel wood in
a comparatively short time. The box elderis not generally
considered a maple. It is the poorest of the four. It has
compound leaves resembling the ash, and for this reason
Tue Kinps or Maptes
NamME LEAVES Bups Bark FRvIT
Acer 3 to 5 lobes, | Opposite, Brownish red|Seed winged
rubrum doubly rounded and on twigs, in pairs, ripe
Red maple toothed, red, clustered gray on in early
whitish under- flower buds trunk and summer
neath, simple limbs
Acer Lobes usually 5,} Very similar to} Greenish or | Seed winged
sacchari- long and nar- above but less yellowish and larger
num row, toothed, red, _ slightly brown on than above,
Silver maple silvery white green or yel- twigs, dark Tipe in
underneath lowish gray on early
trunk summer
Acer 5- and 3-lobed, | Opposite, dark | Grayish brown| Seed winged
saccharum not toothed, brown or on twigs, and in pairs,
Sugar pale [green black, sharply gray and ripe in the
maple underneath, pointed turning fall
Simple black on
trunk
Acer Compound, 3- to | Opposite, small, | Smooth and] Seed winged
Negundo 5-pinnate, re- rounded and purplish in pairs,
Box elder sembling the silky white green on ripe in fall,
leaves of the twigs, gray- Temain on
ash ish brown tree all win-
on trunk ter
Dendrology 59
is sometimes called ash-leaved maple. It has been used
very extensively as a tree for farm planting, as windbreaks
Fie. 9.— White ash (Fraxinus americana).
and for shade. It is fairly rapid in its growth and when
young is quite a beautiful tree. It soon becomes un-
60
The Farm Woodlot
sightly and irregular in shapes, inclined to be crooked and
defective unless given special care.
sprout from the stump and roots.
The ashes.
Figs.
9, 10
Tue Kinps or ASHES
All the maples
NaME LEAVES Bups Bark FRUIT
Fraxinus Compound, 7-9- | Opposite, brown,| Grayish green | Seed winged,
americana stalked, leaf- terminal and smooth ripe in late
White ash lets occasion- large pointed, on twigs, fall, hangs
ally toothed lateral dark gray on tree until
rounded and brown, winter
finely
furrowed on
trunk
Fraxinus Compound, 7-11 | Opposite, black, | Olive-green on | Similar to
nigra leaflets, not terminal twigs, ashy white ash
Black ash stalked except large pointed, gray on
terminal one lateral trunk, fur-
rounded | rowed and
| scaly
—|— —— |
Fraxinus Compound, 7-9 Opposite, brown, Greenish gray | Similar to
pennsyl- leaflets, terminal on twigs, white ash
vanica stalked large pointed, downy, dark
Red ash lateral gray or
rounded brown on
trunk
Fraxinus Compound, 5-9| Opposite, rusty | Greenish gray | Similar to
lanceolata leaflets, brown, blunt, on twigs, white ash
Green ash stalked terminal smooth,
pointed, dark gray-
lateral ish brown
rounded on trunk,
furrowed
Dendrology
Fia. 10.—A well-developed white ash.
61
The Farm Woodlot
i)
J
Z
Fic. 11.— Forest-grown white
oak.
The ashes are among the
valuable trees of the woodlot
because of the hard, strong
and useful wood. The white
ash produces the best wood of
all the species and is the most
valuable. It is also the most
abundant. The various species
of the ash are not easily dis-
tinguished, since in their gen-
eral characters they are quite
similar. All the ashes have
opposite buds and have the
twigs flattened where the buds
occur. The green ash is prob-
ably a variety of the red ash,
but is a better tree. It is
largely planted in the prairie
states and is a very valuable
tree for this purpose. The
wood of the ashes is mostly
hard, strong, heavy and tough,
and is used largely in the manu-
facture of farm tools and im-
plements. It is also used for
making baskets, for interior
finish and in furniture making.
The ashes are not related to
the common mountain ash,
which belongs in the genus
Sorbus of the rose family.
Dendrology 63
Fic. 12. — Open-grown white oak.
64. The Farm Woodlot
The oaks. Figs. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
The oaks are among the most common of the woodland
trees. They very naturally fall into two distinct groups,
Fic. 13.— White oak (Quercus alba).
the white oaks and the black oaks. As a rule, the white
oaks have finer grained, tougher and stronger wood than
Dendrology , 65
the black oaks. For farm purposes, the white oaks are
preferable. Both groups furnish good fuel wood. The
Fie. 14.— Burr oak on a city lot.
white oak, burr oak, and so on belong to the white oak
group and mature their fruit in one summer; the red
F
66 The Farm Woodlot
Fic. 15.— Burr oak (Quercus macro-
car pa).
oak, scarlet oak and the
like to the black oaks, and
mature their fruit in two
summers. The oaks pro-
duce large quantities of
seed. The acorns may be
gathered in the fall and
planted at once or kept
moist and cold over winter
and planted in the spring.
The oaks also form excel-
lent stump sprouts, and a
good crop of fuel may be
grown in this way. All
the oaks are slow growers.
The white oaks are par-
ticularly slow and it re-
quires almost a lifetime to
develop a good tree. The
red oak is about the fast-
est grower of the oaks and
is an excellent tree for
planting. It furnishes
good fuel and supplies
many demands about the
farm. It would be difficult
to find a natural woodlot
without some species of
oak, and frequently sev-
eral kinds are present in
the same lot.
Dendrology
Fig. 16.— Red oak (Quercus rubra).
67
68 The Farm Woodlot
Fic. 17.— Scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea).
The different kinds of oaks found in the average
woodlot may readily be distinguished by consulting the
following contrast :—
Dendrology
69
1. Acorns maturing in one season: bark ashy gray: lobes of
leaves rounded : buds rounded.
White oaks.
2. Acorns maturing in two seasons: bark almost black: lobes
of leaves bristle-tipped: buds pointed. Black oaks.
Tur Waite Oaks
NaME LEAVES Bups Bark Fruit
Quercus Evenly _lobed,| Rounded, scaly,| Broken into] Light brown,
alba usually seven-| grayish brown| soft irregular] elongated,
White oak lobed, bright and seurfy flakes, ashy about ? in.
green above, gray, smooth| long, in cup
whitish under- on branches about 3 its
neath length
Quercus Scalloped and] Rounded, scaly,| Divided into| About 1 in
platanoides lobed, broad, short and broad flat broad = and.
Swamp narrowing thick, ineon- ridges, thick, gray-
White toward petiole} spicuous, grayish ish brown,
oak seurfy, green- brown on in cup
ish or dark] trunk, dark about 3 its
gray brown gray and length
scaly on
branches
Quercus Not lobed but| Usually pointed,| Very rough Light brown,
Prinus coarsely scal- scaly and and hard, elongated,
Chestnut loped, oblong, smooth, deeply fur- an inch or
oak yellowish brown rowed, dark more in
green ’ gray length, in a
thin cup
about } its
length
Quercus Upper portion] Small, blunt, | Gray brown, | Variable in
macrocarpa|__ scalloped, and rough scaly very size 4-2 in.
Burr oak lower portion gray, usually corky on long with
deeply lobed,| pubescent twigs, with very large
dark green, prominent fringed cup
shiny above, corky ridges almost cov-
pale under- on twigs ering acorn
neath
70
The Farm Woodlot
Tue Buack Oaks
NAME Leaves Bups Bark Fruir
Quercus Short lobes, Sealy, pointed, ! Dark gray or} Large, reddish
rubra bristle-tipped, short and black, rough brown, 1 in.
Red oak broad, dark broad, smooth and deeply or more in
green above and reddish and broadly length, cup
and yellowish brown ridged, very shallow
green below, smooth on and flat,
red in autumn twigs, no about 3 of
dead stubs acorn in cup,
on trunk one-year-old
acorns present
in winter
Quercus Long lobed and] Similar to above, | Very similar | Smaller than
coccinea lacy inappear-| but usually to above, above, broad
Scarlet ance, bristle- with tips usually and short, less
oak tipped, bright hairy slightly than 1 in. held
green above, rougher, in a heavy cup
scarlet in trunk usu- for about 3 its
autumn ally with length, one-
many small year-old acorns
stubs, on present in
twigs winter
smooth
Quercus Resembling red} Long, sharply | Almost black, | Very similar to
velutina oak in shape pointed, 5- rough and searlet oak
Black or| but glossy sided and cov- furrowed on except cup is
Yellow above, with ered with gray trunk, rougher and
oak yellowish hairs smooth on has fringed
petioles branches, margin, one-
inner bark year-old acorns
orange present in
colored winter
Dendrology 71
Tue Buack Oaxs— Continued
NAME LEAVES Bups Bark Froir
Quercus Resembling Very small, Very dark, Very small,
palustris scarlet oak pointed, finely fur- dark brown,
Pin oak except smooth, dark rowed and with vertical
smaller brown, scaly hard, nu- black stripes
merous little radiating from
dead tip, flesh yel-
branches on low, one-year-
trunk old acorns pres-
4 ent in winter
The chestnut
There are two species of chestnut in eastern America,
but only one is of importance as a timber tree, and this
.is the common American chestnut. Everyone within
the natural range of the chestnut knows the tree and its
fruit. The tree is very generally distributed throughout
the hardwood forest of the United States, and almost
every farm woodlot will have chestnut amongst the other
species. Chestnut is particularly valuable about the
farm as a post timber and for all kinds of fencing and for
any purpose for which wood durable in the soil is needed.
It is not particularly strong and supplies a different kind
of farm wood from most other common species. It is
also a desirable tree for its fruit, which is a rather large
and very spiny burr containing from one to three rich
brown nuts, very delicious to the taste. These ripen
in the fall about the time frost appears. Chestnut grows
very readily from the seed but makes better and more
rapid growth from stump sprouts. A tree grown from the
72 The Farm Woodlot
seed will, when cut down, send up a number of shoots from
the stump that in 25 or 30 years will grow into good sized
poles and produce three or four on the same stump which
produced one tree before. This sprout system is the most
profitable way to grow chestnut on the farm.
Tue AMERICAN CHESTNUT
NamME LEAVES Bups Bark Froir
Castanea Simple, oblong, | Scaly, smooth,| Very dark A globose and
dentata coarsely rounded, and gray and very spiny burr
American toothed, alter- yellowish deeply fur- containing one
chestnut nate, dark brown in rowed on or more shiny
yellow green color trunk, dark brown,
in color smooth and thin-shelled,
brown on sweet and
twigs, often edible nuts
with a yel-
lowish tinge
The beech.
The American beech is a very characteristic tree and
when once known is not confused with other trees, since
there is but one species in this country. There are several
other beeches in America, but they have been brought
from Europe and are found planted for decorative pur-
poses in parks and on lawns. They may usually be known
by their deep purple leaves or green deeply cut leaves.
Our native beech is a beautiful tree with smooth, tight-
fitting steel- or light-gray bark and simple, alternate,
oval leaves with coarse serrations. The fruit is a small
prickly burr, very different from that of the chestnut,
inclosing one or two small light brown triangular or three-
Dendrology 73
sided, sweet and edible nuts. The wood is fine-grained,
hard and strong, but not durable when in contact with
the soil or when used in a moist situation. The wood
makes a good interior finish and flooring, and is used for
handles. About the farm, it is especially valuable for
fuel and for purposes for which a strong wood is needed
and where it will remain dry. The beech will grow
excellently in a woodlot under the other and taller trees.
It forms an excellent understory in forestry. The Ameri-
can beech must not be confounded with the so-called
blue beech. The latter is a small tree and is entirely
distinct from the former. In winter, the American beech
may readily be recognized by its long, sharply pointed
light brown and scaly buds and its smooth gray bark.
No other tree in our northern forests has a bud like the
beech.
Tur AmERICAN BEECH
NaME LEAVES Bups Bark Fruit
Fagus Simple, alter- | About 1 in. long, | Smooth, close- | A small prickly
ameri- nate, toothed, slender and fitting and burr with one or
cana green on both sharply bluish gray two thin-
American sides pointed, scaly or steel shelled three-
beech and shining blue sided light
brown brown nuts,
kernel sweet
and edible
The elms. Fig. 18
The elms are valuable trees both for their strong, hard
and tough wood and for decorative planting. The elm
tree assumes a fountain-like or vase form and with its droop-
74 The Farm Woodlot
ing outer branches is one of our most beautiful shade trees.
The elms are early blooming trees. The blossoms appear
long before the
leaves, and the
seeds are ripe
about the time
the leaves are
fully developed.
The disc-like
green seeds fall
to the ground as
soon as ripe and
when the soil is
favorable, they
grow in a few
days. Elm seeds
must be planted
as soon as col-
lected. The most
common species
is the American
or white elm.
The cork or rock
elm may easily
be distinguished
by the corky
ridges on the
bark of the twigs.
The slippery elm
has very hairy
Fic. 18.— American elm. Typical form. buds and the
Dendrology 75
inner bark is mucilaginous and sweet to the taste. Elm
wood has many uses and is a valuable wood about the
farm and home, whenever strong and tough wood is
desired. For a shade tree in the yard and on home
grounds, the elm is valued next to the maple for the beauty
of its crown and the deep cool shade it produces. A
fine lawn specimen if far more valuable for its beauty and
shade than for its wood.
Tae Kinps or Eis
NAME LEAVES Bups Bark Fruit
Ulmus Alternate, simple | Scaly, smooth, Dark brown,| A papery wafer,
ameri- toothed, and brown, leaf smooth on winged, ripe in
cana rough above, buds small, twigs, ashy spring before
White or smooth under- flower buds gray, fur- leaves are full
American| neath large and flat rowed on grown
elm trunk
Ulmus Alternate, Very similar to} Dark brown | Similar to above
race- simple above with ridges
mosa toothed, and of cork on
Rock or similar to twigs, ashy
Cork above gray and
elm furrowed on
trunk
Ulmus Alternate, Rounded, dark | Dark brown | Similar to above
pubes- simple brown, hairy, and’ rough,
cens toothed, rough large flat hairy on
Slippery or and harsh on flower buds, twigs, gray
Red elm both sides very hairy and fur-
rowed on
trunk, inner
bark muci-
laginous
76 The Farm Woodlot
The poplars. Figs. 19, 20, 21
The genus Populus, or the poplars, is a group of trees not
very well understood by the layman. They are commonly
Fria. 19. — Trembling aspen or popple (Populus
tremuloides).
known as the cottonwoods or the aspens. To this group
belong such trees as the Norway poplar and the North
Carolina poplar. These are varieties of the common
cottonwood or Populus deltoides. The poplars must not
Dendrology 77
be confused with the yellow poplar or tulip tree. This
latter is a very different tree and is closely related to the
Fig. 20.— Big-tooth aspen (Populus grandidentata).
magnolias. The poplars are very widely distributed
over the United States and are particularly conspicuous
78 The Farm Woodlot
Fie. 21.— Cottonwood (Populus del-
toides).
in the northern part,
particularly on cut-
over and burned-over
forest land. The trees
of this group always
may be distinguished
by the leaves and fruit.
The leaves have their
petioles flattened at
right angles to the
blade of the leaf and
this causes them to
flutter in the slightest
breeze. They always
bloom in early spring
before the leaves are
out, and the seed is
ripe and ready for dis-
semination by the time
the leaves are about
fully developed. The
seed is widely scattered
by the little cotton
tuft to which it is at-
tached. This cotton is
borne only on the pis-
tillate tree, hence the
nuisance about the
farm and home may be
entirely avoided by planting the staminate form. Al-
though the poplars grow well from seed, all of them grow
Dendrology
79
from cuttings, and it is in this way that they are propa-
gated.
The wood of all the species is soft, fine-grained, weak
and very perishable in the earth. Most of the species are
rapid growers, especially the forms known as Norway
Tue Kinps or Popiar
Name Leaves Bups Bark Fruit
Populus Broad and Alternate, Greenish gray|A catkin with
tremu- rounded, sharply and almost many capsules,
loides shining above, |’ pointed and smooth, each with
Quaking flattened almost black, with black many small
aspen, petiole, finely shiny and scars, inner seeds attached
or toothed sometimes bark bitter to a cottony
popple slightly sticky tuft which
serves to float
it in the air,
mature at
time the
leaves are
developed
Populus Broad and oval] Alternate, blunt | Greenish gray, | Very similar to
grandi- with very pointed, light turning above except
dentata coarse serra- gray and black, developing a
Large- tions, or hairy, not smooth little later
tooth coarsely sticky except on
aspen scalloped, old trunk,
upper surface ‘ inner bark
dull not bitter
Populus Triangular with | Alternate, long | Light gray on | Similar to above
del- finely toothed pointed, sticky] young trees,
toides margin, smooth} with a resin- blackish
Cotton- above ous balsam gray and
wood very rough
on old
trunks
80 The Farm Woodlot
poplar and the North Carolina poplar. These two
trees are very extensively used in plantations, particularly
in the prairie and northern states. The wood is valuable
for fuel and gives good-sized timber in a short time.
For fence posts, the wood is very suitable and lasting when
properly treated with creosote or some other wood pre-
servative. Cottonwood lumber has many uses and is
becoming more prominent as other woods are becoming
more rare and consequently more expensive. The wood
now finds its way into finishing material for buildings and
finds a large use for packing boxes and wood pulp.
There are a number of poplars that have been introduced
from Europe and most of these can easily be distinguished
from our native species. The Lombardy poplar is one
of these and is very commonly planted. It may readily
be recognized by its tall spire-like form, having all the
limbs vertically arranged, forming a spire. Another
common species is the white poplar, sometimes wrongly
called the ‘silver maple.”” This species forms a large
wide-spreading crown and has light colored bark; the
upper side of the leaf is green while the under is white
and cottony.
The willows. Fig. 22
There are so many species of the willows that it is a diffi-
cult matter to present any kind of classification that is
of value. The willows may be found in almost every
piece of wood land, particularly if there is considerable
moisture in the soil or if there is a swampy area. The
willows belong to the same family as the poplars and the
two genera have many characters in common. A willow
Dendrology
may always be distinguished from a
poplar by examining the bud scale.
The poplars have scaly buds, while the
willows have but one bud scale, which
covers the bud like a hood. The blos-
soms are very similar, being borne in
separate aments and on separate trees.
The blossoms appear very early in the
spring, and the seeds are in some
species scattered early in the spring
and in others in midsummer. The
willows have their buds covered, under
the hoodlike scale, with a whitish silky
pubescence which becomes very showy
as soon as growth begins and the bud
scale is pushed off. These silky buds
give the name of ‘“‘pussy willow” to
practically any of the species with buds
large enough to become showy. Some
species have very large buds and when
fully developed produce a very beauti-
ful appearance on lawn trees or wher-
ever decorative effects are appreciated.
The wood of the willows is about the
same as that of the poplars so far as
farm forestry is concerned. They are
fast growers, producing soft, light,
weak and perishable wood which is put
to about the same uses about the farm
as poplar.
Many of our willows are introduced
G
81
Fig. 22.— Willow
(Saliz).
82 The Farm Woodlot
from Europe and this makes it more difficult to know all
the native species. Willows are good trees for windbreak
purposes, particularly where snow traps are necessary
about plantations. Willows produce great quantities of
seed almost every year but it is not desirable to propagate
them from seed, since they grow very well from cuttings,
which method of propagation is the one used by all planters.
The birches
Every farm woodlot has some species of birch and
frequently there are a number of species. The black and
yellow birches are the most common trees in the deep
woods and are usually found along streams and in moist
places. The former is the larger tree, as a rule, and does
not favor moist places quite so much as the latter. By
consulting the following key, the common birches may be
readily distinguished. As a rule, after a little observation
they may be distinguished easily by their bark. The black
and yellow birches have a pronounced odor and flavor
of wintergreen in the inner bark. In the black birch this
flavor is very strong, while in the yellow it is milder and
modified by a slightly bitter taste. From the branches
and bark of the black birch is distilled the extract of winter-
green. Both these trees are valuable for their wood,
which has very general use for flooring and interior finish
as well as for furniture and many other purposes. About
the farm the birches are very useful for the excellent fuel
which they produce. The wood has good heating quali-
ties and burns without sparking. The gray and paper
birches are less important except for fuel. They usually
occur after a forest fire or after lumbering, and are charac-
Dendrology
Tue Kinps or Bircu
83
NaME LEAVES Bups Barg Frovit
Betula Alternate, oval, | Scaly, green and | Dark brown, | Resembling a
lenta simple, finely brown, stami- shiny on cone, remain-
Sweet or toothed nate aments twigs, very ing on tree and
Black present in dark on shedding seed
birch winter trunk, re- in late fall and
sembling winter
cherry,
inner bark
very aro-
matic
Betula Alternate, oval, | Very similar to| Light brown] Very similar to
lutea simple, finel above and shiny above
Yellow toothed, dull on twigs,
birch green on silvery gray
upper side or straw
colored on
trunk, com-
ing off in
curls, less
aromatic
than above
Betula Alternate, short | Small, scaly, Brownish red | Very similar to
papyri- pointed, sharply on twigs, above
fera doubly pointed, glossy,
Paper toothed, not sometimes chalky
birch shiny above waxy, stam- white on
inate aments outside of
present in trunk,
winter brown
underneath
separating
into thin
papery
layers, not
aromatic
Betula Alternate, long] Small, pointed, | Blackish on] Very similar to
populi- pointed, trian- waxy and twigs, above
folia gular, shiny scaly, stam- chalky
White or above and inate aments white with
Gray doubly present in black
birch toothed winter blotches on
not
not
trunk,
papery,
aromatic
84 The Farm Woodlot
teristic of such areas as well as of abandoned fields. The
birches seed abundantly and the seed is scattered widely
by the wind. They also sprout from the stump and in
this way are prolific fuel producers.
The hornbeam
The hornbeam, or ironwood, is not a tree that is found in
the farm plantation. It is very common and is feund
in practically every natural woodlot in which trees have
had an equal opportunity to establish themselves. The
hornbeam is sometimes called ironwood and is confused
with the small tree called blue beech or ironwood. The
two trees are small, but the hornbeam is by far the more
valuable. The two trees may readily be distinguished
from each other by the nature and color of the bark. The
blue beech has a close-fitting dark gray bark and fluted
trunk.
THe Common HornBEAM
NAME LEAVES Bups Bark Fruit
f
Ostrya Simple, alter- Very small, Light gray, Hop-like, con-
virgin- nate, oval sealy and rich soft and sisting of a
iana and finely brown in scaly, number of
Hop Horn- toothed, re- color, stami- resembling papery sacs
beam or sembling the nate aments the bark of each contain-
ironwood| elm present’ in a young ing one seed
winter with white oak
the buds
The hornbeam is a valuable little tree for its tough
and very hard and fine-grained wood. It does not grow
to large size, but can be depended on to furnish a
pole of exceptional strength and toughness. It is also
Dendrology
good for handles and finds many uses
about the farm. It produces consider-
able quantities of seed and may readily
be grown from seed. It will grow in any
average woods soil, and in any woodlot in
which it does not occur, it is well worth
while to encourage its introduction.
The walnuts. Fig. 23
The walnuts are very desirable trees
to have about the farm and woodlot.
Of the walnuts native to the United
States, there are but two species in the
East and these are easily distinguished
from each other. In some sections of
the country the hickories are locally
called walnuts. This is not correct and
leads to confusion. The English walnut
also is found frequently planted about
homes, but it has been introduced from
Europe and does not belong to our trees.
The black walnut and the butternut are
quite different in their development as
trees. The former is by far the better
tree as well as the more valuable for its
wood. The heart wood of this walnut
is very dark colored and has a very fine
grain, making it a very desirable and
costly wood for furniture of all kinds.
85
Fic. 23. — Branch of
butternut (Juglans
cinerea), showing
chambered pith.
The roots of large trees are also very valuable, particularly
for gun stocks. Good well-developed black walnut can
86 The Farm Woodlot
be used, tree and stump. The butternut is in some places
called the white walnut. It is usually a very much poorer
tree in its development, forming a low, wide-spreading
tree or frequently having a number of stems from the same
root. The fruit: of both species is valuable for food, and
every farm boy knows walnuts and butternuts. For farm
planting the walnuts are not the most desirable trees,
since they require such good soil that the land is worth
more for agriculture or horticulture than for tree growing.
To be sure they will grow in poor soil, but so slowly that
other trees are more valuable. For the farm the walnuts
are better as individual trees planted about the farm or
home’ grounds where such trees are desired. As individual
trees, the walnuts bear large quantities of fruit and they
Tue Kinps or WALNUT
NaME LEAVES Bubs Bark FrRvir
Juglans Compound, 15- |Few scales, Light gray on | Hard-shelled,
nigra 23 leaflets, covered with twigs, very globose with
Black alternate silky gray dark or a green,
walnut hairs, lateral blackish, smooth husk,
. buds_ super- rough and not sticky
posed, pith deeply fur-
chambered Towed on
and brown trunk
Juglans Compound, i1- |Few scales, Greenish gray | An elongated,
cinerea 17 leaflets, covered with on twigs, hard-shelled
Butternut alternate silky gray gray and Trough nut cov-
hairs not so furrowed on ered by a yel-
large as above, trunk lowish sticky
pith husk
chambered,
and brown
Dendrology 87
are more desirable for this purpose than for wood and
timber for the farm. Walnuts are easily grown from seed.
They have the habit of sending straight down a very long
and persistent tap-root very early in life, so that they are
difficult trees to handle successfully in planting. It is
always advisable to plant the seed in the place where the
trees are desired, and if there is danger of squirrels digging
out the nuts and eating them, it is well to coat them with
tar or anything that will keep squirrels away. If safe
from mice and squirrels, the nuts may be planted in the
fall. Otherwise they will need to be kept in moist sand
in a cold place all winter and planted in the spring as soon
as the ground is free from frost.
The hickories
The hickories are very widely distributed in North
America. Most of the species are very valuable for their
wood and some are valuable also for their fruit. Almost
every native farm woodlot will have some species of
hickory. If not, trees of a desirable species can easily
be grown by planting seed where the trees are desired.
Not all the hickories produce edible fruit. Some are very
bitter to the taste, while some others have a very heavy
and much chambered shell, so that the kernel is small
and difficult to extract. As arule, hickories in the northern
states with a heavy divided husk inclosing the nut have
edible fruit. The husk usually separates from the nut
naturally at the time the nuts come from the trees. Of
all the hickories, the pecan hickory is the most valuable
for the fruit. Second-growth hickory is a common name
_for young hickory that has grown rapidly from the seed
88
The Farm Woodlot
Tue Kinps or Hickory
Name LEAVES Bups' Bark Froit
Hicoria Compound, 7-9 | Scaly, large, egg- | Brownish A thick-shelled
alba alternate, shaped and gray and nut with a
Mocker strong scented sharply hairy on thick, strong-
Nut pointed, gray twigs, very odored woody
and silky dark gray husk separat-
on trunk, ing in thirds or
hagd and quarters, ker-
grooved nel sweet
Hicoria Compound, Similar to above | Brownish A thin-shelled
glabra 3-5-7 leaflets, but very much gray and smooth nut
Pignut alternate smaller smooth on with thin
twigs, dark leathery husk
gray, fur- partially sep-
rowed but arating, kernel
smooth on bitter
trunk
Hicoria Compound, Short, rounded, | Brownish, A moderately
ovata 5-7 leaflets, scaly and smooth or thick-shelled
Shagbark large, alternate} pointed, outer hairy on smooth nut
scales dark twigs, light in a heavy
brown, inner gray and grooved husk
scales silky shedding in separating into
gray long hard thirds or quar-
strips or ters, kernel
plates sweet,
Hicoria Compound, Long, with few | Smooth and A small smooth
minima small leafiets scales, brassy gray on nut with a thin
Bitter 7-11, — alter- yellow twigs, leathery husk
Nut nate brownish and very bitter
gray and kernel
rather
‘ smooth with
many fine
furrows
Dendrology 89
or from stump sprouts and consists almost entirely of
sap wood that is creamy white and very tough. This
wood is very valuable for all sorts of handles and for
repairing parts of farm implements and machinery, and
for any purpose requiring a piece of exceptionally strong
and tough wood.
The locusts
The term “locust” applies to several kinds of trees, two
in particular, which are very different. In the northern
states the name applies equally to the black locust, also
called the yellow locust, and to the honey locust. These
two trees, however, are very different, but are both known
as locust. The black or yellow locust is a very valuable
farm tree and grows abundantly in many parts of the coun-
try. The honey locust is less valuable and is not so abun-
dant: Both trees are ornamental and produce very fra~-
grant clusters of flowers coming in early summer after the
leaves are all fully developed. The black locust may always
be distinguished from the honey locust by the nature of
the thorns, which are in pairs, and very short, one on each
side of the bud in case of the black locust, and very long
and three-pronged in case of the honey locust. The latter
frequently has thorns on the trunk of the tree three and
four inches long. The black locust grows well from
the seed and develops so rapidly, producing such hard
and durable wood, that few trees excel it for farm pur-
poses. The one great drawback to the extensive growing
of this tree is the fact that the locust borer burrows in
the wood of the trunk and large limbs, destroying the
tree and rendering the wood worthless. No satisfactory
90
The Farm Woodlot
remedy has yet been found for preventing the attacks of
this borer.
Tse Kinps or Locust
Name LEAVES Bups Bark Fruit
Robinia Compound with ; Small, gray, Rough, dark | A light thin
pseuda- many small silky and gray, dark brown
cacia leaflets, dark sunken into deeply fur- pod with
Black or] green on the stem rowed, small black
Yellow upper side, between two smooth and and very hard
locust pale under- small thorns light brown seeds, ‘usually
neath on twigs on after the
leaves have
fallen
Gleditsia Compound with | Small, clustered | Rough and A long and wide
tri- many small and partially dark, fur- reddish brown
acanthos leaflets, dark sunken in the rowed and pod, fleshy
Honey above and stem, situated sealy with and usually
locust pale under- below large many long twisted,
neath and long thorns on remains on the
three-pointed the trunk, trees after the
thorns bark on leaves fall
twigs brown
and smooth
CHAPTER V
PRACTICAL SYLVICULTURE, OR REGENERA-
TION OF WOODLOTS
Forest regeneration is the renewing or restoring of
forests. It is conducted in two ways, — separately, or in
combination. The two methods are called ‘natural
regeneration,’’ when the new wood crop is started naturally
by selfsown seed or by stump shoots, and ‘artificial re-
generation,’ when the wood crop is started by sowing
seeds or by planting seedlings or cuttings.
NATURAL REGENERATION. Figs. 24-28
A forest already established is implied in natural re-
generation. The operations consist in so treating the
woods that a new crop of trees becomes established as
the old crop is cut and utilized. There are several
systems of handling woodlands, depending on the
nature of the soil and climate and the kind of trees.
Some trees reproduce naturally from seed and stump
shoots, others from seed only. For this reason, a forest
or woodlot must be treated according to the kinds of trees
that are present.
The systems or methods used may be called
1. Selection system.
2. Strip system.
3. Group system.
4. Coppice or sprout system.
91
92 The Farm Woodlot
Selection system
This is nature’s method of regeneration where different
kinds of trees are in mixture and where the trees are of all
ages. As old over-mature trees die and fall to the ground,
Fic. 24.— Natural reproduction of Norway pine on cut-over lands.
new and young trees soon spring up and fill in the openings.
In practicing this system, only the ripe trees are taken and
the open spaces left by them are readily filled in by young
trees growing from seeds or sprouts. In this way trees
may be selected, cut and taken out at any time, yet the
forest is continuously maintained.
Practical Sylviculture 93
Fic. 25.— Dense natural reproduction of Norway pine, showing vig-
orous shoots.
94 The Farm Woodlot
Strip system
This system can be used only when there are trees that
bear winged seeds, usually small and sufficiently light to
Fic. 26.— Natural reproduction of white oak at the edge of the woodlot.
be carried some distance by the wind, such as seed of
any of the pines, spruces, maples, and the like. The
Three age-classes are evident.
groups.
Vy
b
7.— Reproduction
9
Fic.
96 The Farm Woodlot
operations consist of cutting clear strips through the
forest two or three times as wide as the trees are high and
in no case any wider than the wind will scatter the seeds.
The strips should run at right angles to the direction of
the prevailing wind. The seed from the trees on one or
both sides will then be scattered by the wind over the
strip and a new growth of little trees will result. As
soon as a strip is well stocked with new trees, usually in
a few years, another strip may be cut, and so on until the
entire forest has been harvested.
Group system
This system is the cutting and removal of ripe trees
in groups throughout the forest and allowing the seed
from the neighboring trees to supply the new trees. The
groups may be scattered and occur wherever the ripe trees
may be. (Fig. 27.)
Coppice system
This system can be used only with such trees as the
chestnut and some oaks that grow very abundantly
from the stumps of felled trees and soon restock the cut-
over area with new growth in the form of sprouts. (Fig. 28.)
In the choice of any system for the farm-forest or
woodlot, the one that meets the best needs of the owner
and is best suited to the kind of trees and existing condi-
tions should be practiced. The usual farm forest con-
sists of a mixture of species varying in size from small
seedlings to ripe trees. For such, the selection system is
the most natural and the best to practice, since it allows
the removal of trees of any size and at any time with-
out reducing the total forest area.
oF
Practical Sylviculture
ee
“oe
ee
Fig. 28.— Reproduction by stump sprouts.
98 The Farm Woodlot
ARTIFICIAL REGENERATION
The artificial formation of woods is accomplished by
direct seeding, by planting-of seedlings or cuttings and by
a combination of both. The methods of seed-sowing and
of planting may now be considered.
Direct seeding, or sowing of seed
The success of direct seeding depends on the nature of
the sowing, whether broadcast or in specially prepared
spots called seed-spots, and the character of the soil-
cover on the area to be sown. Direct seeding has many.
serious drawbacks. The high cost of seed and the un-
certainty of good results in broadcast seeding have made
the method an expensive one when practiced in the
United States. Seeding in seed-spots is very much
more economical and has given better results, for reasons
to be pointed out farther on. The sowing of seed is
advisable only when conditions are most favorable to
the species of trees. Among these conditions may be
mentioned the natural range, the soil and moisture, selec-
tion of seed and preparation of the soil.
Natural range. — Every species has a different range
or territory, in which it is growing naturally. It is con-
fined to this territory because the climate and soil condi-
tions are there best suited to its growth, while the con-
ditions elsewhere are either directly unfavorable or so
much better suited to some other species that it is crowded
out. Naturally the best growing trees are the most de-
sirable for a plantation. To know that a locality is in
the range of a desired species is not sufficient to determine
the adaptability of that locality to sowing seed of that
Practical Sylviculture 99
species. There are other limitations that largely govern
the suitability of localities for growing certain trees, the
chief of which are soil and moisture.
Soil and moisture. — The amount of moisture and the
quality of the soil, both chemical and physical, frequently
determine very largely the local tree growth. For ex-
ample, the white pine is excluded from many areas well
within its range on account of excessive moisture or the
total lack of clay in the soil, while the tamarack, which
has much the same range, is found in pure stands in the
low swampy places, and even in mixture with the pine. A
white pine planted in a swamp, or a tamarack on a dry
hillside, would not do well even in the center of their
range. Only when the climate and soil moisture are
favorable, as indicated by the conditions of natural growth,
can the success of any forest growth be assured. The
exceptions to this rule in the case of individual trees will
be considered under ornamental planting.
Selection of seed. — All seed for sowing should be
cared for and tested as described in the “farm nursery ”’
(page 112). The quality of the seed for broadcast sowing is
even more important than for seed-bed sowing, because
it is likely to lie on the ground a much longer time before
germination takes place. Moreover, the seed sown
broadcast lies on the surface of a poorly prepared soil
which the roots have to penetrate to obtain a footing.
Only the vigorous-growing seeds can overcome this
obstacle, and even many of them exhaust their vitality
and die before they can establish a root system.
Soil cover. — Practically every location in which seed-
ing is under consideration will have a soil cover that
100 The Farm Woodlot
more or less interferes with the establishing of a stand of
trees from sown seed. Chief among these soil covers are
(1) grass sod, (2) brush, and (3) leaf litter.
(1) Grass sod. — When grass has grown for any con-
siderable length of time, the roots have become matted
togethér, forming a tough sod. It is useless to sow seed
on such ground. The stubble holds the seed suspended
so that, if it germinates at all, the rootlet has to extend
a distance through the air to reach the ground.
Even then it is unable to compete with the roots of the
grass. Such land should be thoroughly plowed before
seeding, and if the sod is very heavy, the seeding should
not be done until the next year. This gives a chance
for the roots to rot and the soil to mellow. From the
above, it is evident that sowing is not practicable any-
where on the prairies outside of the natural range of
forest trees. The grasses are predominant in this region.
and it is impossible for the tiny seedlings to compete with
them successfully. Other conditions of moisture, sunlight,
wind, and so on, are so different from those of the forest
that the young trees die before they can adapt themselves
to their new situation. This is often hard even for thrifty
seedlings, and success cannot be expected of the smaller
seedlings that are struggling for their lives.
(2) Brush. — Whether the brush is too dense to permit
sowing is a question that must be left largely to the judg-
ment of the farmer. If the brush is dense enough to shade
out or choke the young seedlings, of course there is no
use in sowing seed. This is more likely to be the case with
brush that has very thick, heavy foliage. Thin-leaved,
light-foliaged brush is not likely to be too dense, and in
Practical Sylviculture 101
many cases rather protects than hinders the seedlings.
Destroying this brush when necessary is often a difficult
operation. Unfortunately, most of the brush plants sprout
luxuriantly from the root when cut or burned over, and
consequently an attempt to cut or burn the brush off a cer-
tain tract often results in a second crop more dense than
the first. Probably the best method is to cut the brush
in early fall. The sprouts starting at this late date are
caught by the early frosts before they have matured and
are killed back. After such treatment, the stumps do not
sprout very vigorously the next spring. Sheep are an
effective means of cleaning up brush land. Enough
sheep should be driven on the area in spring to crowd it,
and they should be herded closely. Under these conditions
they will browse the tender sprouts and injure them
beyond recovery. In addition to browsing the sprouts,
their sharp feet cut the leaf mold, especially in the
early spring when the ground is soft, and expose the
mineral soil, thus putting the ground in good shape for
seeding. The first summer’s grazing will kill most of the
brush, while a short period of close grazing the next spring
will catch the surviving sprouts and prepare the ground
for immediate seeding.
(3) Leaf litter. —In most wooded or brush lands,
where fires have been absent for a long time, there will
be a heavy soil-covering of fallen and partially decayed
leaves. These leaves form a layer sometimes several
inches thick, and so poorly decomposed that a germinating
seed cannot reach the mineral soil. Leaf litter may
contain enough moisture to cause seeds to germinate,
but before the rootlet can force itself down into the soil it
102 The Farm Woodlot
has exhausted its vitality or become dry and consequently
has been killed. Leaf litter when thoroughly decomposed
and mixed with the soil is a perfect fertilizer, but in any
other form it is merely a soil cover. When the leaf litter
is not too thick, it may be sufficiently broken with a
drag to enable the seeds to reach the soil. Cattle or sheep
may trample it sufficiently to accomplish the same
purpose. In cases in which fire will not harm any tree
growth, this litter may be burned when thoroughly dry.
Great precaution must be maintained to confine the fire
to a small area at a time and never allow it to run beyond
control.
Preparation of land. — In practically every case, nat-
ural forest land will need some preparation before seed-
ing is done. The method of treating the soil is a matter
for the farmer or owner to decide. It should always be
done in the most economical manner, yet with thorough-
ness. A spring- or peg-tooth harrow is an effective imple-
ment when it can be used. A drag of any sort that will tear
up the soil will be sufficient. Even a tree top with some
heavy, strong limbs will serve as a rather effective drag.
Whatever sort of implement is used, the operation should
be continued until the soil is in proper condition to receive
the seed. The trampling of cattle at certain times of
the year, especially in early spring, may break up the
surface layer of soil sufficiently. In small special areas,
the plow may be used and the ground prepared as for
grain crops. In every case the seedling must fasten
its roots very early in life in the mineral soil in order
that growth may continue.
There is no special secret in the preparation of land
Practical Sylviculture 103
for tree growth. After examining a woodlot, any person
acquainted with the conditions necessary for the growth
of the seed of almost any field crop can readily see what
may be done to enable the seed to get down into the
mineral soil. It is largely a matter of good judgment.
Seeding and planting
Seeding and planting are methods for artificial regenera-
tion of forests. The term seeding refers to the actual
scattering of seed directly in the woods, either broadcast
or on small specially prepared areas. By planting is
meant the actual setting-out of small trees known as seed-
lings that have been grown from seed in the farm nursery,
or obtained elsewhere. At present, planting of seedlings
is the method mostly used, and on small areas, such as
the woodlot owner possesses, it seems to be the most
advisable method. In some parts of the country, experi-
ments in broadcast direct seeding show fairly good results.
At all events, under the proper conditions, some of our
tree species can be successfully regenerated by this
method, except for large seeds like those of the hickories,
the walnuts and the oaks. For these it would possibly
be better for the woodlot owner to practice planting of
seedlings.
Choice of method. — About the first question that arises
when the regeneration of the woodlot is considered is
what method to use, whether seeding or planting, or a
combination of the two. This can be determined only by
carefully considering the situation and the conditions.
Even when conditions are favorable for seeding, it is so diffi-
cult to secure seed of good quality at reasonable cost,
104 The Farm Woodlot
that it might be more economical to resort to planting.
Three or four years might be gained by planting instead
of seeding, and where time is considered, planting would
again be advisable. Small treeless areas that are to be
given over to tree growing had better be planted rather
than seeded. If the woodlot has a crop of mature trees
ready for removing, and a new crop of trees of the same
kind is desirable, then it is a matter of replacing the old
crop.
Since, however, it is very seldom that a piece of wood-
land has all its trees fit for cutting at the same time, and
consequently removed at the same time, it becomes a
problem of filling in open places in which trees have
been taken out rather than to produce an entire new crop.
Where the entire crop is removed, it would be better to
plant seedlings at once in order to prevent a crop of brush
and weeds from choking out seedlings planted later. On
the other hand, if a cut-over area is practically clean, the
soil might be prepared by dragging or harrowing and
small seeds be sown broadcast. Large seed, such as the
oaks and hickories, should be planted in furrows or in
holes made by a stick, without preparing the soil. In
either case the crop of brush and weeds that quickly
springs up after a piece of woodland is cut over must be
consideréd in producing a new crop of trees. The nature
of this brush and weed crop must be understood before
either seeding or planting can be determined intelligently. |
Direct seeding may be either broadcast or partial.
Broadcast seeding implies a sowing of any area in much
the same way as wheat or oats is sown by hand in the
field. Partial seeding implies the seeding of small areas
Practical Sylviculture 105
or spots within the woodland, wherever trees have been
removed and open places occur. The advantages and
disadvantages of these methods will be taken up separately.
Broadcast seeding. — This method, up to the present
time, is expensive and not altogether certain. It is best
practiced with small seeds — as the conifers, — and is best
employed directly after the forest is cut over while the
soil is still broken and the ground-cover in good condition
for the seed. The best time for broadcast seeding in
the woodlot is late winter or early spring. Early spring
seeding, either on top of the snow or as the snow is
melting, seems to give best results. Fall seeding has
the disadvantage of exposing the seed during the winter
to birds and rodents, particularly to squirrels, which will
destroy most or all of it. .
Broadcast seeding may also be employed directly after
a forest fire and before brush and weeds spring up.
The quantity of seed to be used under this method is
best determined after studying the conditions. Also
the quality of the seed must be taken into considera-
tion, as well as such hazards as erosion, washing away of
seed and the destruction of seed by rodents and birds, as
well as the amount of money to be expended. Consider
white pine as an example. This tree has about 28,000
seeds to the pound; sown broadcast on one acre would
equal about two seeds to each three square feet, if evenly
distributed. Three pounds to the acre would then equal
about two seeds to the square foot, which ought to be
sufficient with seed of average quality sown on well-pre-
pared forest soil, especially since seedlings three years old
should not stand closer than six by six feet.
106 The Farm Woodlot -
Seed-spots. — Seeding in spots is usually more satis-
factory than broadcast seeding. The method is appli-
cable to a variety of conditions and has a number of dis-
tinct advantages. The operation of establishing a seed-
spot consists of clearing with a mattock or hoe a small
area, about a foot square, of all sod or leaf litter, digging
up the soil to a depth of a few inches, smoothing the
spot, and planting the seed in this prepared ground.
Small seeds like those of the pines, birches and elms are
very successfully handled in this way. It is customary
to put many more seeds in each spot than can grow to
tree size. For example, in seeding white pine by this
method, about twenty or thirty seeds to each spot result
in averaging about three seedlings to each when three
years old. Some of the spots will result in total failure,
while others will have too many seedlings. By transplant-
ing from the overcrowded spots to the vacant ones, an
even stand can be secured. Seed-spots are usually placed
close enough to one another to allow but one tree to the
spot when grown to pole size. Seed-spots spaced six by six
feet will eventually produce the same results as if seedlings
had been planted with the same spacing. This method
has distinct advantages over broadcast seeding. First,
there is a marked saving of seed, since only about one-
eighth or one-tenth as much seed is required. Second,
the seed is placed in carefully prepared soil. Third,
the spots can be selected so that no seed is wasted on
barren locations. Seed-spots are particularly applicable
in brushy areas; also where there is a heavy sod, and for
planting underneath other trees.
Practical Sylviculture 107
Collecting and storing seeds
In every woodlot such trees as the oaks, ashes, maples
are always desirable, and these trees, particularly, are the
ones that it is wise to renew as fast as the old ones are
removed. In renewing the woodlot under such conditions,
it seems best to secure seed from the trees themselves, for
seed-bearing trees may be found in any woodlot. Con-
ditions may be such that the seed falling from the trees
will spring up and produce sufficient natural reproduc-
tion so as not to necessitate any artificial aid. However,
just the opposite is usually the case. Consequently, it is
a wise precaution to collect seed from such species as it
is desired to perpetuate and to plant them directly, either
in the woodlot or in the farm nursery.
Time of collecting. — Among the hardwood trees, the
time of ripening of seed varies from spring until fall;
consequently it is necessary to know at what time the
trees fruit in order to collect good, fresh, vital seed.
The following table (page 108) states briefly the time of
ripening, the time for collecting, the time for planting,
of the chief seeds produced in the farm woodlot.
It will be noticed that seeds which ripen in the spring
and early summer grow the same season. This must be
taken into account when planting seeds of this kind. The
elms are a good example of this. Seeds that mature in
the fall pass the winter on the ground and grow the follow-
ing spring. The oaks are a good example of this kind.
It is, consequently, a comparatively easy matter to grow
seedlings from spring and early summer seeds, since they
ripen at a time when the soil and growing conditions are
The Farm Woodlot
108
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Practical Sylviculture 109
right for immediate growing. They need no special care
and preparation before planting, but must be planted
very soon after coming from the trees. It will also be
noticed that the willows and poplars are grown from cut-
tings rather than from seed. However, they may be grown
from seed by scattering branches containing the seed
capsules on moist soil just as the capsules are opening.
This is rarely practiced, since they are so readily grown
from cuttings.
Occasionally during a long wet fall some autumn-
ripening seeds may germinate before spring. In the
woodlot, providing mice and squirrels are not numerous,
seeds of this kind may be left on the ground until spring.
Seeds ripening in the fall that are collected for spring
planting must be kept under conditions as nearly approach-
ing the natural conditions under the tree as is possible.
It is a safe rule that all such seeds as acorns, chestnuts
and walnuts must be kept moist until planting time,
while such seeds as the pines and spruces may be kept air
dry.
Seeds from coniferous trees are always collected in the
cones. Seed trees should be located during midsummer by
the presence of full-grown cones and then frequently
examined as to the ripeness of the seed. This may be done
by obtaining a green cone and cutting it longitudinally so
as to expose the seed for examination. As arule, the seed
in the cones is ripe, while on the outside the cones still ap-
pear green. As soon as the seeds are plump and fleshy and
brown on the outside, the cones must be collected. They
may be picked off the branches and placed in bags. They
are then thoroughly dried by spreading out on screens in
‘
110 The Farm Woodlot
the sunshine, or by artificial heat. This drying causes the
cone-scales to separate and the seeds may then readily be
shaken out. After all the seed has been obtained from the
cones, the wings should be rubbed off and the seed sepa-
rated by fanning. This seed is then best kept over
winter in its natural dry state. On the farm it is very
well kept by placing in a bag and suspending from a rafter
or a joist in some out-building safe from mice, and where
the inside temperature is the same as outside. Seeds
kept this way are ready for planting the following spring,
either in the seed-bed or in the woodlot.
Storing seeds over winter. — Seeds of the conifers are
kept over winter as described above. Also seeds of the
birches, the sugar maple and the basswood may be kept
in the same way, but they are likely to lose a consider-
able percentage of their vitality. Heavy seeds like
acorns and chestnuts must be kept moist, and this is
accomplished best by stratifying in moist sand. For
the woodlot owner, the process of stratifying is very
simple, since the variety and the amount of seed is usually
small.
Stratifying consists of alternating thin layers of seed
with layers of moist sand in a box or pit so that all the
seeds may remain moist. For small quantities this is
best done in a box. Place a layer of wet sand a few inches
thick in the bottom of the box, then a similar layer of seed,
followed by another of sand and a layer of seed, and so on
until all are stratified. Small seeds that may become
badly mixed with wet sand are better tied into loose
packages made of cheesecloth, or any thin cloth, and these
packages then packed in sand. This keeps the small seeds
Practical Sylviculture 111
clean and prevents the sand from becoming mixed with
them. In this way any small seeds like the birch may be
kept perfectly fresh and clean. The box containing the
seed must then be buried one or two feet in the ground
in a well-drained, moist place. In stratifying seeds,
it is best to imitate natural conditions as nearly as possi-
ble. Large quantities may be stratified in a pit instead
of in a box.
Planting seed in the nursery and in the woodlot. — Seeds
ripening in the spring and early summer may be sown in
the nursery at once, or may be sown directly in the wood-
lot. It is well to keep in mind at all times the fact that
trees that produce very tender and delicate seedlings,
until they become three or four years old, had better be
grown in the nursery for a few years, while sturdy, stocky
seedlings with deep roots had best be planted in the wood-
lot at once. Seeds of trees that early in life form a long
tap-root should be planted in the woodlot directly, since
the difficulty and the expense of planting seedlings of this
kind becomes too great and the loss of seedlings is likely to
result.
It follows then that seeds of the pines, spruces, and the
like, and in some cases the elm, the silver and the red
maple should be sown in the nursery and when large enough
planted in the woodlot. Seeds of the oak, walnut, beech,
chestnut and hickory, producing a sturdy seedling, may be
placed directly in the woodlot by planting stratified seeds.
Planting must be done in the early spring as soon as the
ground is clear of frost.
The woodlot owner can readily decide whether it is
advisable to collect the seed in his own woodlot, or in a
112 The Farm Woodlot
neighboring one, and grow his own planting stock, or buy
directly from a reputable nurseryman. There is a con-
siderable saving of time by purchasing planting stock.
From one to four years can be gained in the growth of
the trees by doing this. It also may not be necessary or
advantageous for the woodlot owner to grow his own
planting stock. When. nursery stock is purchased, the
woodlot owner should engage from a reliable nurseryman
the right kind of stock the fall previous to the time of
planting so as to be sure to have the material on hand at
the proper time. When it is desirable to establish a
small farm nursery and to grow planting stock, the wood-
lot owner will find it very instructive and highly satis-
factory to do so. The following instructions will serve as
a guide in establishing and caring for a small nursery to
supply planting material for the average woodlot.
THE FARM NURSERY
Most woodlots have coniferous and broadleaf trees.
The trees in these two groups differ considerably in their
hardiness and in their rate of growth during the first two
or three years. This difference calls for varied methods
in nursery practice. Pines, spruces, and the like, require
partial shade during the first and sometimes the second
season. Oaks, elms, maples, and so on, will grow without
shade from the start. Each of these groups will be treated
separately.
Growing coniferous seedlings
Nursery site. — A convenient location should be selected
in which‘the soil is a moderately fertile, sandy loam, free
Practical Sylviculture * 113
from weeds and stones and well drained. A nursery
location in which the soil is poor may readily be made
suitable by improving the soil and preparing as for a
garden. The average sized farm-woodlot does not call
for a great many seedlings at any one time, so that when
only a few thousand seedlings are required, a part of the
vegetable garden may oftentimes be set aside for this
purpose. When this is not practicable, the site should be
chosen in which there is no danger of disturbance from
the farm stock, from rabbits and mice, and as far from bird
attractions as possible. Usually water is necessary at
some time of the growing season, so that the water supply
should be near at hand in case of severe and prolonged
dry weather.
Preparing the seed-beds. — There need be no difference
whatever in the preparation of the soil for growing seed-
lings from that of an onion or a lettuce bed. When it is
not practicable to plow the ground, it may be spaded and
thoroughly raked and the soil pulverized and reduced to a
smooth surface. The most satisfactory width for seed-
beds is four feet. This enables one to reach readily all
parts of the bed for weeding and transplanting purposes
and also to use ordinary building lath for shade screens.
The seed-beds may be any length. When several beds
are made up side by side, there should be a path two feet
wide between them, and if the ground is sloping, the beds
should run at right angles to the slope. If the soil is rich
and inclined to be moist, the beds should be raised about
four or more inches above this path. On dry or sandy
soil, the beds should be on the same level as the path.
The laying-out of the seed-beds may be such as to suit
I
114 The Farm Woodlot
any special requirement on any location in which it is
desirable and practicable to grow seedlings.
Planting the seed. — Coniferous seed may be sown either
broadcast or in drills. Each method has its advantages.
In case the seeds are sown in drills, these drills should run
across the beds and about four inches apart. Double
Fic. 29.— Sowing evergreen seed-beds. Note supports for shade frames.
drills are sometimes advised, 7.e. two rows about an inch
apart with a six-inch space between the double drills.
Sowing in this manner facilitates weeding, since an ordi-
nary hand-weeder can be used. Broadcast seeding makes
it necessary to pick the weeds with the fingers, but in a
short time the seedlings will fairly well crowd out the weeds.
Sowing seed in drills may be carried on as follows: A wide
board four feet long, having fastened on one side small,
three-sided strips the required distance apart, is a con-
Practical Sylviculture 115
venient implement for marking the drills by pressing this
board, strips down, on the top of the bed. Handles fastened
to the top of the board facilitate its use, since it may be
handled easier. The seeds are sown in the marks of these
three-cornered strips, after which they are lightly covered.
In sowing seed broadcast, it is best, after the required
amount is decided upon, to mark off the bed in small
areas about a foot square, either by stretching strings, or
by marking it lightly with a stick and sowing one square at
atime. For example, if a certain amount of seed is to
be sown on twenty-four such squares, then one-twenty-
fourth of the seed should be taken and sown in one square
and so on until all are sown. This is merely an aid to an
even distribution of the seed. The depth to which a seed
should be planted depends somewhat on the size. As a
general rule, they should not be covered any deeper than
twice their own thickness. It is a very easy matter to
plant the seeds too deep, which will cause them to germi-
nate unevenly. After the seed is sown, it is best covered
by sifting fine earth upon it with a hand sieve until all is
covered, then pressed down or lightly rolled so as to firm
the seed in the soil. If the ground is dry, it may then be
lightly sprinkled. (Fig. 30.)
How much seed to use. — The quantity of seed required
depends on the kind and the amount that will grow. It
is always best to test the seed by cutting a certain number
and examining them. In this way a certain percentage of
good and bad can be established. One ounce of good white-
pine seed will be sufficient for about thirty linear feet of
drills, while smaller seed like the Norway spruce will sow
about seventy feet of drill. In broadcast seeding, about
116 The Farm Woodlot
two and a half or three seeds, on the average, to the square
inch should be sown. For white pine, this would require
Fic. 30.—Sprinkling sand on a newly sown
seed-bed.
one pound for 60 to
80 square feet, or a
bed 4 feet wide and
from 15 to 20 feet
long.
Protecting the seed
in the seed-bed. — In
locations in which
mice, squirrels and
birds are very nu-
merous, it 1s neces-
sary carefully to pro-
tect seed in the
beds. Squirrels that
burrow in the ground
are particularly
troublesome and it
isnecessary, 1n order
to keep them out, to
inclose the beds with
wire netting not
larger than a half-
inch mesh, allowing
the netting to ex-
tend downward
eight or ten inches below the surface of the ground. It
is also necessary to cover the beds over the top with the
same style of netting. The top netting may be removed
as soon as the seedlings are a few weeks old. Squirrels
Practical Sylviculture 117
and mice do very little damage after the seeds have come
up, but birds, particularly the seed-eating sparrows, such
as the field and song sparrow, will eat the seeds and will
also destroy the tender seedlings, while they still retain
the seed coat on the cotyledons. It is customary to coat
seeds of this kind with red lead mixed in water. This
does not injure the seed, but destroys their attractiveness
for birds and squirrels. As soon as the seed is sown, the
. bed should be sprinkled lightly and then covered with
a light mulch. This is best done by spreading burlap, or
a strip of muslin, on the seed-bed and upon this placing
a mulch of leaves, or any material that will keep the
bed from drying out. Just as soon as the seedlings
appear above the surface, this mulch must be removed
so as to give them light and air.
Protecting the seedlings. — During the first three or four
weeks, coniferous seedlings are very subject during damp
weather to a disease known as ‘‘damping off,’”’ which in a
very short time will cause them to wilt and die. This
usually can be prevented by regulating the moisture and
by thoroughly ventilating the beds after heavy rains and
during humid weather. Partial shade must be provided.
This is best and most economically done by making shade
screens four feet square from ordinary building lath.
These screens are so made as to produce half shade. Two
strips of lath are used as cross-pieces and upon them the
lath are nailed with spaces equal to their own width
between them. ‘These lath screens are then placed on a
frame by driving stakes at intervals around the edge of
the bed and about 18 inches out of the ground, joined by
board strips upon which these lath screens are supported.
118 The Farm Woodlot
The screens must be kept on during the greater part of
the first season, particularly during warm days, but may
be removed for a short time morning and evening and on
cloudy days. In the second year these shade screens
usually are not required. Weeds must be carefully picked
out and the beds kept clean. In dry weather the
seedlings must be sprinkled, preferably in the evening.
Preparation for winter. — Late in the fall, usually after
the ground is frozen and several inches of snow have
fallen, the seedlings should be mulched. The beds con-
taming the seedlings should be covered with a layer of
leaves, straw or hay, upon which the lath should be placed
to prevent the wind from removing the mulch. This
mulch should remain until the following spring when all
danger from frost is past, and should be removed just
before growth begins. A good mulch will prevent alter-
nate freezing and thawing and heaving out of the seedlings.
Transplanting. — Seedlings of the eastern conifers are
small and rather delicate, as a rule, in the first and some-
times in the second year. In the woodlot in which condi-
tions are trying, very young and tender seedlings involve
a risk in planting, so that better results are secured by
using transplanted seedlings. One-year-old seedlings may
be taken out of the seed-bed, planted in another bed
in rows about four inches apart and about two inches
apart in the row. Transplanting has the advantage of
improving the root system, making it more compact and
fibrous. In case one transplanting is insufficient, the
seedlings may be twice transplanted, or in exceptional
cases three times. Seedlings may be transplanted at the
beginning of the second season when they are one year
Practical Sylviculture 119
old, orat the beginning of the third season when they are two
yearsold. In case one-year-old seedlings are transplanted,
it usually is necessary to provide them with partial shade
for at least part of the summer. Two-year-old seedlings
will not require shade. Transplanting adds to the
cost of the seedlings, and for average conditions two-year-
old seedlings untransplanted furnish the most desirable
planting stock. Transplanting must be done in the early
spring before growth begins. The woodlot owner may use
transplant-beds made up similar to seed-beds, and the
seedlings planted as noted above. Planting may be done
in rows at such distances apart as is most convenient for
cultivation, depending on whether cultivation is by hand or
with a cultivator. For a small number of seedlings, a
regular four-foot bed with close planting is most economical.
In transplanting operations, it is most imperative that the
roots of the seedlings are kept moist at all times, since a
small amount of drying will prove fatal. Transplanting
operations are best practiced in cloudy days and even
in misty or rainy days, providing the soil is not too wet.
In sunny or windy weather, the roots must be covered with
wet moss or burlap. as soon as taken from the ground.
Any other material that will protect them from the air
and sunshine and keep them moist may be used. They
must be kept in this condition until they are placed in the
transplant beds.
Growing broadleaf seedlings in the farm. nursery
Since the seedlings of the broadleaf trees are very
hardy and rapid growing, as a rule, the seeds may be
planted directly in nursery rows in well-prepared ground.
120 The Farm Woodlot .
These rows may be as far apart as is desirable, depending
on the method of weeding and cultivation which it is
expected to use. No shade-frames are necessary, but it
may be advisable to locate the nursery in the protection of
large trees or farm buildings.
Broadleaf tree seeds. — Most broadleaf tree seeds, if
stratified during the winter, will be in excellent condition
for germination the following spring, and they should be
planted as soon as the ground is free from frost and dry
enough for working. Very hard-shell seeds, such as the
black and honey locust, frequently remain in the ground
until the beginning of the second season before they
grow. This tardiness in growing can be remedied by
soaking the seeds in hot water. Immerse the seeds in a
quantity of water heated to 180° F. and allow them to cool .
and remain for a day or two. If the seeds still seem very
hard and show little benefit, they should receive a second
treatment. The water must not be too hot, and a safe
rule to follow is to heat it to the point at which it is too hot
for the naked hand. Seed thus treated must be planted
immediately in order that the seed may remain moist,
since drying out would very readily kill it. Seeds that
have been stratified over winter must be planted as soon
as removed from the moist sand. Seeds maturing in
early summer, like the elms, must be planted as soon as
collected. ,
Planting the seeds. — As mentioned above, it is best to
plant the seeds of broadleaf trees in long rows. When
only a few hundred are grown, it is better to place the
rows about a foot apart and depend on hand cultiva-
tion ; however, they may be grown along with a field crop
Practical Sylviculture 121
and cultivated with a horse cultivator. As arule, however,
the tree seeds must be planted earlier than the agricul-
tural crops, so that it is better to use a separate location.
The seeds should be planted in much the same manner as
peas or beans, placing the seed in the ground to a depth of
about twice its own thickness. If all the seeds are good,
seeds like those of the oaks should be placed about one
or two inches apart in arow. Elm, maple, basswood, and
so on, should be sown three or four deep, since a consider-
able number of such seeds will not grow. Water must be
available in case of dry seasons. Germination may be
hastened and result more evenly if a straw or leaf mulch is
applied as soon as the seeds are planted. Careful culti-
vation and the keeping out of all weeds is necessary.
Transplanting. — As a rule, hardwood seedlings are
large enough to plant into the permanent site when one
year old, but when it is desirable to keep them for another
year or two in the nursery, they should be transplanted in
rows wide enough to admit of horse cultivation. Trans-
planting operations depend to some extent on the nature of
the root system. Many broadleaf trees produce heavy
tap-roots, even during the first year. When these trees
are left in the nursery without transplanting, this root
becomes so large that the transplanting operation be-
comes a difficult as well as an expensive one. Seedlings
of this kind, when transplanted in the nursery, should have
the roots well pruned, since this will congest the root
system and make it more fibrous. While these seedlings
are very young, alternate freezing and thawing during the
fall and winter may heave them out of the earth, so that
for the first year or two it is advisable to use a winter
122 The Farm Woodlot
mulch, consisting of straw or leaves applied as soon as the
ground is frozen, and preferably on top of a few inches of
snow. This mulch prevents alternate thawing and
freezing and should be removed in the spring as soon as
freezing conditions are over.
Expenses. — The cost of seedlings grown in the farm
nursery usually can be made very insignificant, since the
work can be done at odd times in the evening or morning,
at no time occupying more than a few hours, so that along
with the regular farm work the care for a small nursery
would scarcely be noticed. On the average farm there is
usually spare time and labor that can be used for such
purposes. The equipment, in case wire netting is neces-
sary, together with lath, stakes, and so on, need cost but
very little. Seed, whether collected or purchased, in the
case of conifers will range from 75¢ to $3 a pound;
in case of hardwoods or broadleaf trees from 10¢ to $1
a pound. In case planting stock is purchased, one-year-
old coniferous seedlings may be obtained for about $1 a
thousand. Transplanting always increases the cost, and,
as a rule, transplants cost about twice as much as seedlings.
The cost of broadleaf seedlings will vary with the species
and the size from about 50¢ to $2 a hundred. From
the standpoint of economy, it is far more economical to
establish a small nursery and to grow planting material,
except when labor must be hired to carry on the work.
In the latter case, it would be better to purchase planting
stock from a reliable nursery.
Practical Sylviculture 123
SPRING OPERATIONS IN THE FARM NURSERY
When the seedlings in the farm nursery are old enough
to be planted into the permanent site, they must be taken
from the seed-beds, or nursery rows, in the early spring as
soon as the frost is out of the ground and before the growth
Fia. 31.— Lifting and counting seedlings in nursery.
is started. Pine or any small spruce seedlings are best
lifted from the beds with a spade, since the spade can be
forced into the ground well below the roots, lifting them
out entire. They must then be carefully separated from
the soil, leaving the roots clean. They are sorted into
sizes — usually two — tied in bundles of fifty or a hundred
124 The Farm Woodlot
and packed into a basket or box containing wet sand, moss,
burlap or some similar substance. (Fig. 31.)
In case the planting is done sometime after the seed-
lings are taken from the seed-beds, these bundles of seed-
Fic. 32.— Seedlings heeled-in awaiting planting or shipment.
lings should be carefully heeled-in. The process of heeling-
in consists of planting the bundles of seedlings in a solid
row in a trench deep enough to receive the bundles up to
where the leaves begin, packing the bundles in very firmly
and tramping the soil around them with the heel so as to
Practical Sylviculture 125
close up all air spaces. (Figs. 32-33.) Heeling-in should
be done preferably in a shaded and_ protected place.
During an early spring when seedlings start to grow
before it is convenient to plant them, their growth may
be retarded by lifting and heeling them in. When plant-
Fic. 33.— Heeling-in evergreen seedlings.
ing follows immediately after the lifting of the seedlings,
they should be taken from the nursery to the planting
site, packed in boxes or pails so as to remain always
moist. When the planting takes place after the seed-
lings have been heeled-in, they should be removed from
the trench as fast as needed, packed and transferred to
the planting site as before. Great caution should be
exercised to keep the roots wet at all times.
126 The Farm Woodlot
Broadleaf seedlings are not so delicate, and although it
is necessary to use care in exposing the roots, a small
amount of drying usually does not seriously injure them.
They may be taken to the planting site in bundles with the
roots wrapped in burlap, or anything that will keep them
moist. When planting stock purchased from a nursery
arrives at a time inconvenient for immediate planting,
then the seedlings should be removed from the package
in which they were shipped and carefully heeled-in
until planting time.
Field planting of farm nursery stock. Fig. 34
_ Planting in the field demands a variety of methods,
the simplest being the planting of a clear area or field.
Usually there are only parts of the woodlot, small open
areas and spaces between the trees, in which it is desirable
to plant. When this is the’case, no regular system can or
need be followed out. The seedlings may be set at random,
so long as they are spaced about six feet from one another
and placed where they are certain to have an opportunity
to grow. In an open area, lines of stakes should be set,
three or four in a row, to serve as a guide for a planting
crew. In most cases, it is sufficient to have two men in a
crew, one man to carry the seedlings in a pail or basket
with some wet material covered over the roots, and to
plant the seedlings; the other man to be provided with
a mattock or grub hoe with which to dig a suitable hole.
Two men working together can carry on the work very
rapidly and efficiently. As soon as the hole is dug, the
planting man takes a seedling from the pail or basket,
plants it immediately in the fresh earth, setting the seed-
Practical Sylviculture 127
ling a little deeper than it stood in the seed-bed, spreading
the roots as much as possible, sprinkling over them soft,
clean earth, pressing it down firmly with the hand, filling
up the entire opening and then firming thoroughly with
the heel. With a little practice this operation need
require less than a minute’s time. When the soil is
Fig. 34. — Planting evergreen seedlings under shade of birches.
clear from stones and roots, one stroke of the mattock will
open a large enough hole to receive a two-year-old seedling.
By pulling slightly on the handle of the mattock, the open-
ing will be made large enough to receive the roots of a
seedling before the mattock is removed. When the
mattock is taken away, the seedling is in its place and a
little thorough tamping with the heel will firm the earth
sufficiently.
The most desirable spacing for all woodlot purposes
128 The Farm Woodlot
is about 6 X 6 feet. As soon as one seedling has been
planted, the man with the mattock advances in the line
of the stakes two full paces, or what to him would be six
feet, planting another seedling and progressing in this
manner until the end of the line is reached. When more
than one planting crew, for instance five or six, are working
at the same time, the crew following the staked-out line
should always be one space ahead of the crew on the next
line. The crew on the second line should be one space
ahead of the crew on the third line, so that the front pre-
sented by the planting crew’s progress is across the field in
a diagonal line, or diagonally abreast. Only one line of
stakes is necessary for the first crew to follow. The
other crews take their distance six feet ahead in line and
six feet at right angles from the seedling planted im-
mediately ahead of them in the opposite row. It is
desirable, when convenient, to do planting of this kind
during cloudy weather, since not so much care is necessary
in protecting the seedlings. A good supply of wet moss
or burlap, or whatever is most convenient to use, should
be on hand at the planting site so that at no time may the
seedlings in the pail or basket become dry.
Broadleaf seedlings may be planted in the same manner,
but as a rule, since they are larger and have longer roots,
it requires more care in setting them. When it is prac-
ticable, furrows six feet apart may be thrown and the
seedlings planted in the bottom of the furrow, using the
earth turned out by the plow for covering the roots.
Two men, after some practice, should plant from 1200-
1600 coniferous seedlings in a day, and, in the case of the
hardwood seedlings, from half to three-quarters as many,
Practical Sylviculture 129
since more time is required for digging and setting the
plants. Spacing 6 X 6 feet requires 1210 trees to the
acre, so that two men working together should plant from
three-quarters of an acre to one acre of broadleaf seedlings
and from one to approximately one and one-half acres of
conifers. The cost of planting depends on the skill of the
planters, and on local wages. When workmen can be
obtained for $2 a day, coniferous planting should not
cost more than $3 or $4 to the acre, while broadleaf
planting will cost proportionately more.
Treatment after planting in the farm nursery
It is always advisable to care for a plantation until
the trees have grown to such a size that they may take
care of themselves. Small seedlings may be choked by a
rank growth of grass, weeds and brush. Farm stock,
particularly cattle, must be kept out, since they will nip
off the tops of the seedlings as well as destroy many of
them by trampling. It is always advisable to exclude all
stock from the permanent woodlot and particularly from
plantations. In a short time a few cattle may destroy an
entire plantation, thus losing several years of work and
effort. It may be advisable, when possible, to cultivate
the plantation with a horse cultivator for a few years to
keep down weeds and grasses, and as soon as the trees
become large enough to cfowd each other and interfere
with their growth, thinnings should be carried on. Instruc-
tions for thinning and improvement work will be given
under a separate chapter.
130 The Farm Woodlot
WOODLOT PLANTATIONS IN MIXTURE
When it becomes necessary to establish a new woodlot
by planting, then it may be desirable to plant two or
more species in mixture. A clear distinction must
be made between woodlot plantations and wind-
break plantations. The former are made primarily for
the production of fuel and farm timber rather than for
protection, and species are selected that meet these require-
ments. For windbreak plantations, the prime object is
to afford an effective barrier against the force of the wind,
and trees are selected with reference to their ‘vigor, size,
density of crown and immunity from climatic injuries
rather than to the quantity and quality of wood produced.
It sometimes is convenient to have the woodlot serve as a
windbreak for the farmstead, but as a rule profitable wood-
lot species are poor windbreak trees.
Mixtures suitable for general prairie planting where con-
ditions vary from sub-arid to river-bottom lands
For planting a woodlot the following mixtures are
suggested as useful ones :
I. Green ash and hackberry 4 X 4 feet, the species
alternating in rows. Hackberry will crowd the ash,
causing it to produce good height growth. At the same
time it will furnish some fuel from the thinnings. The
hackberry should be removed as soon as it begins to
interfere and cause any injury to the ash, leaving the ash
spaced regularly 8 X 8 feet.
II. Green ash and white elm 6 X 6 feet in equal mixture
alternating in rows. The elm forces the ash into well-
Practical Sylviculture 131
formed trees and should be removed as soon as the stand
becomes too dense, yielding considerable fuel. This
mixture is suitable to soil slightly better than No. I.
III. Burr oak and hackberry 4 x 4 feet. These species
are very hardy, but of slow growth. Close planting is ad-
vised, to shade the ground as soon as possible. When
crowding begins, thinning should commence with the hack-
berry, leaving the oak for the final crop. This mixture is
suitable for very poor, comparatively dry soil.
IV. White elm and black locust 6 X 6 feet. The
locust grows more rapidly than the elm and can be ex-
pected to furnish posts and fuel in a comparatively short
time. The elm will shade the ground, keep out grasses
and maintain fairly good conditions. Thinning may be
made in both the elm and the locust.
V. Boxelder and cottonwood in equal mixture 4 x 4
feet. The boxelder is slower in growth than the cotton-
wood and forms an understory and shade for the ground.
The cottonwood grows rapidly in height and produces
timber. Thinning should be made in the boxelder until
it is all removed, since in itself it is of little value, but is
used merely to aid the cottonwood. This mixture is
adapted to general prairie planting where soil moisture
may be reached readily by the roots. The trees in this
mixture are very hardy and can be counted on to endure
the severe colds in the northern prairies.
The following mixtures are suitable for general planting
in the Lake States, or anywhere in the general range
of the white pine.
I. Norway pine and jack pine in equal mixture 4 x 4
132 The Farm Woodlot
’ feet. Close spacing is required in order that the ground
may be covered and the soil protected as early as possible.
In thinning, the jack pine should be removed first, since
it is shorter lived and of poorer quality than the Norway
pine. Further thinning must be made in the Norway
pine itself. This mixture is a good one for sandy ground
in the Lake States.
II. White pine and Norway spruce in equal proportion
6 X 6 feet. The spruce will endure more shade than the
pine and will serve as an understory forcing the pine
upward, thus producing tall trees. Thinnings should
begin with the spruce and later run into the pine. This
mixture is welt adapted in the general range of the white
pine, ;
III. Sugar maple and white pine in equal proportions
6 X 6 feet. This mixture of conifer and broadleaf is one
that has been very widely used with very good success
and can be used anywhere the maple and the pine occur
naturally. The maple is slow in growth, forms a dense
shade and serves as an understory, shading the ground
and maintaining good forest conditions. The pine is
forced into good height growth. Thinnings may take
place both in the pine and the maple and when the pine
is finally removed, a second crop of maple may be cut in a
comparatively short time.
IV. Norway spruce and European larch in equal mix-
tures 6 X 6 feet. The larch growing more rapidly than
the spruce will form the overstory while the spruce forms
the understory and shades the ground. This mixture is
very suitable for poor, sandy soil in the Northeast.
V. Chestnut and white pine 6 X 6 feet in equal propor-
Practical Sylviculture 133
tions. The chestnut must be removed first, since it
grows more rapidly than the pine and will produce pole
and post material, while the pine is left for the final crop.
This mixture is a valuable one in the general range of the
chestnut.
VI. White ash and red oak 6 X 6 feet in equal mixtures.
These two species are very nearly equal in their rate of
growth and thinning may include both species. A well-
kept woodlot of this mixture can be depended on to furnish
saw timber from both oak and ash. This mixture is
adapted to moderately fertile bottom lands.
VII. Sugar maple and chestnut in equal mixture 6 X 6
feet. The chestnut growing more rapidly than the maple
forms the overstory, while the maple shades the ground and
forms the understory. Thinnings are made in both the
chestnut and the maple. The chestnut is removed first,
leaving the maple for the final crop. This mixture can be
used in the northeastern states.
CHAPTER VI
PRACTICAL SYLVICULTURE — WORK IN THE
WOODLOT
WHEN the woodlot is a piece of native woodland or a
planted grove, it should have the same careful attention,
after its kind, as is given a crop of grain. To be sure,
neither the same amount nor the same intensity of atten-
tion is required, but the farm woodlot ought to be an
object of sufficient interest and pride to receive such atten-
tion and treatment as it needs. It is a mistaken notion
that a tree once started will take care of itself and under
any circumstances produce the best it is capable of. It
would be just as fair to expect a stalk of corn uncared for
to grow to successful maturity. The farmer takes it for
granted that, in order to grow a crop of potatoes or corn,
he must carry on a process of intelligent cultivation. He
knows definitely that his crop of potatoes or corn will be
very largely in proportion to the amount of labor he has
expended in caring for it. While there is no question as
to the necessity and value of cultivation and care in the
growing of a field crop, it is usually considered unnecessary
to aid the growing trees in the woodlot. It is generally
assumed that nature’s methods are the best and that
labor expended in improving the woodlot is time wasted.
This is no more true than that nature’s methods are the
best for the orchard or the garden. No orchardist would
134
pp, nee
“LOTR,
Fig. 35.— Poorly stocked stand of hardwoods.
136 The Farm Woodlot
plant his trees and then have his attention end there.
The woodlot, in order that it may be of its utmost value,
requires a certain amount of attention and intelligent
ae
|
4
|
|
Fic. 36.—A poorly kept woodlot. The trees are over-mature and de-
teriorating. Reproduction and ground cover are wanting.
treatment. Just as a field of corn needs weeding, so the
woodlot needs weeding. To be sure, the weeds in a wood-
lot are not like those in the field of corn, but instead are
small, worthless trees occupying valuable space, utilizing
the soil and interfering with the growth and development
of good trees.
Practical Sylviculture 137
Work carried on in the woodlot in caring
for the crop of trees is known by the general term of thin-
ning. Thinning
may mean ac-
tual removal of
good trees
when the stand
is too thick,
the removal of
defective, poor
and worthless
trees or the re-
moval of any-
thing that
tends to im-
prove the tree
growth. The
practice of in-
telligent thin-
ning very
quickly shows
amarked effect
on the develop-
ment of the
trees in a
stand. In
Europe during
a period of 74
years, the for-
Fic. 37.— A good example of woodlot of the selec-
tion type. Trees are of all ages, both conifers and
hardwoods.
ests have yielded an increase in wood of 300 per cent, or
from an annual growth of 20 cubic feet to the acre a year
138 The Farm Woodlot
to that of 65 cubic feet to the acre a year. This increase
in yield has been brought about almost entirely by a sys-
tematic and intelligent process of thinning.
The theory of thinning lies in the fact that a tree as a
. growing organism is governed in its rate of growth and
perfection of development by the amount of light, mois-
ture and soil fertility it secures. Light is the first and
most important factor. A tree responds to light through
its leaves just as an animal responds to air through its
lungs. Leaves are the lungs of plants and it is through
the leaves that most of the wood of a tree isformed. Wood
is made up largely of carbon obtained from the air by the
leaves in the presence of sunlight. It follows then that
increased light produces more leaves, consequently a
greater leaf surface, which results in a greater production of
wood. A tree growing in dense shade cannot develop as
fast as when given a large amount of light. It should be
the purpose of every woodlot owner to produce wood as
rapidly as possible. As soon as a stand of trees becomes
crowded and the trees interfere with one another, some
should be removed and a greater amount of light admitted
to the remaining ones. The amount of light to admit at
any one time is a matter for careful judgment, since height
growth is best obtained in a close stand, and a crop of
grass must not be allowed to come in and occupy the forest
floor.
To illustrate how largely wood is made up of carbon
taken from the air by leaves in the presence of sunlight,
let us take as an example a cigar and a piece of wood the
same size; burn the two and compare the amount of ash.
The cigar is a product of the leaves of a plant, while the
Practical Sylviculture 139
wood is a part of the woody stem. The large amount of
ash from the cigar shows the amount of fertility drawn
from the soil. The comparatively small amount of ash
Fic. 38.— Greatly in need of thinning.
from the piece of wood indicates what the tree obtained
from the soil and stored in the wood. Tree leaves contain
about as much ash as tobacco leaves, but the tree returns.
140 The Farm Woodlot
its leaves to the soil, while the tobacco leaves are har-
vested. The agricultural crop utilizes the seed and
leaves, while the forest crop utilizes the wood made largely
of,carbon from the air. It follows from this that crowding
or shading, which deprives the tree of its necessary amount
of sunlight and space in which to grow, reduces its leaf
surface and consequently interferes with and checks the
amount of wood produced. Thus thinnings tend to give
the good trees more light and more available soil and
moisture; consequently there is an accelerated growth
and development of better and larger trees.
As an example, take a woodlot containing about 1200
trees to the acre. This number of trees, if equally dis-
tributed, would be spaced about 6 X 6 feet. Each tree
then would have about 36 square feet in which to spread
its branches. In a few years, side branches from the
different trees will begin to interfere with and finally
crowd one another. As this interference and crowding
continue, the stronger trees outgrow and overtop the
weaker ones, producing a crop of trees, some of which
are poor and worthless, others fairly well developed.
Trees differ in rate of growth even in the same species
and some are certain to outgrow others and overtop
them. When this condition begins to show its effect on
the trees, nature should be aided by removing the poor
trees to make more room for the good ones. This should
continue as long as the trees interfere with each other.
When finally the trees are fifty or sixty years old, instead of
1200 there probably would be only about 200 or 250 trees.
Nature, if not interfered with, would eventually produce
practically the same number of trees, many of poor quality
Practical Sylviculture 141
and small dimensions, and would require a great deal of
time. During the early life of the trees in the woodlot,
it is quite important that they crowd one another to some
extent, since this tends to increase their height growth by
forcing them upward, producing tall, straight trunks.
As soon as a good height growth has been attained, then
the ax should be used in opening the woodlot, letting in
more light, giving the trees more room and encouraging
greater growth in diameter.
Carrying out thinning operations in a woodlot in which
only one or two species of trees occur is quite a simple
matter as compared to the average woodlot which con-
tains a mixture of trees of different species and trees that
differ in their soil, moisture and light requirements. In
the average farm woodlot, thinning usually takes place
only when some fuel or timber is needed about the farm.
This usually is beneficial to a certain extent, but it is not
sufficiently systematic to enable the trees to produce their
maximum growth. The same system of thinning that is
adaptable to the native woodlot may not be adaptable
to the planted grove, since the native woodlot contains a
greater variety of trees and of various sizes, while the
planted grove may contain but two or three kinds and
usually of the same age and size. When a woodlot has
been cut over, most of the hardwood species will sprout
from the stump, producing great quantities of shoots,
which if properly cared for will develop into valuable
trees. The fact that these sprouts grow in great numbers
calls for a still different system of thinning. It follows
from this that the farmer must consider the kind of
trees, the manner in which they were established, the
x
142 The Farm Woodlot
number of species and the soil and moisture, before he
decides how, and to what extent, he is going to carry on
his thinning operations. The wood that is removed during
the thinning process may always be of use around the farm,
particularly for fuel. It is very seldom that early thin-
Fic. 39. —Evergreen plantation. Some of trees dying from crowding.
nings yield any revenue directly, since it may be necessary,
particularly in sprout growth, to thin before the sprouts
are large enough to be utilized. The value of early thin-
nings shows itself in the improvement and the additional
growth of the trees that are left in the woodlot. When the
material removed is large enough for fuel, or for any
other purpose, then the operation may pay for itself and
may yield some revenue, but in forestry the profit from
Practical Sylviculture 143
thinnings is looked forward to in the final crop rather than
in the wood that is removed during thinning operations.
TIME OF THINNING
It will be understood in this discussion that the term
thinning is applied to any operation that tends to remove
from the woodlot any undesirable material, either living or
dead, at any time, or any desirable and valuable trees in
overcrowded stands at such times as seem best for the
woodlot. This definition of thinning is not the one
adhered to strictly by the forester, but is used here in a
broad and general sense.
As to the time of thinning the woodlot, it is a difficult
matter in a treatise of this kind to give anything other
than general advice, since conditions are so variable.
It is a good rule to commence thinning early in the life of
trees, and this time is best indicated when there is a begin-
ning of active crowding between individual trees. In the
vigorous-growing natural stands or in the planted grove,
this crowding usually begins at about twelve to eighteen
years. At this time only such trees should be removed
as interfere with one another or with other and better
trees that will eventually be suppressed and stunted.
Such a thinning should be light and the operator should
look to the crown of each tree rather than to the number of
trees on any particular area. The prime object is to
give each tree crown space and yet to maintain a thinned
but even canopy over the entire woodlot area.
The woodlot owner doubtless will object to this kind of
an operation, since the material removed cannot be
expected to defray the incurred expense or to net any
144 The Farm Woodlot
revenue. It is often the case that a farmer is able to
spend some of his own time or the time of some of his farm
Fie. 40.— Hardwood grove properly thinned.
hands in this
kind of work to
very good ad-
vantage with-
out any par-
ticular sacrifice
of the regular
farm routine
work. The op-
erations may
be carried on
in the winter
time or when
there is a scar-
city, for a short
period of time,
of the ordinary
farm work.
Under such cir-
cumstances,
thinning oper-
ations cannot
be considered
expensive and
the value of a
future crop of
timber should
be considered
rather than re-
Practical Sylviculture 145
turns from the immediate thinning. In woodlots of
considerable area, such as are attached to some farms,
there may be a local market for cordwood, and under such
conditions later thinnings may prove financially profitable,
Fic. 41.— Thinning in hardwood stand.
as well as beneficial to the trees left in the woodlot. It is
a good rule to thin lightly and often, so as at no time to
expose the forest floor to a large amount of sunlight, which
would encourage a growth of grass.
L
146 The Farm Woodlot
Later thinnings, following possibly ten or fifteen years
later, usually pay for themselves and in some cases are
profitable even when the woodlot owner can use the wood on
his own farm. Thinnings made in a stand thirty or forty
years old of the average species of our forest trees are
made with a different object in view from that of the
early thinnings. At this time most of the trees will have
attained their principal height growth, and if allowed to
remain unthinned will become tall and lanky. The
chopper again must look to the crowns of the trees rather
than to the number standing on the ground so as to give
each tree an equal and sufficient amount of crown space.
This admitting of more light enables each tree to develop
more leaf surface, consequently to grow very rapidly in
diameter, thus laying on large quantities of wood. It is
rare that a farmer with a small woodlot will care to grow
trees for a particular use, but he can always use to best
advantage tall, well-developed trees of various sizes. It
seems best then to encourage height growth first by a
close stand and then by thinning at the proper time, to
provide for the rapid increase in diameter. This has in
every case a tendency. to produce well-developed trees.
KIND OF THINNINGS
In a general way thinnings may be considered as of two
kinds, first, improvement thinnings, and second, reproduc-
tion thinnings. Each of these may be given a paragraph.
Improvement thinnings
Improvement thinnings have as their purpose merely
the improvement of the present stand. This may consist
Practical Sylviculture 147
6
in clearing
woodlots of
dead mate-
rial, either on
the ground or
on the stump,
of removing
brush, small
worthless trees,
or removing a
part of the
regular stand
so as to im-
prove the de-
velopment and
the quality of
the remaining
trees. An im-
provement
thinning must
never be very
heavy, since
the purpose is
to benefit the
trees that are
to make the
Fic. 42.— Woodlot in need of an improvement
final crop, and cutting.
at all times
there should be sufficient density to the canopy to shade
out any grasses that would be sure to come in if the
crowns were grouped or unevenly distributed.
148 The Farm Woodlot
Reproduction thinnings
Thinnings of this nature have for their purpose the
encouragement of reproduction so as to have a crop of new
trees well started by the time the mature crop is removed.
Reproduction thinnings must necessarily be heavier than
improvement thinnings and must be carried on at such
times as the trees are producing seed and the soil is in
favorable condition to receive the seed, in order that the
new trees may start evenly throughout the woodlot.
There always must be enough light admitted to the
ground to enable these young trees to grow. As soon as
they are thoroughly established and grown to a consider-
able size, say ten years old, the old trees may be rapidly
or gradually removed. The woodlot owner must be
very careful of this new growth during the process of
removing the old trees. With the right kind of species
properly handled, it may be unnecessary to add any plant-
ing, except possibly to a small extent where the growth is
uneven. In case seeding cannot be depended on, from the
native trees, to supply the reproduction, and sprout
growth is not advisable, a regular reproduction thinning
may be made, followed by the planting of seed or seedlings.
This is certain to produce a more uniform stand and to
establish a new growth of trees in very much less time
than when natural reproduction is depended on. In the
woodlot, improvement thinnings usually develop into
reproduction thinnings as the trees approach commercial
maturity. In the selection system of handling woodlands,
reproduction thinnings are made whenever the selected
or mature trees are cut and removed.
Practical Sylviculture 149
RESULTS OF THINNINGS
The practical results of thinning the woodlot are
usually not appreciated at the time they are made, nor is
Fic. 43.— Cordwood taken out in thinning. Note evenness of remain-
ing stand.
there a record kept that will show what are the actual
results in increased growth. The increase in wood volume
is through increased diameter rather than through
increased height. An average white pine tree 10 inches
in diameter at 44 feet from the ground and 60 feet high
contains 95 board feet of unedged lumber. By providing
Fie. 44. — Fifty-year-old plantation of white pine. Note the
Practical Sylviculture 151
more space in a stand for such a tree by thinning, its diam-
eter may be increased to 15 inches with practically no
increase in height, thus increasing the volume from 95 to
195 board feet. This is a gain in diameter of 100 per cent,
aside from the better quality of wood produced. An
averaged developed chestnut tree 10 inches in diameter
will produce two railroad ties and about one-third cord of
wood. The same tree with a five-inch increase in diam-
eter will yield five ties and one-half cord of wood. This
means an increase in tie value alone of 150 per cent. This
may also be applied, but with slightly less increase, to oak.
Hardwood sprout growths in the woodlot by judicious
thinning may be converted from a cord wood to a log
proposition. This increase in value is the result of rapid
growth of individual trees through careful thinning, often
bringing them to commercial maturity ten or twenty
years earlier than if left unthinned. The quality of the
timber is largely increased through clear, straight, tall
and even-grained trees. In addition, the woodlot is kept
clear of diseased and insect infested trees, danger from
fire is reduced to a minimum, all parts are made more
readily accessible and the general appearance and esthetic
value are greatly improved.
In a woodlot of white pine in New England in which
thinning operations were carried on, there were trees
ranging in diameter from five to twenty-two inches, in
height from sixty to seventy feet and spaced approximately
on an average twelve by twelve feet, or about three hun-
dred trees to the acre. Thinnings were made as shown
in the following table : —
152 The Farm Woodlot
DiaMETER Breast HicH (INcHEs)
6|6|7|8 2 | 10/11 |42|15) 14/26] 26] 17/28] 19 20) | 22
Trees re-
moved | 6/17/31|30]38/40/17]18|12)/10] 3}—/ 2] 1; —|]—]—|—
Trees left}1/ 1/ 3/10] 16) 32] 19|36| 36] 32/29) 24/24/10) 4] 4] 4) 1
Out of 511 trees 225 were removed, representing about
27,050 board feet out of a total of 77,190 board feet. All
together, during the thinning process, about two-fifths of
the trees were removed, representing about one-third of the
volume. The cost of this thinning varied from 83 cents a
thousand board feet to $1.50 a thousand board feet for
day labor.
CHAPTER VII
FOREST PROTECTION
Protection of the woodlot is an extremely important
and very simple matter. Most of the difficulties and com-
plications in connection with forest protection occur in the
management of extensive forests. Here large sums of
money must be spent in making different parts of the forest
accessible, in cutting expensive fire breaks and in main-
taining patrols in the danger season. These are the things
that require money and technical knowledge.
Few woodlots involve any of these questions. They are
usually small and surrounded by open country or well
traversed by roads, making them accessible all around.
These roads and the open country are very efficient fire
breaks, which, together with location of the woodlots in a
comparatively thickly settled country, make any patrol
unnecessary. The woodlot is, however, liable to a certain
degree to the following dangers: fire, grazing, mismanage-
ment, trespass, windfall, sunscald, insect and fungi at-
tacks. The remedies in most cases are very simple.
FIRE
Only two types of fires are likely to occur in the woodlot,
the ground fire and the surface fire. The ground fire
burns below the surface fed by the humus, leaf mold and
peat in the soil. These fires occur commonly only in
153
154 The Farm Woodlot
those regions in which there is a great amount of peat in
the soil, this usually being the case in swampy country only.
Such land is too wet to burn ‘except in very dry seasons,
when it becomes very inflammable. A fire started on the
surface eats rapidly into the ground, sometimes to consider-
able depths according to the thickness of the peat forma-
tion. The fierce heat from such a fire enables it, when it
has once secured a good start, to dry out the ground ahead
of it sufficiently to burn through a quite wet swamp.
Fire often smolders across a swamp in this way unnoticed
and breaks out in a violent conflagration on the other side.
The Hinckley fire and several other disastrous fires started
in just this way. The usual cause of such a ground fire is
a poorly located and neglected camp fire ; sometimes it is a
discarded match or cigar stump or a surface fire. Such a
fire destroys not only the fertility of the soil, but the soil
itself, and burns off the roots of the trees so that they fall
of their own weight or are blown over by the first wind.
This makes a tangled mass of dead trees and brush in
which the next fire would be wholly beyond control.
There is only one way to fight such a fire: by ditching all
around it to the depth of the mineral soil and keeping a
careful watch to see that it does not cross the ditch. If,
by any chance, the fire gets a start unnoticed and kills the
trees, the burned area should be gone over as soon as
possible and all the material that can be used in any form
removed. This should not be neglected, for the shallow-
rooted species that grow in such situations are seldom du-
rable and rot very rapidly. When the useful material has
been removed, the remaining brush should be burned
carefully to lessen the chances of another fire.
Forest Protection 155
A surface fire burns in the moss, leaves and underbrush.
In fact, in many regions it is such a common occurrence for
the forests to burn over in this way every spring-and fall
that no one pays any attention to them. Some owners
even set these fires in their woodlots with the idea of im-
proving the grazing. It is the impression generally that
these surface fires do no damage because they do not very
obviously injure the mature trees. This impression is
altogether wrong. The surface fire does an enormous
amount of damage in any forest; and more especially is
this so in the woodlot. The obvious injury to the mature
timber is, indeed, slight, but damage has been done.
The litter which should naturally increase the fertility of
the soil is destroyed, and land that is burned over every
year deteriorates steadily. The surface roots are injured
or killed by the heat and the trees rendered liable to wind-
fall. The trees are burned at the base so that considerable
loss is experienced in logging through the cutting of high
stumps and the butting of the bottom log — the very best
timber in the whole tree. This is more especially true of
conifers.
The greatest loss is in the young growth, which is very
susceptible to injury from fire in all species. A surface
fire every three or four years is sufficient to destroy most of
the young growth and the annual burning makes all
reproduction impossible. It also fosters the growth of
herbaceous weeds and sprouting shrubs to such an extent
that tree seedlings are crowded out completely. In the
virgin forest in which most of the timber is mature and
very little young growth is present, this does not matter
so much to the owner, for he counts on moving to another
156 The Farm Woodlot
tract for his next cut and has no idea of raising another
crop on the same ground. Inthe woodlot in which the lo-
cation is necessarily permanent, the very existence of the
forest depends absolutely upon this young growth. A cer-
tain amount of timber must be ready for the harvest each
year or the woodlot fails of its purpose. To furnish this
mature timber regularly and continuously, young growth of
all ages must always be present. Fire of any kind breaks up
this series and impairs the producing capacity of the forest.
These fires occur at different times of the year in differ-
ent sections of the country but there are two seasons when
they are most prevalent. In the spring after the snow has
melted and before the vegetation has leafed out, the sun’s
rays fall directly on the leaf mold and make it as dry as
tinder. Practically the same conditions exist in the early
autumn after the leaves have fallen and before the snows
or fall rains begin. The least spark will then cause a fire
which soon gets beyond control unless discovered in the
very inception. These are the times when fires are most
likely to occur, but a severe drought may bring about
these conditions at any time of the year.
The railroads are responsible for a very large percentage
of the forest fires. Sparks from the smoke stack and live
coals from the fire box are almost certain to start forest
fires in dry seasons. In fact, it was found necessary in a
particularly dry season in the Adirondacks to patrol the
forests after every train, and the patrol was seldom in
vain. Spark arresters on the smoke stacks and regulations
restricting the dumping of the ashes to suitable places
do away with most of this danger. The clearing and
burning over of a strip on either side of the right of way is
Forest Protection 157
also a very good protective measure. If it is not desirable
to have this space idle, keep good, healthy trees growing
to the very edge of the right of way and keep them very
carefully freed from all dead limbs and dry litter on the
ground. Highways should be treated in much the same
manner as railroads on account of the danger from matches
and cigar butts carelessly thrown aside by the passers-by.
Next to the railroads, the burning of fallows is the most
frequent cause of fire. The farmers fire their meadows and
marshes in the spring to burn out the dead grass and
to improve the pasture. In spite of the laws making a
closed season for fallow burning in many states, fires are
started at dry seasons and quickly get beyond control. In
fact, many farmers take no further interest in a fire after
they have started it, and let it run wherever it will. The
property of others is often destroyed in this way and the
fires frequently run into the forests from the meadows.
More care in choosing a suitable time for firing the meadow
would eliminate most of this danger. Such a fire should
never be started during a drought or when there is a heavy
wind. About five o’clock in the afternoon on a clear day
shortly after a rain is a good time to set such a fire. The
open field then will be sufficiently dry to burn well, while
the moisture in the woods and the falling of the dew in the
evening will prevent the fire from getting beyond control.
Where meadow land adjoins forest, a strip a rod wide
should be plowed and kept clear.
The setting of fires in the woods itself should never be
permitted — for the returns in grass will never repay the
damage done to the forest. This practice of firing the
woods is most prevalent in the South, where it is done
158 The Farm Woodlot
regularly every year. In some places the people are be-
ginning to learn from experience that the burning is not a
good practice even from an agricultural standpoint. The
fertility of the soil-decreases steadily and the better
grasses are replaced by coarser and inferior species.
In some sections many fires are started by tramps who
camp in the woodlots for the night, cook their dinners,
and are careless with their camp fires. They take no care
in locating the fires and then leave them to be spread
by the wind. They should be watched closely and care
should be taken in handling them, or they may maliciously
or thoughtlessly fire the woods. ut
There are a few precautionary measures that should be
observed in every woodlot no matter howremote the danger
from fire may appear to be. All slashings from lumbering,
all windfalls and all dead brush should be piled and care-
fully burned. This is an inexpensive process and prevents
the occurrence of a violent fire. A fire running in a clean
woods is easily controlled, but in the dry slashings or wind-
fall it is impossible to do anything with it.
If the tract is large, there should be several roads through
it to make all parts of it easily accessible and to serve as
bases from which to fight the fire. These should be kept
well cleaned out and the mineral soil exposed wherever
possible. There is no better fire break than a well-main-
tained road. Unassisted it will stop any surface fire in a
clean forest and prevent it from spreading over the whole
tract. These are both good sylvicultural measures and
cause no inconvenience.
The most effective implements in fighting fire are the
shovel and the plow. A well-turned furrow will stop a light
Forest Protection 159
ground fire and a shovel-full of mineral soil spread over
the advancing line will put out the blaze wherever it
touches. In digging a ditch to head off the fire, the dirt
should be thrown in toward the blaze so that the fire will
be too much weakened to jump the ditch. Often, when a
ditch cannot be placed effectually across the whole front
of the fire, it can be flanked obliquely and the front so re-
duced that it can be controlled, or it’ can be run into a
swamp or stream. Every swamp, stream, road or hill top
is a point of vantage from which to fight. There is such a
drought from a valley that little can be done with a fire on
a slope, but a very small fire break will stop it on a ridge.
The time to fight fire is at night. In the day time when
the sun has dried up the dew, warmed up everything and
raised a wind, the flames cannot well be handled and the
fire will usually travel faster than a small crew of men can
work. A small fire may be attacked in the day time and
handled before it has gained great headway, but if it is
under full headway a great amount of labor is saved by
waiting till night to make a fight against it. The day
should be spent in studying the fire and the topography,
picking out good vantage points and making preparations
for the night’s work. The wind usually goes down some-
what with the sun, the dew dampens everything and the
fire is reduced to a fraction of its daytime fury.
When the tract abuts on another forest property, it is
well to place a road on the boundary or at least clear the
brush from a strip two rods wide, plow a few furrows on
either side and burn in between. This strip should be
burned over every year — preferably in the spring — and
kept clean.
160 The Farm Woodlot
GRAZING Figs. 45-48
Grazing is one of the evils that is doing the most damage
in the farm woodlots to-day. On a large number of the
Fic. 45.— No reproduction at present. Due to grazing.
farms, the woodlot is regarded as a shaded pasture and
grazed continuously, little thought being given to the
effect on the wood-producing capacity. This has gone on
Forest Protection 161
year after year till the tract has, in fact, become a shaded
pasture; the forest conditions have completely disap-
peared and the woodlot has the appearance of a city park
with a few mature trees scattered over an open grass plot.
The amount of damage done depends on many factors.
Of these, the most important are: the condition of the
forest when the stock is admitted; the species of animal
admitted; the species of trees; the condition of the soil
and the slope of the land.
The injury to the forest consists of: the browsing of the
young seedlings, and of the succulent leaves and shoots of
everything within reach; the gnawing and stripping of
the bark, especially from the young trees; the trampling
and breaking down of seedlings; the bruising of the sur-
face roots, especially by the heavily shod horses; and
the hard packing of the forest floor.
The greatest damage is likely to result when regeneration
is in its early stages — for it is the browsing and tramping
of the young seedlings that does the most damage to the
forest. Each seedling nipped off means from two to four
years wasted in the growth of that tree, and the same
thing is likely to occur again when the growth is renewed.
This means that there is very little chance for the young
growth to grow above the reach of the animals, where it
would be comparatively safe. The correctness of this
theory is proven by the appearance of tracts that have been
heavily grazed for a series of years. Young growth is
absolutely lacking and only the mature trees remain.
In a large forest which is managed on the compartment
system, it is easily possible to allow grazing in the forest
generally but prohibit it on the areas undergoing repro-
M
162 The Farm. Woodlot
duction. In the woodlot this cannot be done. Nearly
all the woodlots are managed on the selection system,
individual trees cut here and there throughout the woods,
which means that reproduction is going on all over the
Fia. 46.— Effect of grazing on hardwood reproduction.
woods at the same time. This makes it impossible to pro-
tect young growth from the grazing animals.
Cattle are most frequently pastured in the woodlot and
they do less damage than any other grazing stock. They
prefer grass to trees, and will not browse so long as the
grass holds out. Care should be taken not to turn in more
Forest Protection 163
stock than the grass in the woods can carry; nor to turn
them in before the grass has started; nor to keep them
there when the grass is old and tough. If these rules are
not followed carefully, the cattle will be forced by hunger
to browse, and on account of their height and weight can
Fic. 47.— Damage done by cattle to oak sprouts.
do a great deal of damage. Cattle browse only on the
broad-leaved species, but may damage coniferous seedlings
by trampling them.
Goats do not need the incentive of hunger to make them
browse. They prefer the shoots of the trees to grass,
and eat conifers as well as deciduous trees. By standing
164 The Farm Woodlot
on their hind legs and walking up the small saplings with
their front feet, they are able to bend down trees six or
eight feet high and browse off the tops. They eat with a
jerking, pulling motion which frequently strips the bark
Fic. 48.— Effect of grazing. Note reproduction to the left of fence
where stock has been kept out.
from the trunks along with the small twigs. They should
be kept out of the woodlot at all times.
Sheep have somewhat the same characteristics as goats,
but are not so apt to browse unless the ground feed runs
out. Neither do they take kindly to the coniferous seed-
lings. However, the numbers must be very carefully
limited — for, if the range becomes at all crowded, the
sheep will browse very heavily on the young hardwood
Forest Protection 165
growth. The fact that sheep are frequently used to clean
up brush land shows what they will do in the way of de-
stroying broadleaf growth. Greater care is necessary in
limiting the number of the sheep than cattle, for when
crowded they are like a flock of locusts. Horses, especially
young horses, do much damage by browsing the leaves
and small twigs as high as they can reach, and gnawing
the bark off the saplings. They also trample down a great
many seedlings with their heavy tread and tear the bark
from the surface roots of the shallow-rooted species with
their iron shoes. They will not browse conifers, but break
down many of them in running around for exercise. Fiirst,
in his book on forest protection, classifies the domestic
animals, according to the amount of damage that they do,
as follows: goats, horses, sheep and cows.
When the soil is light and has a tendency to drift with
the wind, grazing animals do much to stir it up and start
it moving. When there is heavy clay, they pack it down
so that germinating seeds cannot get a foothold. When
the slope is steep, they are very apt to pry loose the earth
and start erosion.
Do not use the woodlot for a pasture unless it is neces-
sary, and then graze it as lightly as possible. That is a
rule which can be followed safely everywhere and at all
times, except when the object is the clearing out of the
underbrush.
7
MISMANAGEMENT
Probably the greatest danger to which the woodlot
is subjected is mismanagement by the owner. No atten-
tion is given to the maintenance of production, either in
166 The Farm Woodlot
quantity or quality. The amount of wood needed on the
farm is the standard for cutting, without any regard to the
amount produced. The rate of growth, which is the only
true gauge of the producing capacity, is not considered.
When the woodlot is large, sufficient timber is not removed
and the excess growth rots away. When the woodlot is
too small, all the annual product and some of the produc-
ing stock are taken, thus decreasing the output yearly.
Nearly every woodlot is deteriorating in quality under
the present system of management. The most desirable
species are cut until they are all gone and the undesirable
species are left to seed up the vacant places. A few years
of such treatment leaves a tangle of tree weeds, worthless:
for almost any purposes except firewood. A little care in
the selection of trees for cutting would make it possible
to utilize most of this poor timber for firewood before the
good species are cut and thus insure the seeding of the
ground by the better species. In this way the value of
the woodlot may be improved from year to year instead
of lowered. This properly belongs to sylviculture and will
be taken up in detail under the head of ‘“‘The Care of the
Woodlot.”
TRESPASS
There is no form of property that is so liable to trespass
as forests. There is a very general idea that the forest
is common property and open to the public for hunting,
picnics and wood supplies of all kinds. The small woodlot
is not exposed so much to theft as to hunters and tramps
who are likely to set fires. However, when the woodlot
borders on the property of another, especially forest land,
4
Forest Protection 167
the line should be carefully surveyed and clearly defined.
Both parties should be witness to the accuracy of the sur-
vey and testify the same on the map or survey notes. If
the woodlot lies at some distance from the house and re-
mote from a well-traveled road, it should be visited oc-
casionally to see that no one is trespassing. Not only is
the wood lost by the theft, but the whole scheme of man-
agement is upset by the promiscuous cutting.
WINDFALL
Windfall is likely to occur only when the woodlot is
made up of shallow-rooted species, such as the spruce,
beech, birch, balsam and tamarack. It is usually caused
by winds that blow fairly consistently from some one direc-
tion. Damage is prevented by leaving a row or two of
deep-rooted species along the windward boundary for a
windbreak and never exposing the shallow-rooted trees
to the full force of the winds by cutting the wind-firm trees
around them. This is quite easily done because the
shallow-rooted trees are usually shorter and located on
lower ground where the wind is not so likely to strike
them. In case the woodlot is made up entirely of shallow-
rooted species, it is necessary to accustom them to the
wind and thus strengthen their roots by thinning them
gradually and not making any heavy cuttings where the
remaining trees will be exposed to the wind. Should
windfall occur, the same measures that are described under
“ground fires” should be taken at once. Ina small wood-
lot, little loss need result.
168 The Farm Woodlot
SUNSCALD
Sunscald is more likely to occur in the case of lawn or
park trees than in the woodlot. It is caused by the direct
rays of the sun scorching the bark and cambium layer of
the trunk. Only the smooth, thin-barked trees are ex-
posed to this danger. Maples and basswoods are particu-
larly susceptible. It almost invariably occurs on the
southwest side where the sun strikes hottest. The burn-
ing kills the growing tissue just under the bark and causes
the bark to peel off in patches. The result is an ugly
wound, an easy mark for fungi, that weakens the trees and
sometimes causes their death. If left exposed, such a
wound can never heal over. In the lawn or park, the
trunks of these thin-barked trees should be wrapped with
burlap or straw until the crowns have grown sufficiently
to shade them. In the woodlot, they can be shaded by
other trees or underbrush. Sprouts from the roots, that
do not look well on ornamental trees, can here be allowed
to grow to protect the trunk. Care should be taken not
to leave such trees exposed on the south or west side of
the tract. When the scalding has taken place, the in-
jured tree should be cut out before it becomes a breeding
place for insects and fungi. The lawn tree, if wrapped
before the scalding has spread too far, will heal the wound
in time, but such a healed-over wound is especially sus-
ceptible and should never be exposed again.
INSECTS
When the supply of timber in the United States seemed
unlimited, the comparatively insignificant ravages of the
Forest Protection 169
insects were unnoticed, but as the supply of standing tim-
ber has decreased, the work of the insects has come more
to our notice and they have apparently become more
numerous. When the growth of our forests becomes more
concentrated under proper management, we may expect
the insects to play a more important part as they do in
the forests of Europe to-day. Up to the present time,
comparatively few insects are known to have done exten-
sive damage in this country. The gipsy and brown-
tailed moths have worked havoc over rather limited areas
in New England. The larch saw fly at one time destroyed
much of the tamarack in the Northeast. The white pine
weevil frequently does considerable damage in the same
district. The spruce-destroying beetle killed all the
spruce on large tracts in the forests of West Virginia and
the pine-destroying beetle has done much the same
damage in the Black Hills. The hickory borer is fairly
well distributed throughout the range of that species and
the locust boreres are found nearly everywhere that the
black locust or mesquite grows. These are the most
important of the insects which attack the trees in the forest
and the ones to be fought against and destroyed. There
are several others that do considerable damage among
lawn and park trees, but have never yet become numerous
enough to do much damage in the forest. The most im-
portant of these are the elm beetle and the forest tent cater-
pillar. These insects may be divided into two classes:
the leaf-eaters, which work mostly on street and lawn trees,
and the bark borers, which work wherever their favorite
species are found.
170 The Farm Woodlot
The gipsy moth
Of all the insects which have infested the trees of the
United States, the gipsy moth has done the most damage
and most stubbornly resisted all attempts at control. It
was brought to this country from Europe in 1868 in con-
nection with some silk-producing experiments. It es-
caped from captivity in Massachusetts and gradually
increased in numbers till the state was obliged to at-
tempt its extermination in 1890. It spread over a large
portion of Massachusetts and invaded New Hampshire,
Maine, Connecticut and Rhode Island. These states
have spent several million dollars in combating it, but have
not yet been able to exterminate it.
The moth has a wing spread of 23 inches, and is a dusky
white with blackish blotches and streaks. The eggs, four
or five hundred of them, are laid in July and August
directly on the bark of trees or on fences, walls, and the
like. They form an irregular oval mass, 2 by 14 inches, of a
yellow or dark creamy color from the hairs or scales from
the body of the female. This color is distinctive. The
eggs hatch about May 1, and the swarm of young cater-
pillars usually become full grown by midsummer. The
mature larva has a dusky or sooty colored body. Along
the back, counting from the head, which is marked with
yellow, is a double row of six pairs of red spots. It
frequently attains a length of 3 inches. They become
full grown during July, usually about the first. Injury
occurs in May and June, increasing as the caterpillars grow.
When fully grown, usually in July, the caterpillar spins
a few silken threads for support, casts its skin and changes
Forest Protection 171
into a pupa which is dark reddish or chocolate in color and
very thinly sprinkled with dark reddish hairs. The pupa
stage lasts from ten days to two weeks, while the cat-
erpillar is changing to a moth.
The female moth does not fly and dies soon after de-
positing the egg mass, which remains over winter on the
tree. All the damage is caused by the caterpillars. The
moth spreads in the caterpillar stage or by the transporta-
tion of the egg clusters.
The caterpillar feeds on any species of tree found in
Massachusetts and completely defoliates them. Two or’
three defoliations will kill the hardwoods, one only will
kill the softwoods.
The insect has many natural enemies, but they are not
sufficient to keep it in check without human aid. The
most effective method is the soaking of the egg masses
with a creosote mixture applied with a small swab or
brush. The trees must be climbed and a careful search
made for the clusters. Arsenate of lead, 10 pounds to 100
gallons of water, may also be used effectively as a spraying
solution when the caterpillars are small. Since the cater-
pillars crawl up the trees in search of a crevice in which
to lie during the day, a loose band of burlap will form an
inviting retreat in which many will collect. This must
be examined daily and the caterpillars destroyed. Bands
of paper covered with printers’ ink or ‘‘tanglefoot”’ catch
many and prevent them from going up the trees.
The brown-tail moth
The brown-tail moth (Huproctis abrysorrhora) was in-
troduced from Europe on some nursery stock in 1890.
172 The Farm Woodlot
Owing to the flying abilities of the female, the spread has
been very rapid. It now infests about the same territory
as the gipsy moth.
The winter webs, three or four inches long, may be
found on the tips of the twigs of fruit and shade trees.
They are composed of silk and leaves woven into a tough
net which is bound to the twig by silk and leaf stems.
This is filled with a mass of small, brown, hairy cater-
pillars 4 inch long. The little caterpillars emerge late
in April and early May and attack the opening buds.
These nests contain 400 to 900 caterpillars. These are of
a blackish color, covered with warm brown or reddish
brown hairs. The head is jet black, while the body is
marked with yellow. Projecting from the back of the
fourth and fifth segments is a large tuft of reddish brown
hairs looking like a brush, and two-thirds the height of the
body. On the middle line of both the ninth and tenth
segments is an orange or coral red retractile tubercle. By
the second week in June the caterpillar has attained its
full growth, 1 to 14 inches in length, and has molted three
or four times. Its head is then a pale brown, mottled
with darker brown. The body is a dark brown or black,
well marked with patches of orange and covered with
some cross tubercles bearing long barbed hairs. The
white dashes along the sides of the abdomen are more
prominent and enable the immediate identification of
the caterpillar. During the second week in June they
pupate, spinning their cocoons of white silk among the
leaves. This stage lasts about twenty days. Most
of the moths emerge during the second week of July.
They usually emerge late in the afternoon and are ready
Forest Protection 173
to fly that night. Both sexes are pure white, except the
abdomen, which is dark brown. The wing spread is from
13 to 14 inches. The tip of the abdomen of the female
forms a large tuft or brush of golden or dark brown hairs,
to which is due the name of the insect. They are strong
fliers and readily attracted by lights. Egg-laying com-
mences at once. The egg mass, dark brown in color from
the hairs from the tip of the female’s abdomen, is laid on
the under side of a leaf near the outside of the tree. It is
about + by 4 inch and contains from two to four hundred
eggs. It is decidedly convex and ridged. The eggs
hatch in about three weeks, about the first of August.
The young caterpillars feed upon the surfaces of leaves,
skeletonizing them, and when abundant causing the
leaves to turn brown. They grow rapidly and spread over
the tree. In September they weave the web for their
winter home.
The brown-tail moth prefers fruit trees, but when very
numerous attacks all kinds of shade and forest trees. The
damage is caused by defoliations, as in the case of the gipsy
moth. In addition to the danger to the trees, the fine
hairs from the tubercles on the caterpillars are blown about
by the wind at the time of molting and cause a painful
skin irritation wherever they light.
The best known remedy is the collection of the winter
webs between October 1 and April 1. They should be
clipped off with long pruning shears and burned in a stove,
since they do not burn readily in the open.
Spraying of the caterpillars in early August is also
effective. The caterpillars are much more susceptible
than those of the gipsy moth. This, however, is more
174 The Farm Woodlot
expensive. The banding of the trees with tanglefoot is
also successful in the case of isolated trees, but the bands
must be constantly watched to see that they do not be-
come covered with dust, webs or dead caterpillars. De-
struction of the pupz in June and early July is usually
accompanied by severe poisoning.
The pine-destroying beetle of the Black Hills
This pine beetle (Dendroctinus ponderosa), is one of the
most active and destructive insects in the West and has
already ruined large areas of timber in the Black Hills.
It is not, however, of very great importance from one
point of view, because the bull pine, the species most
subject to its attacks, is not very well adapted to woodlot
growth.
Hopkins describes the adult as “‘a stout, dark brown
to black beetle, individuals of which vary in length from
about 4 to ¢ inch.”
The presence of the insect may be discovered by the fine,
powdered dust sifting down the trunk of the tree. It
first appears in August, when the adult beetles settle on
the trees in swarms, and start their galleries, the resin and
sawdust being pushed out of the opening where they form
pitch tubes around the holes. These galleries are usually
almost straight cut in the soft inner bark, often grooving
the wood, and the eggs are laid in the notches along the
sides. When the larve hatch they start side galleries,
at right angles to the primary gallery, that increase in size
as the larve grow. At the end of this gallery the full-
grown larve dig a widened cavity in which pupation
takes place. The adult digs from this cavity through the
Forest Protection 175
bark and passes on to another tree. A great number of
these galleries will girdle the tree and interfere seriously
with the movement of sap.
If the insects are in sufficient numbers, the tree is killed.
The needles turn red the first year, a number of secondary
enemies attack the weakened tree, fungi enter the wounds
and in three or four years the tree is worthless.
The beetle is best kept in check by cutting the infected
trees, for it is in these weakened and dying trees that
they multiply. The trees felled should be peeled or
placed in a pond to kill the larve. When the cutting can
be carefully regulated, the insects can be controlled easily
in this way, — for they must be present in great numbers
to successfully attack living trees.
The spruce-destroying beetle
The spruce of the northwestern part of the United
States finds its most formidable enemy in the Dendroctinus
piceaperda, the spruce-destroying beetle. It has destroyed
vast quantities of spruce timber in Maine, New Hampshire
and West Virginia and is still active in those regions.
According to Hopkins “The adult varies from 33, to
7s inch in length and from 7; to ~ inch in width. It.
also varies in color from light yellowish brown in the
younger specimens to reddish brown or nearly black in
mature stages. The egg is small and pearly white like
that of most bark beetles.”
The larva hatches out a minute, white legless grub and
feeds on the inner bark till it increases to a size slightly
larger than the adult. It may be distinguished by a dark
yellowish brown space on the upper surface of each of the
176 The Farm Woodlot
last two abdominal segments. The pupa is nearly white,
of the same size and somewhat the same form as the adult, .
but without free legs and wings, and is found in oblong
cavities in the bark where the broods develop.
The insects hibernate in the bark in the form of adults
and larvee, — the eggs and pupz cannot stand the cold —
from October to the first week in June. Activity then
commences; the mature larve change to pupz and the
adults lay their eggs in about twenty days, ten more and
the larve hatch, thirty more and the larve are mature.
In eighty days from the time activity commences, the
first adults develop. They continue to develop till the
last of September, but continue in the bark till activity
ceases. Thus the insect spends eleven of the twelve
months in the bark and is dormant seven and a half out
of that eleven.
The evidences of work are much the same as those in
the case of Dendroctinus ponderosa. Pitch tubes are
formed on the bark, fine sawdust is thrown out from the
galleries of the larve, the leaves turn a light gray-green
and soon fall off. The twigs turn reddish. One season’s
work is usually enough to kill the tree, unless the attack
is confined wholly to one side, for the galleries of the adults
and larve in the inner bark completely girdle the tree.
All practical remedies lie along the line of carefully
directed cutting. The beetles are dependent on the pres-
ence of large numbers for their ability to attack living
trees. Since most of the beetles are located in the mer-
chantable part of the tree, the logging, provided the logs
are placed in a pond or peeled, kills large numbers of
them and may reduce the number below the point at
Forest Protection 177
which they can attack living trees. The weakened con-
dition of the trees girdled for trap trees attracts many
and the logging of these trap trees destroys them. Other
methods are too expensive to be practical.
Elm-leaf beetle
The elm-leaf beetle (Galerucella luteola) is one of the
most familiar enemies of the elm tree throughout its
range. It has destroyed thousands of shade and lawn
trees, and, when numerous, frequently spreads to the
woodlot and forest. It is evidenced by the skeletonized
brown leaves in midsummer and the falling caterpillars.
The beetle is } inch long, orange and black when young
and a dull bronze-green when he has wintered over.
The caterpillar is = inch long when young, hairy and
almost black, but grows to 3 inch in length and changes
to yellow and black. The pupa is a bright orange-yellow
and ? inch long. The eggs are an orange-yellow, 3-26
of them being in irregular rows on the underside of the
leaves.
The elm-leaf beetles winter over in attics, sheds and
other protected places. They fly to the trees with the
coming of the leaves, eating irregular holes in the foliage
and feeding for some time before they begin to lay. They
lay a few eggs daily for a month or six weeks and sometimes
total as many as 650. The eggs hatch in less than a week
and the grubs appear about the middle of June. These
larvee feed on the under surfaces of the leaves and skele-
tonize them. They are full grown in 15-20 days, and wan-
der down the trunk to pupate in some crack or other
slight shelter. This is accomplished in about seven days.
N
178 The Farm Woodlot
These busy little fellows sometimes start a second brood
in July and even a third one in October. If the leaves
are stripped off a tree two or three times for a couple of
seasons, it dies.
To destroy these beetles, spray the underside of the
leaves with arsenical poison early in spring, or spray
kerosene emulsion on the pupe on the ground or lower
trunk of tree. There is no effective remedy in the forest.
Bronze birch borer
The adult of this beetle (Agrilus anxius) is a beetle from
33; to 3 inch in length and olive-brown in color. The pupa
is white, slender in form and about $ inch in length. The
larva is a grub 2 inch long, and a creamy white with
black mouth parts.
This insect is very common throughout the North, es-
pecially where the cut-leaf birch is plentiful. It has played
havoe with thousands of birch trees in our parks and
lawns and has, in a few instances, attacked the white birch
in the forest. Unless a careful lookout is kept, the dam-
age is accomplished before the cause is located. The
surest sign of its presence is the dying of the top branches.
The beetles appear in the early summer, the eggs are
laid and the larve enter the tree in the fall and winter
under the bark in the upper branches of the tree. With
the warm weather in the spring, they begin burrowing in
the soft cambium. Their presence may be traced by
lightly reddish welts or streaks on the bark. Their
galleries are sinuous, irregular and much interlaced. They
pupate in May.
In a woodlot the only practical remedy is to cut down
Forest Protection 179
the infested tree in winter or early spring and carefully
burn all parts of it. In the case of valuable lawn trees,
it may be possible to cut away only the infested branches,
if they can all be discovered. It may be a help to band
the trunks of the trees in May with raw cotton or sticky
paper and kill the beetles so caught. Usually, however,
the tree is injured beyond help before the insects are dis-
covered, and it should be destroyed to prevent the injury
of other trees.
Forest tent-caterpillar
This insect (Malacosoma disstria) is found practically all
over the United States and has been known from time to
time to destroy large tracts of forest in different parts of
the country. They have several times become so nu-
merous as to stop railroad trains.
The moth is small, light buff-colored and very active.
The caterpillars are almost black, with a row of whitish
diamonds down the back. The pupe are found in white
or yellowish cocoons in any convenient place.
The moths appear in June or July and deposit their
eggs in July, usually on the lower twigs. The larve re-
main in the eggs over winter and hatch out with the warm
weather in the spring. They immediately begin stripping
the leaves, on which they feed till about the first of June.
They then begin to wander about to find a place to pupate.
This requires about two weeks. They seem to prefer the
sugar maple in the North and the oaks in the South, but
when they become very numerous, they will attack any-
thing.
There are several remedies that may be used in the case
180 The Farm Woodlot
of valuable shade trees, but nothing for the woodlot,
except the cutting out of the infested trees. The lower
twigs may be trimmed and burned in winter, thus de-
stroying the eggs; the caterpillars may be jarred from the
trees with a padded mallet and crushed; the egg clusters
may be sprayed with kerosene emulsion or whale oil soap ;
the cocoons may be destroyed. These methods will be
very effective if they are undertaken before the insects
become too numerous.
Fall web-worm
This widespread insect (Hypantria textor) is one of our
most destructive leaf eaters. It is found all over the
United States east of the Rockies and feeds on a large
number of species, including white elm, willows, poplars
and all fruit trees. It can be identified readily by the
conspicuous web tents on the tips of the branches and
including the leaves, which are soon skeletonized and turn
brown. The webs are never in the crotches.
The moth varies from pure white to much spotted with
black. The caterpillar is hairy, yellowish brown and
black, the hairs springing in clusters from black and
orange tubercles. The cocoon is thin and mixed with
larval hairs, and is found at or near the surface of the
ground. The eggs are in yellow clusters on the underside
of the leaves.
Moths are seen flying from early in June to the middle
of August. The eggs hatch in seven to ten days and the
caterpillars begin to appear in the latter part of June,
but are thickest in August. They spin their web at once,
and feed on the upper surfaces of the leaves within. They
Forest Protection 181
enlarge their webs from time to time to include more
food. When a month old, they descend trees to pupate
on or in the ground.
To destroy these insects, burn the web carefully, and see
that none escape. Spray with arsenical poisons about
the time the caterpillars appear. Hogs turned into a
plantation will root up and eat thousands of the cocoons.
The locust borer
This insect (Cyllene robinie) has done an enormous
amount of damage not only by destroying trees, but also
in many parts of the country by forcing the abandonment
of an attempt to plant the black locust, which would
otherwise be a very valuable plantation tree.
The beetle is 4 to 2 inch long, brightly marked with
golden yellow, with the antennz and legs dull yellowish.
The pupa is 2 inch long, flattened and yellowish. The
larva is 38, to 7% inch long, flattened and club-shaped.
Beetles appear on the trees in great numbers in Septem-
ber. The eggs are laid in crevices of the bark. They
soon hatch and the larve immediately bore into the cam-
bium, where they spend the winter. With the warm
spring days, they start activities again, only this time they
bore into the heartwood. The gallery is about a quarter
of an inch in diameter and usually curves upward. The
larve pupate about the middle of July and the beetles
come out in September.
The presence of the insects is evidenced by holes in the
bark from which the sap runs, a deadening of the cam-
bium and consequent loosening of the bark, and sawdust
around the base of the tree. Asa rule, they do not attack
182 The Farm Woodlot
trees under four or five inches in diameter, so that they will
usually reach fence-post size before the borer attacks
them. This, however, does not always hold true, and oc-
casionally trees of one or two inches are badly riddled.
Little can be done to destroy these borers except to cut
down and burn the infected trees in winter or early spring.
The insects seem to attack more readily the trunks that
are in full sunlight and hence dense planting may be a
preventive. They can be kept from lawn trees by
spraying or painting the trunks with something offensive .
to the insects. This is somewhat objectionable, and too
expensive to apply in plantations.
CHAPTER VIII
FOREST MENSURATION
Forrest mensuration is the measurement of the crop.
It is generally conceded to be the proof of all forestry work.
Without measurement, one can know nothing of the con-
tents, value or growth of his forest. The most compli-
cated parts of the science arise in the handling of exten-
sive forests and concern only the professional forester ;
the operations necessary in the management of a woodlot
are very simple and should be familiar to every farmer.
Many a farmer loses fully half of what is really his due
because he does not know what is in his woodlot, how to
measure the quantity of its products or how to estimate
its real value.
The unit in the measurement of all kinds of lumber,
whether boards or dimension stuff, is the board foot, —
a board one inch thick, one foot wide and one foot long.
For example: an inch board one foot wide and sixteen feet
long contains sixteen board feet; written 16 ft. B.M.
(measuring 16 ft. board measure). A two-inch plank of
the same dimensions contains 32 ft. BM. A “2x4”
twelve feet long is equivalent to an inch board eight inches,
or two-thirds of a foot, wide and contains eight board feet ;
8 ft. B.M. A half-inch board six inches wide and 12 ft.
long actually contains 3 ft. but usually is counted as inch
material, on account of the increased labor and increased
183
184 The Farm Woodlot
waste in sawing, and would be considered 6 ft. B.M.
The two-inch plank would not really make two inch boards
if sawn, because an eighth or sometimes a quarter of an
inch, — according to whether a band saw or a circular
saw is used, — is lost in sawdust. But this is not taken
into account in measuring the thicker pieces. And so
it is evident that there is more waste in sawing inch
boards than in thicker material. The prices of lumber
are usually quoted at so much a thousand feet board
measure; written 1 M.B.M.
Lumber (which is an Americanism for boards) is meas-
ured by means of a lumber rule on which there are six or
eight scales, one for each common length, on which the
contents of one-inch boards are calculated for all widths.
The scaler must estimate or measure the thickness of each
board and throw away all fractions. Thus, the scaler
comes to a sixteen and a half foot plank. He turns to the
sixteen-foot scale and measures the width. If it is twelve
and a half inches wide, he looks opposite the twelve-inch
mark in the sixteen-foot scale and finds the figure 16 —
the contents in board feet of a, one-inch board twelve inches
wide and sixteen feet long. He finds that the plank is
two inches thick. He doubles the figure given on the
scale and writes down 32 ft. B.M. as the contents of the
plank. He disregards the extra half inch in width and the
extra six inches in length. Hence the cutting of odd widths
and lengths is always a loss to the owner. The most
convenient time for scaling lumber is just as it comes from
the saw and before it is piled.
Fence posts are sold by the piece and are graded, accord-
ing to the length and the diameter at the small end, into
Forest Mensuration 185
standard grades. These grades vary in different parts of
the country and for different species. A chestnut post in
the East must be seven feet long and six inches at the
small end; for a locust post, three inches at the small end
isstandard. Asarule, the standards are of a little smaller
size in the West, or wherever the posts have to be shipped
by rail.
Piling is sold by the lineal foot and graded according to
length and diameter. Railroad ties are sold by the piece.
They must be cut according to the specifications of the
railroad to which they are to be sold. As these specifica-
tions vary from time to time and for the different roads,
a copy of them should always be secured just before the
ties are cut. A different grading of the ties according to
width of face and depth may make a great difference in
the total returns. It must be remembered that a tie
contains about thirty board feet and it should be carefully
considered whether a tree can be most economically used
for ties, posts, piling, poles or saw logs. It is rarely ad-
visable to cut all the trees into the same product, and each
part of the tree should be devoted to the product that will
bring the best returns. It seldom is profitable to split
a large tree into posts or ties unless it is a species especially
suited to that form of product.
Telephone poles are graded according to length and diam-
eter at small end. Logs usually are measured by the
same standard unit as lumber,—the board foot. For
example, a log is said to contain 200 ft. B.M., when the
lumber sawed from it will scale 200 ft. B.M. For the pur-
pose of measuring logs, the contents of logs of all lengths,
diameters and species have been worked out and tabu-
186 The Farm Woodlot
lated. Such a table is called a log rule. There are forty
or fifty of these rules in common use in the United States.
Some are based on diagrams, some on mathematical
formule and still others on the actual results measured
at the tail of the saw. All of them are more or less inaccu-
rate. One that is accurate in one region will not be at
all accurate in another in which the character of the timber
is different. For this reason, the rule that is considered
the best suited to the timber of a certain region usually is
selected as the legal standard of that state. Other rules may
be used in private contracts, but in all state business and
all law suits in which the scale is not mentioned, the
state standard must prevail. The Scribner and Doyle
rules are those most widely used in the country.
Logs are measured by means of a scale stick. This
somewhat resembles a lumber scale. It usually is made of
hickory and finished on one end with a convenient handle,
on the other with a metal ferrule. On it are printed six
or eight rows of figures representing the different standard
log lengths: twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty,
twenty-two and twenty-four feet. In each row, opposite
the inch marks on one edge, are the figures representing
the number of board feet in a log of that length and
diameter. Thus, for example, a scaler approaches a log,
‘seventeen feet long and fifteen inches in diameter at the
small end, with the Doyle rule. He disregards the odd
foot in length and turns to the sixteen-foot column on his
rule. All logs are scaled down to the nearest even length
represented on the rule. The scaler lays the rule across
the small end of the log, —for all logs are scaled on the
small end,— and measures the diameter inside the bark,
Forest Mensuration 187
being careful to get the average diameter if the log
is not round. Opposite the fifteen-inch mark and in the
sixteen-foot row he finds 121 ft. This he records as the
contents of the log.
Any one can scale sound and straight logs when the
contents may be read directly from the scale, but much
experience is needed to scale crooked or defective logs
with any degree of accuracy. The number of board
feet that the defect will spoil must be estimated and
deducted from the amount given by the scale. It is
wholly a matter of experience and judgment.
ALLOWANCE FOR DEFECTS IN SCALING
The only difficult thing about scaling logs is the determi-
nation of the allowance to be made for defects. Since this
is learned by the scaler only through long years of experi-
ence and actual observations of the sawing out of defective
logs at the mill, it cannot very well be picked up by the
farmer in the comparatively little practice that he receives
in scaling. Allowance for defect must be largely a matter
of guess work with him.
Some attempts have been made to systematize this
discounting for defects and reduce the results to tables
showing the number of board feet to be deducted for a
certain size and form of defect. For the aid of the in-
experienced farmer some tables worked up by H. D.
Tieman of the Yale Forest School are inserted here,
quoted from H. 8. Graves’ book on “‘ Forest Mensuration.”’
A cull table for center defects. —‘‘This table is appli-
cable to all center defects, such as holes, cup shake, rot,
etc., which are four inches or more from the bark. To
188 The Farm Woodlot
apply the table, measure the longest diameter of the defect,
find the loss in board feet from the cull table, and deduct
from the gross scale of the log. If the defect runs through
the log, or if it appears only at the large end, measure the
defect at the large end, otherwise at the small end. The
table should be used only with short logs.”
CULL TABLE A
Loss sy Drrects or DirreERENT DIAMETER NEAR THE CENTER
or Logs. (Goop ror DEFECTS MORE THAN 4 INCHES FROM
THE Barx)
Diam- Lenets or Logs 1n FEET
ETER
Duraes 10 12 13 14 16 18 20
INCHES Boarp Freer
2 5 6 6.5 7 8 9 10
3 9 11 12 13 15 16:5 18
4 14 17 18 20 23 25.5 28
5 20 24 26 28 32 36 40
6 27.5 33 36 38.5 42 49.5 55
7 36 43 47 50 57 65 72
8 45 54 58.5 63 72 81 90
9 56 67 74 78 89 100 112
10 67 81 87 93 107 120 133
11 80 96 104 112 128 144 160
12 94 113 122 132 151 169.5 188
13 109 131 142 153 175 196.5 218
14 125 150 162.5 175 200 225 250
15 142 171 184 218 226 255 283
Discounts for defects near the edge of logs. —‘‘ Under
this head may be included rot, splits due to careless
Forest Mensuration 189
felling, superficial shake due to fire scars, sunscald, frosts,
or any other defects which require the removal of a
wide slab. The scaler measures the width of the slab
which would obviously have to be cut off, finds in the table
the loss in board feet, and deducts this from the gross
scale of the log. If the defect runs through the log, follow-
ing the grain, and does not extend deeper at the large
than at the small end, the measurement is taken at the
top. If the defect appears only at the large end, or
extends relatively nearer the center than at the small end,
the scaler must estimate the width of the slab, at the
small end, which would have to be taken off.”
CULL TABLE B
Loss By Curting SuaBs rrom One SipE or 10-Foot Logs
DiaMeETER OF Log 1n INcHES
Wit or
Stas In
INCHES
6 |e | a] 2] s| a6 is | 20] 2] 2 | 26
Boarp Fret
1/0; O| 1 1/ 2; 3; 3] 3 3 4 4
2/3) 4) 5; 5] 6) 7] 8] 8 8 10 10
3/7} 8) 9] 10] 11} 13 |; 14] 15 15 16 17
4 14 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 20 | 22; 23 25 26 28
5 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 33 35 37 39
6 33 | 35 | 38 | 41 | 43 46 49 52
7 45 | 49 | 52 | 55 59 62 65
8 60 | 65 | 68 73 76 80
9 77 | 82 86 91 96
10 97 | 102 | 107 | 112
11 119 | 124 | 129
12 141 | 148
13 167
190 The Farm Woodlot
CULL TABLE B
Loss sy Curtine SuABs FROM One Sipe or 12-Foor Loes
6 ae Diameter or Logs 1n INcHES
Eas
Eas|e|s | 20 | 2| | 1 | 1s | 2 | 2 | 2 | 26
Boarp Fret
1;O; 1] 1] 2] 2] 3) 3 4 4 5 5
2);4/ 5] 6| 7] 7!] 8] 9] LO} IL] I] 12
3/9] 10) 11) 13) 14/)15] 16] 18] 19] 20] 21
4 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 24 | 26) 28} 30] 31) 33
5 27 | 29 | 32 | 34 | 37 | 39} 42) 44) 47
6] . 39 | 43 | 46 | 49) 52] 56} 59 | 62
7 55 | 59 | 63) 67 | 71) 75 | 79
8 73 | 78 | 82 | 87 | 92] 97
9 93 | 98 | 104 | 110 | 115
10 117 | 123 | 129 | 135
11 142 | 149 | 155
12 170 | 178
13 200
CULL TABLE B
Loss By Curtine Suass FRoM OnE Sipe oF 14-Foot Loes
DiaMETER OF LoGs IN INCHES
WIpTH OF
Sias IN
INCHES
6 | 8 |10| 12] | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 24 | 26
1 0 1 1 2 2 3 4 4 5 6 6
2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
3/10/12/;13)15/] 16] 18 19 20 22 23 25
4 19 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 30 32 34 36 39
5 31 | 34 | 37 | 40 43 46 48 51 54
6 46 | 50 | 53 57 61 65 68 72
vA 64 | 68 73 78 82 87 92
8 85 91 96 | 102 | 107 | 113
9 108 | 114 | 121 | 128 | 134
10 136 | 143 | 150 | 157
11 166 | 173 | 181
12 197 | 207
13 234
Forest Mensuration 191
CULL TABLE B
Loss sy Curtine Suass From One Sipe or 16-Foot Logs
8 4a DiAMEtTER or Loa 1n INCHES
Bak
Ba 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 } 20 22 24 26
1 0 1 1 2] 3 3 4 5 5 6 7
2 5} 6| 7] 94104) 11 12 13 14 15 16
3/11 }138 | 15)17)18 | 20] 21 23 25 | 26 | 28
4 22 | 25 | 27 | 30 | 32 35 37 39 | 41 44
5 ' | 35 | 39 | 42 | 45 49 52 55 | 59 62
6 52 | 57 | 61 65 69 | 74] 78 | 88
7 73 |78 | 83] 89} 94] 99 | 105
8 : 97 | 103 | 109 | 116 | 122 | 128
9 123 | 181 | 188 | 146 | 153
10 155 | 163 | 171 | 179
11 189 | 198 | 207
12 226 | 237
13 268
Every farmer who sells any timber from his woodlot
should understand this process thoroughly, for sharp
practice often imposes on the ignorance of the owner and
he loses much of his profits through an unfair scale.
In some parts of the country, notably eastern New
York, the standard is used as the unit of log measure.
This standard is a log thirteen feet long and nineteen
inches in diameter at the small end. Five standards
are considered the equivalent of a thousand board feet.
This rule is not very widely used.
All logs for export are sold by the cubic foot, the most
accurate unit of measurement. This measure is not used
in the United States except in a few special cases.
The cubic contents of a log is found accurately enough
192 The Farm Woodlot
for all practical purposes in the following manner : Measure
the diameter of the log inside the bark at each end, being
careful to get the average diameter if the log is not round.
Turn to the table in the appendix of this book giving the
area of circles. Add the two areas thus obtained. Divide
the sum by two to get the average, and multiply the
result by the length of the log in feet. This gives the
number of cubic feet in the log. This method is sometimes
used when the logs are sold for pulpwood.
CORDWOOD
One important unit of measurement that is used a great
deal in connection with woodlot practice isthe cord. The
standard cord is a pile of 4foot wood, 4 feet high and
8 feet long, and contains 128 cubic feet of stacked
wood. A cord foot is one-eighth of a cord and contains
16 cubic feet of stacked wood. It is used as a measure
of firewood, pulpwood, stave and heading bolts, short
handle stock, shingle bolts, tan bark and nearly all other
material that is cut into short lengths.
The cord, however, though used as an absolute unit of
measurement, does not always represent the same volume
of wood, by any means. Some of the volume is occupied
by the spaces between the sticks. The amount of this
space will vary with the size, length and form of the
sticks in the pile and the method of piling. The straighter
the sticks, the more closely they will lie together in the pile
and the higher will be the solid wood content. Thus cords
of pine, fir, spruce and tamarack will yield much higher
results than the more crooked and irregular hardwoods.
Large sticks yield a higher solid content than small
Forest Mensuration 193
sticks, because there is less chance for spaces between
them. And for the same reason round wood stacks
smaller than the same wood split up. It is a common
saying among wood choppers that wood swells when it is
split. It follows from the preceding reasons that there
is less solid content in a pile of long sticks than in a pile
of short ones, for there is more chance for crooks and
bends. It follows that in a pile of sixteen-inch kindling
wood four feet high and eight feet long, there is con-
siderably more wood than in a third of a cord of standard-
length sticks.
The solid wood content of a cord varies so much, —
from fifty to one hundred ten cubic feet, — that no defi-
nite statement can be made in regard to it, but it is well
to have the preceding points in mind when buying cord-
wood.
The term “cord” does not always mean a standard
cord. Its meaning varies in different localities. The
length of the sticks varies from one foot to five feet, and
yet a pile four feet high and eight feet long is known as
a cord. Sometimes the distinction between short cords
and long cords is made. They all sell as cords, but the
proper allowance for the length of the sticks is made in
the price.
Another case in which anything like a general statement
is only a guess that is rarely realized, is in the conversion
of cords to board measure. Yet in some cases, — when
large sized material is cut into short lengths, — both units
of measurement are used, and it is convenient to have some
factor by which to convert one into terms of the other.
Since this ratio varies from 250 feet to the cord in some
fc)
194 The Farm Woodlot
localities to 1000 feet in others, it is absolutely necessary
that each locality have a factor of its own for no general
factor will do. This conversion factor is obtained by
scaling many logs before they are cut up and corded,
and taking the average. The pulp companies of New
England in buying spruce usually consider a cord equal
to 560 board feet. Two cords to the thousand is as nearly
a general statement as can be made, and that, in many
cases, is very far from the truth.
The nineteen-inch standard in the Adirondacks is
roughly considered equivalent to one-third of a cord. A
double cord is a pile of eight-foot sticks four feet high and
eight feet long. It is a very common unit in handling
pulpwood.
THE HEIGHT OF A TREE
The total height of a tree is of little importance to the
farmer, but he should be able to measure the clear length
and merchantable length of a standing tree. There are
several finely adjusted and expensive instruments that
give very accurate results, but these are not necessary
for ordinary woodlot work. A cheap, homemade instru-
ment will give sufficiently accurate results.
Take two strips of wood about a quarter of an inch
thick and an inch wide, — the top of a grape basket will
be good enough material, — one four and a half and one
six inches long. Tack these together so as to form aright
angle. Connect the two loose ends with a third strip.
Beginning at the right angle, measure off a half inch on
the short strip. Drive a small wire nail into the edge of
the strip at this point and at points one and a half, two
and a half, three and a half, and four and a half inches
Forest Mensuration 195
from the right angle. Drive a similar nail at the opposite
end of the six-inch strip. Mark the quarter and half
inch divisions on the short strip with small notches. Now
drive a nail through the center of the six-inch strip and
nail the triangle to the end of a pole five feet three inches
long, the opposite end of which has been sharpened.
The instrument is now complete. To measure the clear
length of a standing tree, pace off a distance of fifty feet
from the base of the tree, taking care to keep on the same
level. Stick up the staff in the ground so that the graduated
arm is parallel to the trunk of the tree, which must be in
sight along the line AB. Since the staff is five feet long,
the line AB will strike the tree five feet from the ground.
The observer, with his eyes at A, looks at the point to
which he wishes to measure and notes, by means of the
nails and notches, where his line of sight crosses the
graduated arm. The reading on the graduated arm in
inches gives the height of the observed point above the
ground in feet, each inch representing ten feet. By using
the sight at D instead of A, the distance from the tree
to the instrument may be reduced to twenty-five feet.
This is convenient in the case of thick brush preventing
a longer sight, but is more liable to error and harder on
the neck of the observer. Should it be desirable to meas-
ure something over fifty feet high, place the instrument
one hundred feet from the tree and double the readings.
Such an instrument should be used by the estimator to
measure the number of logs in a tree, till he trains his
eye to make an accurate estimate without it. Usually an
accurate enough estimate can be made by standing a
ten- or sixteen-foot pole up against the tree.
196 The Farm Woodlot
VALUATION SURVEY
An accurate record of the amount of timber on a given
tract may be secured by the following method. One
man may do it but three can work more economically.
A number of tally sheets such as that in the table on page
198 should be prepared and placed in a convenient holder.
Starting at one corner of the tract, the party moves parallel
to one of the adjacent boundaries, two of the men measur-
ing with calipers all the trees on a strip 66 feet, or one chain,
or 4 rods, wide, and the third man recording the results
on the tally sheet. These measurements should always be
taken 43 feet from the ground. The trees on the inside of
the strip are scratched with a bark marker or marked with
chalk to avoid measuring them twice. The tally man may
measure the length of the strip by means of a chain 66 feet
long, attached to his belt. An experienced man can pace
the distance accurately enough. Such a strip ten chains
long contains one acre. For convenience in figuring out
the result, the acres should be kept on separate sheets.
When the end of the tract is reached, the party turns and
runs another strip contiguous to the first. In this way the
whole tract is covered. Not only are all the trees on the
tract recorded according to diameter and species, but,
by noting on the back of each sheet the nature of the coun-
try traversed, data may also be secured for a fairly accurate
map and the area of the tract is measured. If such an
accurate survey is not desired, the strips may be run by
compass at any interval desired. Strips every ten chains
give 10 per cent, twenty chains 5 per cent, and forty
chains 23 per cent of the tract. Ten per-cent measure-
Forest Mensuration 197
ments give results accurate enough for most purposes, if
the tract is large; on small tracts — 100 acres and less
— all the trees should be measured. If the owner wishes
to do the work alone and desires only a rough estimate,
he may pace the distances and estimate the diameters of
the trees in the strip. He should, however, first measure
a number of trees to accustom his eye to accurate
estimating. It is best to train the eye in this way every.
morning before starting the work.
There are dozens of such so-called ‘‘cruising’’ methods,
and any one of them is fairly accurate for all practical
purposes. The one described is, in the author’s opinion,
the most easily applied to small tracts by the untrained
cruiser. The estimator should at the same time note,
as nearly as possible, the percentage of loss from crooked
and defective trees; also the average height of the various
trees of different diameters. The field work of the valua-
tion survey is then complete. It remains to figure out
the result from the collected data.
These records from the different tally sheets are then
collected on a single sheet. The totals thus obtained are
divided by the number of acres surveyed and the result
is an average acre of the whole tract, giving the number of
trees of each diameter and species.
The data secured from the valuation surveys are worked
up in the form of a table giving the number of trees of
different diameters in each species on the average acre.
This is called astand table. By means of it the number of
trees of different diameters and species on any number
of acres on the tract may be calculated.
wa
198 The Farm Woodlot
STanp TABLE MADE UP FRoM Many Tatty SHEETS OF THE
Same Form
. LocaTIon______ DaTE_____-
TPB ees NO: 22255.
Sproms | WHITE | RED | WHITE | cHEST- | HARD WHITE | HICK- | BLACK
OAK OAK ELM NUT MAPLE | ASH ory | CHERRY
D.B. H.
in inches
1 11 2 6 16 2
2 17 5 7 9 1
3 16 3 5
4 7 2 2 3
5 3 1
6 1 1
7 2 1 1 1
8 2
9 1 L
10 1 1
11 1 1
12 1 2
13 1
14 2 1
15 1 iL 1
16 1 2
17 1
18 1, 2
19 1 1 1
20 1 1
21 2 1
22 1 1 1
23 1
24 1
25 1 2
26 1 1
Forest Mensuration 199
STEM ANALYSES
The next step is to find the volume in board feet and
cords of all the trees represented in the stand table. This
is most easily found by means of a volume table. In
most cases, it would be possible for the farmers to secure
the desired volume tables from the Forest Service, Wash-
ington, D. C., which distributes them free of charge
to all applicants. These volume tables — there should be
one for each species — give the number of board feet
contained in trees of certain diameters four and one half
feet from the ground, and of a certain average height.
VOLUME TABLE
Rep Oax No. or Tries
HEIGHT or TREE IN Freer
D. B. H. 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
Inches Merchantable Feet B.M.
6 33 35 37
7 43 46 50 53 55
8 57 60 64 67 72
9 70 75 79 84 89
10 88 92 99 104 109 116
11 108 115 121 127 133 1389 144
12 114 140 149 156 163 169 175
13 164 173 182 190 198 206 212
In the stand table we have recorded the diameter of
the trees four and one half feet from the ground (D. B. H.)
together with the number per acre and the species. Thus
200 The Farm Woodlot
by referring all the trees in the stand table to the proper
volume tables, we are able to obtain the total volume of
all the trees on the average acre. This is called a yield
table and from it the farmer is able to tell the exact
amount of lumber that his tract will cut, how much the
yield will be if he takes out only the trees above a certain
diameter, and what will be left for future cuts.
CRUISING METHODS
There are almost numberless methods of estimating
timber by ocular estimate, or ‘cruising, ’’ as it is commonly
called; but only two or three that are applicable to the
woodlot will be taken up here. The results of the esti-
mating is worked out in board feet, but the unit measure
in the field is the log. The number of logs of different
species, lengths and: diameters are recorded on a tally
sheet and the results worked out in the office. The diame-
ter should always be estimated at the small end and in-
side the bark, since that is where the scale is applied.
The diameter at the large end does not make any dif-
ference.
In order to do this work accurately, the eye must be
trained to two things, the estimating of diameters at a dis-
tance, and the estimating of heights. The first may be
secured by the use of tree calipers, which the beginner
should always carry with him. He should estimate the
diameter of every tree and then check it up by the use of
the calipers. By doing his estimating at different distances
from the tree, he can learn what the different diameters
will look like at varying heights on the tree. The eye
quickly becomes trained to this work, and in a short time
Forest Mensuration 201
the estimator will find that he rarely has to change his
guess when the calipers have been applied. Till the
estimator has become very expert, it is best to use the
caliper check each day when beginning work, for the eye
is apt to lose its cunning over night and needs tuning up.
The eye can best be trained to measure heights by the
use of a ten- or better, a sixteen-foot pole, —the length of
an ordinary log. Stand the pole against the base of a
tree. Retreat afew paces and note how high it comes on
the tree and how many times it could be contained in the
height of the tree, or to the top of the top log. Together
with this practice, estimate the diameters at the various
log lengths. In this way a very fair idea of the number
of logs a tree contains can be reached. When cutting
timber, this process should be checked by first estimating
the timber carefully and then measuring the log lengths
and diameters on the felled tree.
The next thing that must be learned is the thickness
of the bark of the different species at different heights.
It varies considerably in thickness from the ground to the
top of the first log, but above that it is fairly uniform.
This can best be learned from the observation and measure-
ment of felled trees. The testing of the bark of standing
trees at breast height is not a good test. In estimating
the diameter of logs inside the bark, do not forget to double
the thickness of the bark before subtracting it.
When the eye has been trained in this way, the actual
work of estimating may be started. The method used will
vary somewhat with the size of the tract and the purpose
of the owner. The smaller the tract the more accurately
the work can be done.
202 The Farm Woodlot
In a small woodlot, all the logs of merchantable size
should be estimated and recorded on the tally sheet.
This may easily be accomplished by one man. He needs
no other equipment than a tally board and something
with which he can mark the trees he has estimated to
prevent taking them twice. This may be a hatchet for
light blazing; a scratcher for scratching the bark or a
piece of chalk, — probably the last would be the easiest
to handle.
Starting at one corner of the woodlot, he runs a strip
along one of the boundaries, estimating the number,
length and diameter of the logs in each tree and recording
them under the proper species on his tally sheet. He must
remember to allow for a reasonable stump and avoid the
bad crooks. He marks each tree, as he estimates it,
where the mark will be most conspicuous on his return
trip. When the end of the woodlot is reached, he faces
about and runs another similar strip next to the first.
In this way, he estimates the logs in every tree in the
woodlot and his tally sheet contains the data needed to
calculate his total crop of merchantable logs.
Few woodlots are too large to permit of this method,
but when they are, one of the following methods may be
used. The problem is to estimate a certain definite
percentage of the trees. This may be done in a number of
ways. If the area of the tract is known, the number of
acres necessary to make up the required percentage can
be calculated and estimated. The acres estimated should
be scattered evenly over the tract, so that a good average
is secured and not bunched up in any one place. There
are dozens of mathematical methods for distributing these
Forest Mensuration 203
acres evenly, but it is just as well for each man to make
up one to suit himself.
If the area of the tract is not definitely known, and it
is not desirable to go to the trouble of a survey, a fairly
accurate percentage may be secured by the proper spacing
of the four-rod strips. If the strips are four rods apart,
they will contain 50 per cent, twelve rods apart 25 per cent,
sixteen rods apart 20 per cent, 36 rods apart 10 per cent,
76 rods apart 5 per cent and 156 rods apart 24 per cent.
The larger the percentage taken, the more accurate the
estimate will be, and less than 25 per cent should never
be taken on any woodlot.
When this data has been obtained, the field work is
completed and the remainder of the work must be done
in the office. This work consists of converting the logs
into board measure by means of a log scale. The most
widely used log scales are printed in the appendix. The
process is as follows: first, look up the log scale used in
that district in which the logs are to be sold. Turning to
the column of the log scale representing the logs of the
length in the first column of the tally sheet, look up the
first diameter appearing on the tally sheet and write down
opposite to it the number of board feet given in the scale
for that diameter. This represents the number of board
feet that may be cut from a log of this length and diameter.
Multiply this by the number of logs of this class and write
it down in the next column to the right. This must be
done for every diameter of the different lengths appearing
on the tally sheet. The sum of each column will represent
the total number of board feet in the logs of certain length
and species. The sum of the totals of all the columns will
204 The Farm Woodlot
give the total number of board feet contained in all the
logs recorded on the tally sheet, if this represents only a
percentage of the whole area correct for 100 per cent.
One more thing is necessary. Not all these logs will
be sound. The percentage of rot will vary with the
locality and the species. This percentage of waste for
each species can most easily and most accurately be
secured by careful inquiries at the nearest saw mill.
This percentage of ‘‘cull,’”’ as it is called, must then be
subtracted from the total of each species.
The farmer is then in a position to sell his timber and
drive an equitable bargain. He knows just how much
sound timber of each species he has for sale, and the
proportion of long lengths. He must, however, remember
that his figures are only an estimate and be prepared for
a reasonable difference between his figures and those
of the buyer, which are also based on an estimate.
It may be well to describe a common method used by
cruisers on large tracts of low value. It is, like most of
the cruising methods, based on the estimation of sample
areas. The unit sample area is usually the acre. These
samples must be located according to same system, for
if the cruiser relies wholly upon his judgment, he is apt
to place the average too high. For example: the cruiser
starts from the southeast corner of the forty, the common
unit in all large tracts, and paces west 20 rods, then north
20 rods. With this point as a center, he estimates all
the trees in a radius of 118 feet, thus covering one acre.
He then paces 40 rods west and 40 north and repeats the
operation. Twenty rods north and 20 west brings him
to the northwest corner of the forty where he can check
Forest Mensuration 205
up his pacing. This estimate of 2 acres in every 40 is
5 per cent of the whole and the estimates obtained on
these two sample acres should be multiplied by 20 to get
the estimate of the 40. Some judgment is necessary
to see that these samples do not fall in timber too far above
or below the average. It is this element of uncertainty
that makes the partial estimates unsatisfactory, especially
with the beginner whose judgment is not sufficiently
trained.
CHAPTER Ix
FOREST UTILIZATION
TuHE farmer may get comparatively little use from the
timber on the woodlot and render the future crop almost
worthless by poor judgment and careless handling. It
is a common practice for the farmer to cut his timber
without any thought to its usefulness or value. He goes
to his woodlot for his winter supply of firewood. Oak,
hickory and maple make the best fire; and the largest
and straightest trees make the most wood for the least
work. It follows naturally that the best trees are first put
in the cordwood pile. The result, which does not enter
into his calculations at the time, is disastrous. Not
only could these trees have been put to a much more valu-
able use, but their removal means a depletion of the better
species and ideal conditions for the reproduction of the
poorer species which are left. We must remember that
it is the kind of seed trees which we leave that determines
the composition of the future stand. If nothing but weed
trees are left, they will be quick to take advantage of
the situation, and the next crop will be nearly all weeds.
The owner should. consider carefully this selection in
his cuttings. He should have an eye to the market for
different wood products in his locality and cater to the
most profitable. Of course this is possible only when the
woodlot is of considerable size and more than sufficient
206
Forest Utilization 207
for the family supply. But even when firewood is the only
product, the samé care should be taken in cutting to
keep the stand in good condition.
In the older hardwood districts in which there are
furniture factories, there are several species which are
exceedingly valuable, especially the older trees. These
are the white oak, black walnut, black cherry and yellow
poplar. Such trees should be valued very carefully before
they are sold, and they should be sold as individual trees,
never by the acre or thousand feet. The buyer should be
brought to the grounds and asked to place a value on the
tree after a careful inspection. If possible, several buyers
should be made to bid for the trees. The tree should
then be cut according to the buyer’s direction. If the
tree is cut without this precaution, and the logs hauled
to the factory to be sold, the special value of the tree may
have been destroyed. In the black walnut, for example,
the particularly valuable parts are the stump and the
curly grain near the branches. Unless special directions
are obtained for the cutting, these parts are likely to be
lost. Some of these trees, worth more than a hundred
dollars, are ignorantly cut up into firewood. However, it
must not be thought that all trees of this species are so
valuable; it is only the large, old trees, and even some of
those have no special value beyond being good lumber.
FOR CONSTRUCTION TIMBERS
Different requirements are necessary for timbers to
be used in outside, or exposed, and inside construction.
When the wood is exposed to the weather or more partic-
ularly to contact with the ground, durability in these
208 The Farm Woodlot
situations must be added to its other qualifications. For
building purposes timber should be fairly strong, especially
for dimension stuff, hold a nail well, work fairly well with ’
tools, and hold its shape, when once seasoned. Accord-
ing to these specifications, pine makes the best construc-
tion timber that we have, spruce next, and hemlock and
tamarack are good substitutes for dimension sizes. Among
the hardwoods, red oak, maple, white elm, basswood,
ash and cottonwood are good for inside work, white oak,
red elm, mulberry, catalpa and black walnut for outside.
Of course any timber that can be used outside can also be
used inside. Trees of a size and form to produce such
timbers should be kept for this purpose, for even though
they may not be needed on the farm, they will bring a
good price as saw logs at any mill.
FENCE POSTS AND RAILS
The matter of the selection of fence posts is dealt with
under the chapter on Wood Preservation and it is necessary
to add here only a few details on the sizes and methods of
manufacture.
The standard length for a post in most sections is seven
feet. They may be a few inches longer, but never shorter.
If they are cut in the autumn or winter, they dry more
slowly and check less than when cut in the spring or
summer; consequently they are stronger. They should
be peeled as soon as cut and carefully piled so. that they
are not in contact with the ground and are exposed to a
free circulation of air. If the post is to be driven in, the
top should be cut off square; otherwise it should be cut
at an angle. In either case, the cut should be smooth,
Forest Utilization 209
preferably made with an ax, in order that the water may
run off readily and not soak into the top of the post. If
the top of the post is painted when green, the checking
of the end will be largely prevented.
Posts can often be split to advantage. If a considerable
portion is heartwood, a six-inch post can be halved, a
seven and a half inch post quartered. These are light
posts and can be used only as fillers in a fence between
stronger ones. Chestnut and ash can readily be split
with an ax, other species are better sawn. If the posts
are to be sold, they will find a more ready market if
bright in color and trimmed to a uniform length. Posts
for sale should always be sorted into size classes, — three,
four, five, six inch, and so on, and the round and split
posts separated.
The wire fence has almost entirely displaced the old
post and rail, but there are still a few districts in which
they are used, — mostly in the chestnut country. Chest-
nut is by far the best wood for this purpose, because it is
so readily split and is so durable. White oak is also used,
and occasionally locust.
RAILROAD TIES
Railroad ties are best made of the same kind of wood as
fence posts, durability and the holding power of the
spikes being the principal requirements. Cedar is about
the only fence post wood which should not be used for this
purpose; it is too soft and has not the necessary strength.
Nevertheless many are sold, especially to branch roads.
Before cutting any railroad ties, the specifications of
the buyer should be carefully studied. They may be
P
210 The Farm Woodlot
secured from any agent. Most companies classify their
ties into ‘‘firsts” and “‘seconds.” If the specifications are
not secured and carefully considered, many seconds will
be cut that could just as well have been made firsts. In
hewing ties in a woodlot, it is better to do all the hewing in
one place so that the chips may easily be piled and burned.
Most roads also classify ties into hewed and sawed and
make a difference in the price.
IMPLEMENT PARTS
For farm implement repairs wood is needed that is
strong, hard, tough and elastic. The best woods for this
purpose are hickory, ironwood, oak and elm in the order
in which they are mentioned. Pieces for this purpose
should be cut, peeled and stored under cover where
there will be a free circulation of air so that they may
become thoroughly seasoned. Large pieces should be
split into quarters; this prevents season (Fig. 49) checks
and hurries the process. This adds very greatly to their
strength. Care should be taken in selecting the pieces
to see that the grain is straight and free from knots..
Proper seasoning requires from three months to a year,
according to the thickness of the piece. Every farmer
should keep a supply of such pieces on hand so that he
will have seasoned wood when he needs it, and not be
obliged to use green pieces of inferior quality. The second
growth of these species, of small size, especially sprout
growth, is superior to the older timber for these purposes."
It is tougher, less brittle and more elastic, will bend
more to a strain without breaking and stand harder jars.
Stock for handles should have the same qualities as
Forest Utilization 211
the wood used for agricultural implements. When this
stock is cut for sale, it is important to know the specifi-
cations of the factory, that the proper lengths and sizes
may be obtained. It is very easy to spoil a large quantity
Fia. 49.— Season checks in hardwood logs.
of such stock by cutting it even a fraction of an inch too
short. This makes a good market for the products of a
plantation because such small sizes can be utilized.
FIREWOOD
Some species make better firewood than others. Gen-
erally speaking, the heavier a wood is, the more heat
it will produce to the cubic foot burned. Some woods
212 The Farm Woodlot
burn more readily than others. As a rule, the coniferous
woods ignite more easily and burn more readily than the
hardwoods, but the hardwoods produce hot coals that
are ideal for cooking. This divides the woods into the
natural classes of coniferous kindlings and hardwoods
for a steady fire.
Unfortunately the woods which make the most valuable
timbers also make the best firewood, and many a valuable
saw log is cut up into cordwood. The straight trunks of
these species should be set aside for saw logs. At least
a third of the tree would still be left for firewood and those
parts, too crooked or too small for lumber, make excellent
cordwood, especially for home use, when more or less odd
lengths make very little difference.
The process of selecting trees for firewood should
roughly follow this general outline :
Decide how much cordwood is to be cut.
Select first the old trees that show signs of rot or have
suffered some injury. Take first from these trees saw
logs, ties, fence posts or any other valuable pieces for which
there isamarket. Cut the rest into cordwood. Of course,
if there is no market for any of these products, it is sense-
less to save them and the whole tree should be put into
cordwood.
Select next the weed trees of the forest, the trees that
have no special value. They may not make particularly
good firewood, but they will burn well enough when
mixed with some better wood. They should be removed,
to keep them from seeding up the ground and to give the
better species a chance to reproduce themselves.
If any more trees are needed, they should be taken from
ae
Forest Utilization 213.
the most crowded stands. The directions for this are
given under “thinnings.”’ .
Do not cut too much. There are other winters coming.
LOGGING
Winter is the best time to log, especially for the farmer
who is busy with his crops during the other parts of the
year. The snow and ice in the North, which make sleigh
hauling possible anywhere in the woods, and the freedom
from insects in all regions, make the winter months
preferable. The woodlots vary so greatly in size and in
the character of the timber that no definite scheme of log-
ging can be laid down. Only a few hints of general ap-
plication can be given. ,
Felling
A tree can be felled in almost any direction except
directly opposite to the way it is leaning, and even this
can often be accomplished by means of wedges if the tree
does not lean too much. First the direction of felling
should be chosen, so that there is no danger of its lodging,
being propped up by another tree, — or damaging any
thrifty young growth. Care should also be taken that:
the trunk does not fall across a rock or large log. This
will often break or shatter the trunk. It is, however,
well when possible to have the middle of the trunk sup-
ported in some way so that the saw may not bind in cutting
the trunk into logs. On a steep hillside, the trees should
be thrown across the hill, not down it. The trunk is
then more easily ‘broken up,” and is less likely to be
broken.
214 The Farm Woodlot
When the direction has been decided upon, cut with an
ax a notch on that side of the tree. In conifers it need
not exceed more than two or three inches in depth; in
hardwoods, it should extend to the center of the tree,
and “‘cut the pig tail.” This prevents the tree from split-
ting up the trunk and “kicking back,” an accident quite
common in hardwoods. It is always dangerous to stand
directly back of the saw in cutting hardwoods. Conifers
occasionally do the same thing. This notch should be
as nearly as possible horizontal and clean cut. It should
be made as close as practicable to the root collar, for the
wood in the stump is the best part of the tree. It also
aids in reproduction when sprout growth is depended
upon.
The outer bark should then be chipped off around the
trunk a few inches above the notch because this bark
greatly retards the saw. The saw should be started two
or three inches above and opposite the notch. Care must
be taken to keep the cut straight, or the saw will bind.
Do not press too hard on the saw, and do not jerk it.
The motion should be regular, smooth and with. just
enough pressure to keep the saw constantly in contact
with the wood. If it is desired to have the tree fall exactly
in the direction of the notch, the cut should be kept parallel
to it; if it is to be swerved to the right, the left corner
should be cut through first, and vice versa. If the saw
-binds in a large tree, wedges, either iron or hardwood,
can be driven in the kerf back of it, care being taken
that the wedge does not touch the saw. In a small
tree, the pressure can usually be relieved by pushing with
the hand against the trunk above the saw. Never try to
Forest Utilization 215
wrench a saw loose. When the tree starts to fall, remove
the saw, and step back from the tree. Keep an eye
aloft for falling limbs either from the falling tree or its
neighbors. If the tree shows a tendency to lean back
on the wedges, stop the saw when within a couple of
inches of the notch, take off one handle, remove the saw
and force the tree over with the wedges. Keep a sharp
look-out in this case, for there is always danger that the
wood may give way and the tree fall backwards. When a
tree starts to fall, stand comparatively near the trunk,
it is the safest place, then move back to avoid any jump-
ing of the butt.
Dividing the log
The tree once felled, it is necessary to mark off the log
lengths. The purpose for which the logs are to be used
must be kept carefully in mind. As a general rule, long
lengths are more valuable than short ones. However,
two straight short logs are more valuable than one long
crooked one. Unless for some special purpose, logs
are usually cut either 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18 feet long, except
in the Adirondacks where odd lengths are the rule. Short
lengths are cut more in the hardwoods; conifers are seldom
cut less than 12 feet.
First measure the total length of the stem that can be
used for logs and so divide it that the whole stem is
utilized. In doing this it must be remembered that a log
must be cut at least three inches longer than the required
length. Cut the butt log 18 feet if it is straight; if not,
it is better to make it shorter. A considerable crook
can be avoided by cutting right at the middle of the bend.
216 The Farm Woodlot
Too large a bend must be “butted” out. When the logs
are marked, clean away the bark at that point and saw
off the logs. In sawing a horizontal stick the weight of
the saw is sufficient ; do not bear down on it.. If the saw
binds, wedge as before. It is also necessary sometimes to
prop up the under side of the trunk. The limbs can be
trimmed off either before or after the logs are cut. This
will depend on how the logs open up. They should be
cut smoothly, close to the trunk, not left to catch in the
ground when the log is snaked out.
Skidding
This is dragging the logs to the place where they are to
be loaded. The method of skidding must be adapted to
the conditions, and there are about as many methods
as there are different conditions. Here the methods can
be only briefly sketched.
Two general divisions may be made: (1) when small
skidways are made in the woods in any convenient place ;
(2) when larger skidways are made on the road.
The first method is used when the logging is done in
the summer time on hard open ground so that a wagon
can be taken anywhere in the woods, or when there is
not enough snow in the winter to prevent the sleighs
from leaving the road. One or two, rarely three or four,
loads are put in each skidway. This means that the
logs need be skidded only a short distance. Under these
circumstances, the logs are usually ‘‘snaked”’ to the skid-
way. In snaking, a pair of skidding tongs are attached
to a whiffle-tree, one horse for small logs, two for large,
and the logs are dragged along the ground. A collar
Forest Utilization 217
chain is sometimes used in place of the tongs, and a farmer
would be more likely to have the chain. It is looped
around the large end of the log, and the loose ends put
over the hook on the whiffle-tree. It is not quite so
. quickly or easily handled as the tongs. In placing these
small skidways, they should be located where a load of
logs can be most easily collected and at the same time
be accessible for the wagon or sleigh. It is cheaper and
more easily handled than the large skidway when the
ground is in the proper condition, but it never pays to
go off the road for a load and get stuck. This is frequently
done when the nature of the ground has not been suffi-
ciently considered.
When there is deep snow, or the ground is soft, sleighs
or wagons should not leave the road, and it becomes
necessary to skid the logs to the road-side. This means a
longer distance to skid than when small skidways are
scattered through the woods, and the process of snaking
logs, one by one, is too slow. A single sled or ‘‘go-devil”
is used. The large ends of several logs are rolled onto the
sled by means of cant hooks, and chained fast. The
other ends drag. This method pays up to a quarter of a
mile. If there is very much timber to come out, it pays
to extend the logging road when the distance becomes
greater than that. Sometimes, usually in summer logging,
a heavy, forked branch, or “‘lizard,”’ is substituted for the
sled and used in the same way.
These skidways should be located on the main road
and, if possible, so located that the bank at that point is on
a level with, or slightly above, the sleigh or wagon bunks.
This facilitates loading. All brushshould beremoved. A
218 The Farm Woodlot
couple of long poles, possibly three, should then be laid
at right angles to the road, and near enough together
to catch the ends of the shortest logs. If there are a
great many logs, the hauling will be made much easier
by putting the long and short logs in separate skidways.
As the logs are rolled from the sleds, they are rolled out
onto these poles. When the first tier is completed, slender
poles are laid on top of them, so that the logs of the second
tier can easily be rolled over on top of them. These poles
are pulled back after each log is rolled out to keep them
from becoming tied down. When the skidway becomes
so high that it is difficult to get logs on it and would be
difficult to load from the top of, it is better to make
another skidway. Never waste your time by building up
a skidway that it will be difficult to tear down.
Hauling
If there are only a few logs and the distance is not over
half a mile, it will probably pay to haul them on the skid-
ding sled, or on two skidding sleds chained together. It
would not pay with a lizard. If there are many logs, it
pays to load them on a regular log sleigh or wagon. The
condition of the road will govern the size of the load.
If the skidway is above the bunks, the logs can be rolled
down without any apparatus; if not, the cross haul is
used. Skids, made of stout poles about six feet long,
and fitted with an iron hook in the end, and the other
end beveled, are hooked into the iron bands on the ends of
the bunks so as to form a rollway for the logs. One end
of the loading chain is hooked to the reach, the other end
passed under the log and back across the sleigh or wagon.
Forest Utilization 219
The team, the leaders usually being used for this work,
is backed up to the opposite side of the wagon. The free
end of the chain is hooked to the whiffle-tree, preferably
with a grab hook that can be released by a lever. This
avoids the danger of upsetting the load if the horses
cannot be stopped. When the team is driven out at right
angles to the road, the log is rolled up the skids onto the
bunks. Two horses in this way can handle almost any
logs that are cut in the Northeast. One horse can handle
smalllogs. When the log is in place, the chain is unhooked
and put around another log while the team is being brought
back into position. A little faster work is possible if the
chain unhooks in the middle instead of at the whiffle-tree.
The horses soon learn the system and one man alone can
put on a load with a well-trained team. When the load
is in place, it is bound fast with the loading chain. Some-
times a binder pole is used.
From four to eight thousand feet make a good load on an
iced road on which there are no heavy grades. On a
heavy down grade, straw put in the ruts will act as a
brake. In wagon hauling, or on snow roads, from one
thousand to fifteen hundred feet is about the limit.
When the logs have been removed, the other marketable
products should be taken from the remaining portion of
the tree: ties, posts or firewood.
THE CHIEF USES OF OUR COMMON WOODS
Yellow poplar.— Panels; flooring; molding; clap-
boarding; sheathing; shingles; siding on railroad cars;
interior finish of Pullman cars; coffins; -bodies of auto-
mobiles; carriages and sleighs; sides of farm wagon beds ;
220 The Farm Woodlot
woodenware; bungs; slack barrels and tobacco hogs-
heads; backing, tops and sides for pianos; veneers;
boxes, especially biscuit boxes and cigar boxes; scroll
saw work; wood carving; wood burning; matches;
excelsior; paper pulp; porch columns; hat forms; cores
for veneer furniture and for interior finish.
Basswood. — Mirror and picture backs; drawers and
backs of furniture; molding; woodenware; panels and
bodies of carriages ; ceiling; wooden boxes; inner soles of
shoes; cooperage heading; slack barrel staves; butter
churns; fine carving; papier-m4ché; paper pulp. The
flowers are used for tea; the inner bark of some species
for coarse cordage and matting and glue brushes.
Buckeye. — Artificial limbs; woodenware; paper pulp;
wooden hats; fine wood carving; pyrography.
Maple. — Furniture; flooring; sugar barrels; mantels;
runners of sleighs ; peavy handles; ox yokes; ax handles;
sides, backs and bridges of violins; bicycle rims; wooden-
ware; wooden shovels; shoe pegs and lasts; gun stocks;
saddle trees; teeth of wooden gear wheels; piano keys
and hammers; wood split pulleys; framework of ma-
chinery; ship building; paddles; maple sugar; sur-
veyors’ implements; plane stocks; wooden types; fau-
cets; clothespins; charcoal; acetate of lime; wood
alcohol.
Sumach. — Tanning; dyeing and dressing skins; Jap-
anese lacquer work.
Black locust. — Police clubs; fence posts; insulator
pins; construction work (bridges); turnery; wheel-
wright work; tree nails (pins); ship building (ribs) ;
hubs of wheels (automobiles) ; house foundation.
Forest Utilization 221
Black cherry. — Fine furniture; cabinet work ; interior
finish ; tool handles; surveyors’ instruments.
Dogwood. — Tool handles; spools, bobbins; shuttles;
mauls; wheel hubs; machinery bearings; engraving
blocks.
Black gum. — Heavy hubs; rollers in glass factories ;
mangles; ox yokes; stock of sledge hammers in steam
forges; veneers for berry baskets and butter dishes;
slack barrels; in cheap furniture for backing and drawers;
barn flooring; excelsior. ,
White ash.— Wagons and carriages (poles, shafts,
frames); interior woodwork; inner parts of furniture;
mantelpieces; sporting goods (bats, etc.), oars and gym-
nastic bars; lances; agricultural implements; tennis
racquets; snowshoes; skis; wooden pulleys; barrel
hoops; pork barrel staves; baskets; dairy packings
(firkins, tubs, etc.) ; tool handles.
Sassafras. — Light skiffs; fence posts; rails; cooper-
age; insect proof boxes; ox yokes. Roots yield oil of
sassafras.
Elms. — Wheel stock, especially hubs ; buckboard beds ;
neck yokes; fence posts; ribs of small boats; top spans
in covered railroad cars; railroad ties; tongues for sleigh
runners; saddle trees; flooring; exported for inner
lining of boats; butcher blocks and churns (butter) ;
cheese boxes; furniture; sugar and flour barrel staves;
patent coiled hoops for slack cooperage; agricultural
implements; bicycle rims; basket making; gun stocks;
frame timber, of piano cases; wheelbarrows; hockey
sticks; construction of battle ships.
Sycamore. — Furniture (liming of drawers); plug to-
222 The Farm Woodlot
bacco boxes; butchers’ blocks; interior finish; beehives
(hollow log sections); butter and lard trays; wooden
bowls.
Walnut. — Interior finish; furniture; gun stocks; tool
handles; cabinet work; boat building.
Hickory. — Axe handles; wagon stock (especially
whiffle-trees ; neck yokes; spokes, tongues, felloes, axles) ;
buckboards; rustic furniture; barrel hoops; screws;
mallets; parts of textile machinery; farm implements;
wooden rails (top); baskets; bows of ox yokes; boat
building; hickory bark for flavoring sugar (to imitate
maple sirup).
Oaks (white and burr). — Furniture; wagon and car-
riage stock; especially spokes, felloes, hubs, tongues,
bolsters; sandboards; reaches; brake bars; axletrees;
whiffle-trees ; railroad ties ; freight cars (framework) ; ship
building; house building and interior finish; shingles;
agricultural implements ; bridge building ; mining timber ;
wine, beer, and whisky barrels; parquet flooring; stair-
cases; splint wood baskets; hogshead and barrel hoops;
bark used for dyeing.
Chestnut oak.— Bark used for tanning; fencing;
bridges; railroad ties; substitute for white oak, but
objectionable in tight cooperage.
Red oak. — Shingles; furniture; interior finish; tight
and slack cooperage ; railroad ties.
Chestnut. — Tanning extract; coffins; furniture (cores
of veneer furniture and doors); interior finish; shingles;
fencing railroad ties; sheathing; Jacob staff for com-
passes; bridge building (trestles); telephone poles;
backing of piano veneers; slack barrel hoops; staves.
Forest Utilization 223
Beech. — Wood alcohol; wood ashes; charcoal; shoe
lasts; plane blocks; clothespins; handles; wooden
bowls; horse collars (hames); parquet strips; flooring;
street paving; railroad ties; sugar barrels; furniture
made from veneers, or bent after steaming; chairs.
Hop hornbeam. — Posts; levers; tool handles; wagon
brakes; shoes; wedges.
White birch. — Toothpicks; shoe pegs and lasts; wood
pulp; spools; clothespins; -screws; flooring; veneers;
furniture ; bobbins and spindles; wooden skewers ; home-
made barrel hoops.
Yellow birch. — Furniture (usually mahogany finish) ;
match boxes; wheel hubs; tool handles; buttons;
brush backs; shoe pegs; clothespins; sugar barrels; dry
distillation for wood vinegar, wood alcohol, charcoal.
Black birch. — Imitation cherry and mahogany furni-
ture; ship building; bark distilled for oil of winter-
green.
Cottonwood. — Boxes; wood pulp and fiber; slack
barrels; woodenware; flooring; excelsior; cores for
veneers in organs and pianos; matches; building lumber ;
furniture; wagon beds; turnery; fence boards.
White cedar. — Posts; fencing; telegraph poles; rail-
road ties; tanks and buckets; shingles; street paving;
boats.
Red cedar. — Tanks; posts; buckets; telephone poles;
chests; pencils; interior finish.
White pine. — House building and finishing; boxes and
crates; sash, doors, blinds; shingles; backing of fine
veneers; excelsior; matches; laths; woodenware; slack
barrels; framing of machinery; furniture; patterns for
224 The Farm Woodlot
casting metals; ship masts; baled shavings for filtering
gas, bedding for horses, packing for crockery.
Jack pine. — Ties and piling; cheap lumber; boxes;
laths; wood pulp.
Norway pine. — Lumber generally ; ship building; con-
struction; flooring; masts; piles of wharves; covering,
lining, siding, flooring and sills of railroad cars; railroad
ties.
Spruce. — Chemical fiber and paper pulp (down to five
inches in diameter); matches; construction; posts;
railroad ties; fresh-water ship building; clapboards;
flooring; ceiling; step-ladders; sounding boards (from
butt logs); oars; paddles; spars; wharf piles; telegraph
poles; toys; wood type; butter buckets; slack cooper-
age; wooden thread (for mattings); chewing gum;
vanillin. In Europe spruce bark is used for tanning.
Hemlock. — Lumber; dimension stuff; construction
timbers; shingles; railroad ties; fencing; paper pulp
and fiber; bark for tanning.
Tamarack.— Fence posts; telegraph poles; soda
fiber; ships’ knees; railroad ties.
CHAPTER X
BY-PRODUCTS OF THE NORTHERN WOODLOT
By-propucts of timber-cropping are very many. They
are the products other than timber and wood. The tur-
pentine and rosin industry of the South, the making of
many medicinal extracts and the securing of dyes are
good examples. In some cases, as with the turpentine
industry, the by-product may be actually the most impor-
tant product commercially. The secondary or by-prod-
ucts of the farm woodlot are not many. The most im-
portant ones in the North may be mentioned, however.
MAPLE SIRUP AND SUGAR
Practically every woodlot, whether natural or planted,
contains some maple trees that may be used in the pro-
duction of maple sirup and sugar for the home. The
early settlers obtained all of their sugar from this source,
and the Indians made sugar from the maples long before
this country was inhabited by the white man. To-day
maple sirup and sugar are delicacies and command such
a high price that substitutes with an artificial maple flavor
have come into use. Comparatively small amounts of
maple sirup and sugar are now produced for the market,
but it is not unusual to find many rural families producing
sufficient of this delicacy for home consumption from the
maple of their own woodlot, or even from the shade maples
Q 225
226 The Farm Woodlot
in the yard. A few weeks of work in the woodlot in
early spring during sap time afford a pleasant diversion
from the ordinary farm routine and may yield consider-
able revenue as well as add a choice product to the home
table. In 1910 the output of maple products was over
4,000,000 gallons of sirup and over 14,000,000 pounds of
sugar. The total value of these products was over
$5,100,000. Vermont and New York produced over 70
per cent of this product. These two states, together with
Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire, Maryland, and
Michigan, have, produced over 90 per cent of the total
production of maple sugar since 1880.
THE SUGAR MAPLE
All of the native maple trees produce a sweet sap that
may be used in making sirup and sugar. The quality
of sap, or the degree of its sweetness, differs with the
various species. There are at least three species that may
be used in the production of sirup and sugar. Of these
the sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is the best and is the tree
that produces the sweetest sap and consequently the bulk
of the maple products that go on the market. This species
is very widely distributed and may be found in every
native woodlot, as well as among the trees planted for
shade and decorative purposes. A variety of this maple
known as the black maple (Acer saccharum var. nigrum),
occurring largely throughout the range of the sugar maple,
is said to be the best sap-producer. This maple is very
hardy and occurs extensively in the western range of the
species. The red maple (Acer rubrum) is very widely
distributed and is an abundant sap-producer. It pro-
qa
By-products of the Northern Woodlot 227
duces more sap than the sugar maple, but yields less
sirup and sugar. The silver maple (Acer saccharinum)
yields an abundance of sweet sap that in quality or sugar
content is about the same as that of the red maple. The
red and silver maples are considered sugar-producing trees
mostly in those regions in which the sugar maple does
not occur. It is very common to find these three species
being used for making sirup and sugar, when they occur
in mixture. It is not necessary to have a large number
of trees to make an operation worth while. A dozen
good trees will yield sufficient sap during a good season to
warrant tapping them. It is not uncommon to find farmers
tapping three or four trees, and even one tree, when it
happens to be a large tree and is areal sugar maple. When
properly tapped and cared for, a shade maple in the yard
may yield a large amount of rich sap without any injury
to the tree.
SEASON
The period of ‘sugar weather” varies with the locality
and season. Usually the sap begins moving in the trees
earlier than is generally realized. It is a wise policy
to get an early start so as to be prepared for the season
should it come in a rush, as it sometimes does. Sap begins
to flow as soon as the temperature fluctuates above and
below the freezing point, or 32° F. Frosty nights and
warm days indicate good sugar weather. Generally the
season begins about March 1 in southern sections and
later to the northward. It may: begin two weeks earlier
and continue for a week or a month, depending on weather
conditions.
228 The Farm Woodlot
EQUIPMENT
When a large sugar bush is operated, it is necessary to
have considerable sirup and sugar making equipment.
Ordinarily the farmer has sufficient equipment on hand
that he can use for
this purpose, so
that, together with
what he can readily
make, there need
be little or no
outlay. A sharp,
clean-cutting auger
is necessary. A
brace with a half
inch or three-
fourths inch bit is
very convenient.
Spouts or spiles can
be home-made from
any convenient
wood and will an-
swer the purpose
very well. When
only a few trees are
tapped, the spouts
Fic. 50.—Sugar-making utensils: 1, sugar
mold; 2, 4, sap buckets; 3, gathering pail ;
5, skimmer; 6, cover for sap bucket; May be made from
6a, cross section of same ; 7, gathering tank ;
8 die sen eee the common elder
by removing the
pith. The sap pails can usually be secured about the farm
house for the short time necessary and may consist of tin,
By-products of the Northern Woodlot 229
wooden, and earthenware. They should be provided with
some kind of a cover. Metal spouts with hooks attached
for hanging buckets can be purchased, but this is not nec-
essary, since light home-made spouts can be used and the
buckets may stand on
the ground or blocked
in a firm position.
TAPPING THE TREES
If the sap containers
are to stand on the
ground, the trees must
be tapped just a little
higher than the rim of
the bucket. If metal
spouts with hooks at-
tached are used, the tap-
ping may be done two
or three feet from the
ground, or at any con-
venient height. As a
rule, trees should be
tapped on the sunny ie eh al
side. Holesonthenorth ~"" °?”’ he iat
side are said to flow
longer than holes on the south side. Before tapping, all
loose bark should be brushed from the tree where the hole
is to be bored. The hole should slant upward enough to
drain well and not over two inches deep. All auger chips
must be removed. For the sake of the trees, it is best
to tap only one place in a tree. Two or three spouts are
230 The Farm Woodlot
frequently placed in one tree so close together that the sap
will flow into one bucket. This is not advisable, since it
may injure the tree. Only the very largest trees should
have more than one spout. Small trees should not be
tapped.
COLLECTING SAP
When afew trees only are tapped, the sap may be collected
in buckets and carried to the farm house. When a large
number of trees are tapped, a tank holding two or more
barrels and hauled on a stoneboat can be used. One or
more clean, wooden barrels will serve the same purpose.
The sap should be gathered each day. The sooner and
faster the sap is boiled after it leaves the tree, the better
is the sirup.
BOILING THE SAP
A large sugar bush will require a boiling house with
special boiling and evaporating apparatus. The average
farmer’s woodlot will, as a rule, have less than one hun-
dred trees suitable for tapping, so that the sap can easily
be boiled over a stove in an outhouse, or in a covered kettle
in a shed. An open shed with a roof is not necessary,
but in bad weather it is a great convenience. The kettle
should be kept covered so as to keep windblown ashes
and dust out of the boiling sap. Boiling is frequently
done in the woods by using open kettles or pans.
MAKING SIRUP
In boiling, the impurities rise to the surface in the form
of a scum which should be removed with a perforated metal
skimmer. As the sap becomes concentrated, a mineral
substance may form and float in the sirup or be deposited
By-products of the Northern Woodlot 231
on the bottom and sides of the kettle or pans. This is a
lime formation, and if floating, it may be removed by strain-
ing through cheesecloth, or by allowing it to settle and
later draw off the clear sirup. In sirup-making, the
boiling should be completed at the proper time. This is
Fic. 52.— Boiling down the sap in kettles in the woods.
determined by testing in various ways. If the sirup is
too thin, it has a tendency to sour; if too thick, it will
crystallize and form sugar. When properly made, a
gallon should weigh eleven pounds. This is the standard
weight of a gallon. After a little experience, the maker can
very readily judge the density by the way the bubbles
“break on the surface of the boiling sirup or by the way it
pours from a spoon. A safer way is to test with a ther-
mometer. Sirup that boils from 217° to 219° F. is at the
correct density and will weigh about eleven pounds a gal-
lon. A safer plan is to weigh a gallon of the cool sirup.
232 The Farm Woodlot
SUGARING-OFF
In making sugar, the sirup should be reboiled until
it begins to crystallize. Formerly this point was found
by pouring a little sirup on the snow or by dipping into
it a twig bent into
aloop. If the sirup
became waxy on the
snow, or formed a
film within a loop,
it had boiled enough
and was ready to
“sugar.” Under
=|| more modern meth-
| ods, the test is done
with a thermometer,
j and sugar is made
at different temper-
atures, according to
the qualities wanted.
During the early run
of sap, 238° F. will
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CHAPTER XIII
HISTORY OF THE FOREST
So many new problems have confronted the people of
this country that we are too likely to think that all our
difficulties are peculiar to our own conditions. Forestry
is commonly considered as a brand new theory all our own,
a theory which many think not needed or altogether im-
practicable. We forget that the countries of Europe were
at one time as “‘new”’ and as unsettled as our own, and
have since passed through the same stages of development
and many more besides.
We look to our frontiers for our necessary supply of
timber and do not realize with what rapidity those fron-
tiers are becoming cut-over and settled regions or that a
time will come in no very distant future when the frontiers,
in the present sense of the word, will have ceased to exist.
The same was true in Europe, but the frontiers have long
ago disappeared and they have learned to produce their
timber like their other crops in the heart of the settled
region, and produce them successfully at a good profit
to the owners and to the state. It has long ceased to be
an experiment with them and is recognized as being abso-
lutely necessary to the country’s welfare. A brief review
of that development in Germany, the most progressive of
the European states in that line, will aid us in getting the
proper view point for understanding our own conditions.
277
278 The Farm Woodlot
At the time when the Eastern tribes invaded Germany,
that country was practically an unbroken forest and the
tribes living there were of a wandering character. The
needs of their civilization, or rather of their barbarism,
were few and their demands upon the forest practically
none. Their life was very much like that of our eastern
Indians. Their fuel was supplied by the dead wood on
the ground and they cut practically no standing timber.
When these tribes settled down to village life in a per-
manent location, it became necessary to build substantial
houses of wood, and fields had to be cleared for agricultural
purposes. That meant the cutting away of the forest.
This opening thus started was necessarily steadily enlarged
from year to year. The villages grew in population and
needed larger areas for the raising of their food supplies.
With the demand for firewood for so many persons concen-
trated in one place for so long a time, the dead timber no
longer sufficed and the supply had to be drawn from the
standing timber. Moreover, the more complicated system
of village life was constantly developing new uses for wood.
And we must remember that wood fulfilled many more
purposes then than it does with us, for the use of the metals
was very little known.
With the establishment of village life came the idea of
private ownership of land. The house with the surround-
ing garden was private property, the pasture was the com-
mon property of the village, but the forest was not as yet »
considered as property at all. It was used by any one and
every one as a source of wood and as a hog pasture, for when
the forest was composed of beech and oak, the mast was con-
sidered of as much or even more importance than the wood.
History of the Forest 279
The first idea of the forest really belonging to any one
came with the conquering Romans. According to their
law, all the unsettled portion of a conquered country be-
came the property of the ruler, and so the forest became the
property of the new kings. They had little use for it ex-
cept as hunting grounds and managed it accordingly.
They protected the game, making it a greater offense to
kill a deer than a man, but they did not interfere with the
use of the forest for fuel and pasturage. This privilege
was the only source of the peasants’ wood supply, de-
pendent entirely upon the favor of the king.
The king granted much of this forest land to his nobles,
who in turn created game preserves and cared nothing for
the forest itself. The peasants continued to secure their
fuel and pasturage in the same way, and the continuance
of this practice finally constituted it a right, which the
nobles no longer had the power to take away.
In spite of this free use of the forest that the villages en-
joyed, they suffered from a shortage of wood at a very early
date. The supply in the immediate neighborhood of the
towns was used up and the difficulty of transporting such
bulky material more than a few miles made the vast areas
of forest on the frontiers almost useless to the towns, —
it was out of their reach. There were no railroads nor
adequate road systems of any kind; therefore the towns
on the rivers were the only ones which could draw on the
timber supply of distant regions. This was an important
factor in the rapid growth of the river towns. With the
growth of the towns the timber famine became more
acute.
It is interesting to read some of the laws that were passed
280 The Farm Woodlot
to remedy this evil. The size of houses and the number of
houses that could be built were regulated. The use of the
green bush as a tavern sign was forbidden. The use of
coffins was prohibited in Austria and canvas bags used to
save wood. No wood could be shipped from one dis-
trict to another and the bakers of one town were even
prevented from baking bread for their neighbors of another
town unless the customer brought his wood with him.
Of course these measures postponed the day when the
present supply would be exhausted, but only postponed it.
It was at this time that a few far-sighted men took warning
from existing conditions, foresaw the inevitable timber
famine and realized the temporary nature of the relief
obtained by restrictions which were being placed on the
use of wood. They knew that something must be done to
increase the supply, and there was evidently but one way
to do this, — to grow trees.
The conception of this idea was closely followed by
laws aimed at the renewal of forests instead of the restric-
tion of consumption. These measures were at first inade-
quate because so little was known of the growth of trees
and the necessary measures of culture. It was a subject
which had never before received any attention and there
were no trained men to take charge of or direct the work.
Every plan tried was in the nature of an experiment. No
one even knew how long it would take to grow a tree.
Some believed in the planting of seedlings grown in nurs-
eries, while others argued for the use of the seedlings that
grow naturally under the old trees in the forest.
The work was further hindered by the fact that the idea
of the forest as a hunting ground rather than a source of
History of the Forest 281
timber still persisted. The protection of the game was
still considered of paramount importance by the nobles
who owned the larger part of the forests, and for more
than a century the control of the forests as wood-pro-
ducers was in the hands of the game wardens. Moreover,
the pedsants’ rights of usage, which had become so firmly
established that it was impossible to stop them, were now
found to interfere seriously with the proper handling of
the forests.
However, the proper solution of the problem had been
found, and the work developed rapidly. Schools were
established for the training of men to take care of the for-
ests, and experiment stations worked out the best methods
of treatment. It was recognized as an important factor
in the nation’s welfare and placed on an independent basis.
Long before the development of transportation facilities
made possible the cutting of the last of the natural forests
and before the pinch of the timber famine was very seri-
ously felt, there were mature forests that had been planted
out and cared for in systematic manner.
Every stick of timber that Germany uses to-day has been
grown from seed under a definite system of management
and as carefully cultivated as any crop in the country.
This management has been so successful that every acre
of forest land in the government forests yields a net revenue
to the state annually averaging about $2.50. Some forests
yield as high as $12.50 an acre. Moreover, they are fur-
nishing steady employment to hundreds of thousands of
men throughout the country and thus distributing millions
of dollars among the classes most in need.
Many of the cities manage their own municipal forests
282 The Farm Woodlot
and manage them to such advantage that their taxes are
considerably lightened, and in some cases done away with
altogether. Associations and other organizations seek
revenue in this manner, and many private owners realize
the value of the investment though they have not as yet
developed their systems to the same degree as the govern-
ment.
Such is the status of the forests in many of the countries
of Europe, those which are the most progressive and most
prosperous. Some of the countries of southern Europe
have been slow to take up the work. They are mostly
the states that are backward in every form of development,
and they are now suffering from their lack of foresight.
All of them have their progress retarded by lack of timber
and are paying out large sums for wood imports, while their
own neglected forest areas, instead of yielding a revenue,
are lying idle and becoming more and more worthless from
year to year. In some localities, such as Greece and Spain,
the country has been reduced almost to desert conditions.
All of them have now realized their mistake and are spend-
ing large sums of money to place their forests on a paying
basis. They are the oldest countries of Europe in civiliza-
tion, and it would have meant hundreds of millions of dol-
lars to them if they had stopped this leak centuries ago.
THE NORTH AMERICA EXPERIENCE
Now let us turn for a moment to the development of
North America. When the first settlers came to this
continent on the Atlantic coast, they found an endless
forest extending from Canada to Florida. There was
practically no open land of any considerable extent.
History of the Forest 283
Clearings had to be made to secure even the little space
necessary for the building of villages. The clearing of
fields for crops was a tremendous undertaking. Timber
was the one thing of which the early settlers had a great,
and to them worthless, superfluity, —for there was no
local market and the facilities for export were very insuffi-
cient. Naturally the settler came to look upon the forest
as his most formidable enemy ; it hindered his early move
in the development of the country and fostered the wild
animals and still wilder Indians. No wonder he looked
on the forest as something to be destroyed and handed the
‘feeling down to his children, completely overlooking the
almost invaluable benefit that he was receiving from such
an abundant supply of cheap lumber.
For a hundred years after the first settlement, no man
traveled far enough west to discover a country that was
not heavily wooded. The question of timber supply never
entered their heads, for the supply seemed to them truly
inexhaustible and under the circumstances the conception
of a lack of wood was inconceivable. A very small per-
centage of the wood that had to be cut for other purposes
could be used, and enormous quantities of it had to be
burned to get rid of it. Little was cut for the value of the
wood itself.
Only as the towns developed was there any call for wood
from a distance, and even then the geography of the
country was such as to hide from them the distance to
which the forest frontiers were being driven. Lack of
transportation in inland Europe had given the people
early warning of what would eventually take place in the
country as a whole. In America the settlements were all
284 The Farm Woodlot
on the coast, and innumerable rivers of unheard-of size
stretched far inland to float the timber from the interior
down to the settlements on the coasts.
Unfortunately for the conservation interests, about the
time that the depleting of the local supply on the coast
might have become apparent, the introduction of the
railroad and the improvement of inland waterways made
it possible to tap the vast resources of the lake region for
the benefit of the East. Thus the idea of an inexhaustible
supply, — later to prove so dangerous, — was given re-
newed strength. And so continuous and all-sufficient has
been the supply poured into the older and more thickly
settled sections from more and more distant forests that
people have been slow to learn how nearly the ‘‘inexhaust-
ible forests”’ have been exhausted.
The once unbroken forests of the Northeast are now,
with the exception of certain parts of the mountainous
country, reduced to scattered remnants of culled-over
woodland incapable of supplying any considerable part of
the local demand. The vast forests of Michigan alone
were at one time considered sufficient to supply the world
forever. Yet so rapid has been our increase in population
and so unprecedented our development that those forests
have been practically wiped out, and Michigan is already
out of the race as a timber producer. Wisconsin and
Minnesota had the same fate, and now this whole great
nation, larger and more timber hungry than ever, has
only the West and the South to look to for her future sup-
ply. The timber of the Rocky Mountains is incon-
siderable when it comes to answering the demands of the
whole tountry and the possibilities of the South and West
History of the Forest 285
are definitely limited. Yet the idea of an inexhaustible
timber supply, ground into the people for over a century,
persists. Washington shingles are sold in Boston, and
Louisiana pine is common on the Chicago market, but the
status of our timber supply is not heeded.
Some twenty-five or thirty years ago, a few far-sighted
men who knew the history of European countries began to
realize that measures were necessary to prevent a real
timber famine in the United States. Unfortunately very
little was known of the amount of timber still standing.
That there was danger of a timber famine was true enough,
but it was very hard to make the people believe this, and
some wild predictions that later proved to be very wide of
. the mark hurt the cause. :
Moreover, these first enthusiasts adopted the wrong
methods. The abundance and consequent cheapness of
timber forced wasteful methods. The quality of timber
cut in the early days led them to demand the higher grades
and refuse any lumber inferior to what they had been
using. The culling out of these higher grades caused
tremendous waste. Only the largest trees could be cut
and only a small part of those utilized. There was no
market for the poorer stuff. The apparent worthlessness
of this culled forest and the cheapness of timber generally
led to the ignoring of forest fires and it became the regular
thing for culled land to burn over, destroying the small
growth and doing irreparable damage to the adjoining
virgin forest. The fires destroyed far more than was uti-
lized. No attempt was made to save young timber or to
utilize more completely the large trees.
The promoters of forestry placed the blame for this
286 The Farm Woodlot
waste on the lumbermen, who were really responsible to
only a very small degree. The people demanded cheap
lumber and refused everything but the very best quality.
Such lumber as they demanded then can hardly be bought
now at any price. The lumbermen had either to furnish
what was wanted or go out of business. The result was,
as we have shown, a criminal waste, but the people were
responsible, and the lumbermen were only the agents,
practically forced to act as they did. Under these condi-
tions, it was only human nature that the lumbermen should
resent being called robbers and vandals. Thus it was that
they were turned against the movement when their support
and coéperation was what was most needed to give it
stamina. |
As in almost every new movement, the first supporters
to rally to the cause were sentimentalists, travelers who
had visited Europe and been caught by the glamour of the
beautiful orderly forests and the universal respect and
reverence for trees. It was the sentiment of the thing
that attracted them, not the usefulness. Naturally they
wanted to see this order of things introduced into their own
country. They knew nothing of the conditions here nor
of the fitness of their schemes, but they insisted vigorously
and vociferously on their adoption. This persistent clam-
oring, with the great truths back of it, gained them many
followers. The strength of the movement forced legisla-
tion and some general laws were passed, directed toward
the conservation of forests. Little more than this could
be done because those back of the movement did not know
definitely what they wanted to do nor how to do it. The
timber interests that really could have accomplished some-
History of the Forest 287
thing if they had been properly directed held aloof on
account of the unreasonable attacks upon them and the
impracticable nature of the measures proposed. Those
measures, if put into practice at that time, would have
killed the lumber industry.
FOREST SERVICE IN THE UNITED STATES
In 1881, the government appointed a forester but gave
him little authority and no appropriations, because it was
not known definitely what his duties were or what he ought
to do. His work was confined necessarily to collecting
data and making reports on forest condition.
As early as 1799, Congress passed an act for the pur-
chase and protection of certain cedar and live oak timber
for ship building for the Navy. This act was confirmed
and reénacted several times up to 1831, but nothing im-
portant ever came of it. The action was rather spasmodic,
but it shows that even at this early date there was some
apprehension in regard to the exhaustion of certain kinds
of timber for special purposes of importance. It perhaps
had its origin in the action of England which had long been
accustomed to reserve especially fine trees for this purpose.
Nothing further was done to encourage tree planting and
forest preservation till 1872 when J. Sterling Morton
through the State Board of Agriculture inaugurated Arbor
Day in Nebraska. Such a day has since been recognized
by every state in the Union. The next year, 1873, Con-
gress passed the Timber Culture Act, by which title could
be obtained to 160 acres of prairie land if 40 acres of it
were planted to trees according to certain specifications.
This law was well meant, but so framed that its terms
288 The Farm Woodlot
were continually avoided, and it led to a great deal of fraud.
Moreover, the poorly handled plantations and excuses
for plantations were largely unsuccessful and brought
discredit upon prairie tree-planting generally.
In the meanwhile, the marvelous extension of the rail-
roads after the Civil War and various acts of Congress, —
such as the Homestead, Desert Land, and Timber and
Stone acts, — to encourage settlement, hastened the de-
struction of the forest to an alarming degree.
Emerson Hough brought the matter to the attention
of the American Society for the Advancement of Science
and was in 1877 appointed special agent by that body to
make a detailed report on forestry. The result of that
report was the establishment of the Division of Forestry
in the Department of Agriculture. The office thus es-
tablished gave forestry official recognition, which helped,
but that is about all it accomplished. The forester was
left almost wholly without funds or support and could
do little besides educational work by means of reports.
The Timber Culture Act was the cause of so much fraud
that it was repealed in 1891 and with its repeal came the
first big step in advance. The same bill that repealed the
Timber Culture Act gave to the President the right to
create forest reserves by proclamation. President Harri-
son immediately took advantage of it to set aside about
17,000,000 acres of forest reserves. They were under the
charge of the Department of the Interior, but lack
of funds made it’ impossible to do anything with
them; however, they were of tremendous importance
because they marked the beginning of an almost contin-
uous advancement. These reservations were challenged
History of the Forest 289
at one time, were suspended for a while, but they were
afterwards restored.
The Division of Forestry for some years attempted to
introduce better lumbering methods and the more con-
servative use of our forests, but they were met on every
hand with ignorance and adverse economic conditions.
The abundance of timber made lumber too cheap for any
one to pay much attention to the growing of forests, and
the splendid transportation facilities blinded the mass of
the people to the rapid disappearance of the forests. It
was up-hill work, but the movement steadily gathered
strength. In the meanwhile a large amount of valuable
data was collected on the growth, habits and handling of
our trees.
In spite of all difficulties, the government work grew
rapidly in scope and volume as the people became better
educated and better acquainted with existing conditions.
The Division of Forestry became a Bureau, and in 1905
when the national forest reserves, then’ grown to over
100,000,000 acres, were transferred from the control of the
Interior Department to the Agricultural Department,
the Bureau grew to the Forest Service, an office of the
same grade as the Reclamation Service. The work of
the Service has since that time been concentrated on the
development of the reserves.
There was for several years a great deal of opposition
to these reserves. The name gave the impression that
the forests and everything else in the boundaries were to be
reserved from use; that they were to be kept as they were
till some future date and for a future generation. That
was the common idea of forestry, — the withholding from
U
290 The Farm Woodlot
use of all available timber. Nor could people be expected to
have any different idea when the supporters of forestry
were everywhere quoting ‘‘Woodman, spare that tree”
and indulging in bitter tirades against the lumbermen and
the cutting of timber. Of course such a policy did not
appeal to practical men.
When the forest reserves were transferred to the control
of the Forest Service, they were renamed National Forests
and every effort made to show that they were meant for
use, the most complete use, and not to be stored away in
idleness for an indefinite future. The subsequent handling
of these National Forests has done much to emphasize
this. The free use of the timber by the small settler has
been practically unrestricted and the lumber companies
have been sold stumpage at reasonable rates and allowed
to cut mature trees as rapidly as provision could be made
for a future crop. The restrictions put on the method of
cutting have not been burdensome. The grazing regula-
tions, at first thought to be prohibitive and a most unjust
imposition, have been found to be a boon to the country
and a most effective scheme for the more complete utiliza-
tion of the grazing lands.
The sentimental side had played its part, and that an
important one, in forcing the attention of the people.
It accomplished this as no other phase of the question could
have done. Now, however, when the first stage of en-
thusiasm was over and the work of actual development
began, its memory remained as a hindrance. The scheme
proposed by the first sentimentalists was so visionary that
the whole system of forestry remained discredited in the
eyes of business men for some years. Nevertheless,
History of the Forest 291
forestry is strictly a business proposition. On account of
the long time element involved, it is a business that is
better handled by the state or other long-lived corporations,
but it may also be made a paying proposition for the in-
dividual owner. It is based on strictly business principles.
Far from keeping the virgin forests untouched for the use
of future generations as the sentimentalists proposed, the
forester cuts his timber just as soon as it ceases to earn
a reasonable percentage of profit. He cannot afford to
have land that might be growing young timber occupied
by old trees that have ceased to grow; this is poor forestry
because it is poor business. The only difference between
a forester and a lumberman is that the former never cuts
till he is assured of a second crop and a consequent higher
value of his cut-over land, and the latter works for the
highest possible present cut regardless of the future; each
is working for the highest money revenue from the land as
he sees it.
The forester works for a good reproduction before he
cuts his first crop, because he does not want the land to
be idle for a minute. He conducts cultural methods to
increase the rate of growth so that the mature timber may
be secured sooner and his profits be correspondingly larger.
He cuts carefully that there may be less waste; he selects
poor soil that his rent may be low and the profit high.
Every one of these measures is governed by the principles
of profit and loss; none of them by sentiment. Whether
the forest be for the production of timber, the protection
of mountain slopes or for esthetic purposes, the question
of profit is never forgotten. The financial outcome is
always considered as the true basis and is changed only as
292 The Farm Woodlot
much as the chief purpose of protection or ornament
demands.
The Forest Service is planning to raise the most valuable
crops possible to be grown on its true timberlands, make
as much money as it can on the protected slopes and at the
same time get the best protection, plant up the open spaces
that do not furnish good grazing, and so regulate the
stock on the grazing land that the highest possible number
of stock will be accommodated and the quality of the
range improved; all measures for the very best use of all
the land that comes under its jurisdiction. The motto
of the forester is always complete use, never useless reser-
vation.
It is clear that forestry in this country has already
reached an advanced stage on the government forests and
a complicated system is being rapidly built up. Techni-
cally trained men are necessary for carrying out the work,
and their training is little less thorough than that for other
professions. This book, however, does not propose to
take up those details that are necessary only in the han-
dling of large tracts of forest land. Only those phases of
the work that are applicable to the farm woodlot will be
considered in a handbook for the farmer who wishes to
handle his woodlot to the best advantage.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FORESTS IN CANADA
The development of the forests in Canada has not
followed exactly the same lines as in the United States.
This is due partly to the character of the forests them-
selves, partly to the slow rate of settlement and partly to
the form of government. ,
History of the Forest . 293
As in the United States, the forests in Canada are lo-
cated on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts with a broad
stretch of treeless prairie in between. There is one great
difference. In the United States the forests extend to
the northern boundary; in Canada there are millions of
acres which lie within the grasp of the frozen north beyond
the limit of merchantable tree growth. Moreover, this
great tundra region is incapable of ever producing any
merchantable forests and the same is true of a considerable
portion of the northern plains.
There is also a great difference in the composition of the
two forests. Owing to the northern latitude and conse-
quently severe climate of Canada, the number of species
in the forest is much smaller than in the more southern
country. Spruce becomes the predominant genus in the
coniferous forests instead of pine, and the hardwoods are
confined to the less desirable species such as birch, poplar
and elm. The magnificent hardwood forests of oak,
hickory, yellow poplar, walnut and buckeye found in the
southern Appalachians and the Ohio valley are entirely
lacking. Nor is the development of the northern species
with the single exception of white spruce as good as in the
South. On the Pacific coast the forests more nearly com-
pare with those of the northern Cascades.
As in the United States, the first settlements along
the Atlantic coast were made in a country of unbroken
forest, and the movement westward to the treeless prairies
was much slower. Hudson Bay trappers brought in many
reports of the vastness of the northern country, but failed
to give any: detailed account of the timber there. The
natural inference was that the whole country was timbered
294 The Farm Woodlot
like the Atlantic coast. The result was an almost un-
shakable belief in the existence of an inexhaustible timber
supply which should suffice all Canada’s needs forever.
This impression spread to the United States, and the mass
of the people there believe that they can turn to Canada
for wood when their own supply is exhausted. This idea
of an inexhaustible timber supply was no less fatal to
the early development of forestry in Canada than it had
been in the United States, and no more easily dispelled. It
stands out to-day as one of the most formidable obstruc-
tions to the settlement of an efficient forest policy, though
investigations have long ago proved its falsity.
Estimates of the extent of the merchantable forests in
Canada, all based on fragmentary and insufficient data,
vary widely. Probably the best guess is around three
hundred million acres. This is only about three-fifths of
the area of the merchantable forests in the United States,
and although the export lumber trade has been rather
heavy, it is safe to say that far the larger part of the re-
maining supply will be needed for the now rapidly growing
population of Canada.
In the earlier days the export trade in lumber was
heavier than it is to-day. The concentration of the popw- -
lation on the Atlantic coast, the network of desirable
and navigable streams leading to the sea and the close
relationship of Canada to the northern country, which
was dependent upon imports for the whole wood supply,
made this almost inevitable. The lack of inland trans-
portation facilities made its later decline quite as natural.
The development of the transcontinental railroads led
the settlers to the open prairies of the West and opened
History of the Forest 295
up a new and ever growing market to consume the lumber
supply at home. Upto the time when the expansion on to
the prairies took place, and that movement was compara-
tively late in coming, the growth in population had been
rather slow, and the effects of the heavy logging along the
Atlantic coast had not been severely felt.
These conditions have served as a disadvantage to
Canada, but her close relations with England have been
distinctly to her advantage. England had, even before
the settlement of Canada, long been dependent on out-
side sources for her timber supply. Her naval supremacy
in those days of wooden ships made her especially anxious
to conserve anything which might serve as ship timbers.
The French had ordered reservations of such timber as
early as 1683, and when the British occupied the country
they enlarged the reservations. In 1763 and 1775 reserva-
tions were ordered in every township. These orders were
not very strictly enforced on account of the belief of the
“inexhaustible supply.”’
It was not until 1879 that the home government adopted
the policy of reserving to the crown all the timberland
not already granted. But vast tracts of timber had al-
ready passed into the hands of private individuals. Under
the French, all of the land had originally belonged to the
king, who granted them to others under feudal tenure.
A trading company controlled the whole country in this
way up to 1663, when the failure of the company termi-
nated the relationship. This was followed by the prac-
tice of granting to individuals, through court favor, large
tracts of land as gifts, on condition that they should be
regranted to colonists. The result of this was to make the
296 The Farm Woodlot
colonists practically the serfs of the original grantees,
which condition was terminated only in 1854 by the home
government freeing the colonists through the indemni-
fication of the noblemen. The land then passed to the
colonists. The English continued the practice of granting
land to soldiers, to individuals and to the Church. An
order to reserve every seventh section for the support
of the Protestant Church was largely responsible for the
Papinean rebellion in 1837. The lands withdrawn for
the purpose were later sold and the proceeds turned over
to the cities for educational purposes. Other large tracts,
either through grant or sale, have passed into private
hands, and numberless small tracts have been turned over
to the settlers in the same way. Fifty million acres were
granted to the railroads as an aid to their construction.
Thus in one way or another the larger part of the land
in the eastern provinces passed out of the control of the
government. These conditions are, however, reversed
in the western provinces, and in the Dominion as a whole
the larger part of the forest lands still belong to the
crown, some eight million acres. Of this enormous area
about sixty per cent contains scrubby timber fit only for
local use.
In 1826 the government adopted the policy of allowing
any one who would pay a fixed stumpage fee to cut timber
from the crown land. A surveyor-general of woods and
forests was appointed to collect the revenues. This was
the first attempt on the part of the state to secure any
revenues from its forests. This plan was defeated because
the lumbermen found it cheaper to buy the land on con-
tract, cut the timber and forfeit the land together with
History of the Forest 297
the first payment. This practice, the subversion of gov-
ernment timber contracts, led to a tangle of graft and cor-
ruption.
In 1841, as the result of an investigation of these condi-
tions, the home government turned over the administra-
tion of the crown lands to the different provinces. A
more active control followed, but the efforts were all di-
rected toward a larger immediate revenue, and no effort
was made to perpetuate the supply. Timber limits were
sold on competition bids, the successful bidder securing
the exclusive right to cut in a,certain definite tract and
paying so much additional for the timber actually cut.
Many of these limits were held as a speculation. To pre-
vent this, laws were passed insisting upon the cutting
of a certain percentage of the holdings each year. A
tremendous overproduction and consequent fall in the
market was the inevitable result. All the laws tended to
force increased cuts in order to bring in larger revenues.
Out of this chaos the present systems for the sale of
timber on the crown lands have been slowly developed.
They are all of the same general character, but vary in
the details of their application in the different provinces.
Certain definite limits are granted for a certain term of
years, usually twenty-one years. During this period,
definite regulations in regard to cutting and manufacture
must be observed, and the holder must pay a ground rent,
a fee for the exclusive use of the limit and additional fees
for all timber cut. The stipulated prices and regulations
can be changed from time to time as conditions demand.
An attempt is made to enforce conservative methods.
As in the United States, a few far-sighted men, notable
298 The Farm Woodlot
Sir Henry Joly de Lotbiniere, had begun early to agitate
the question of introducing forestry methods and estab-
lishing forestry branches in the official administration, but
they could not get a hearing. The belief in the inexhausti-
ble timber supply was against them. It was, however,
their efforts which made possible the progressive move-
ment following the meeting of the American Forestry
Congress at Montreal in 1882. At this meeting the fire
problem formed the chief subject of discussion, and as a
result of it, various forest fire laws were passed in the
different provinces. Ontario led in this movement. In
1885 their laws were strengthened by the initiation of a
ranger system in which the limit holders paid one-half
the cost of the rangers, thus giving the lessees a direct
interest in the protection of the forest. The benefits of
this system were so marked that it was soon copied in Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec. Even the Dominion
government followed suit.
The influence of these protective systems were very
plainly felt and a very active interest aroused in the wel-
fare of the forests. They began to take their place among
the valuable resources of the country. Ontario established
a bureau of forestry in 1883, but allowed it to degenerate
into an immigration office in 1907. Quebec placed its
work on a more permanent basis by placing it in the hands
of technically trained men, who supervised the cutting on
leased lands. This work wasasuccess. In 1898 a forestry
branch was instituted in the Dominion Department of the
Interior and a Superintendent of Forestry was appointed.
As in the United States, these officers at first accom-
plished nothing, but they gradually came to practical
History of the Forest 299
work. Their most important work for the first few years
was to keep the needs of forestry before the people. This
they did very successfully, and out of it came the policy
of permanent forest reserves. The first reservations
were made by the Dominion Minister of the Interior
in 1895, in the Riding and Turtle Mountains, a thinly
timbered district of Manitoba. Several others were
added in the same way, and in 1906 they were confirmed
by Act of Parliament and placed under the Superintendent
of Forestry. Some ten or twelve million acres have been
set aside in this way, but the Forestry Branch has never
been given funds adequately to handle them.
Ontario followed suit with reservations of some twelve
million acres, and Quebec has followed the same policy
on a less extensive scale. British Columbia had wasted
a large portion of her forest area, but in 1909 reserved the
remainder and started the movement which resulted in a
very active forestry branch a few years later.
Tt is only in the past two or three years that much at-
tention has been paid to the management of these areas
along forestry lines, but the movement is now progressing
rapidly. The various provinces, especially British Co-
lumbia, are forging ahead, and the Dominion Service is
developing rapidly.
In addition to this work of the Provinces and Dominion
government, the Canadian Pacific Railway has inaugu-
rated a very active forest policy and now employs more
foresters than any other institution except the United
States government. Several of the large paper companies
are also practicing conservative lumbering and employ-
ing foresters.
300 The Farm Woodlot
The Dominion Branch has established a large experi-
ment station on the prairies and has done a great deal,
by the distribution of free nursery stock, toward the
planting up of those sections. This work has been a de-
cided success.
In 1900 the Canadian Forestry Association was formed
and has done much toward backing up the. government
departments. It has been of great value in interesting
the people and lumbermen in the work of the Forestry
Branch. Since 1905 they have been publishing the Cana-
dian Forestry Journal as a means of educating the people.
In 1907 the University of Toronto established a Faculty
of Forestry with the equipment necessary for a complete
course of instruction. In 1908 New Brunswick also es-
tablished a department of forestry in the University.
The Agricultural College at Guelph has for some years
been offering a course in farm forestry.
As may be seen from the foregoing,.the progress toward
the application of forestry in the Canadian forests has
been very slow and dotted with many setbacks, but the
prospect at present is, on the whole, promising. The
political interference in the management of the forests —
which has been the great obstacle in the past — is gradu-
ally disappearing, and this, together with the rapidly
increasing timber supply, is awakening the people and the
government to the necessity of a permanent and construc-
tive policy. Such a policy adopted and the means fur-
nished to put it into practice, it is not too late for Canada
to grow her own supply indefinitely. There is plenty of
available productive land.
CHAPTER XIV
FOREST INFLUENCES
OPINION is very likely to go to extremes in everything,
but more especially is this true when there is very little
definite knowledge of the facts, and the imagination has
full play. The influence of forests on the natural phe-
nomena within and around them offers a splendidly vague
field for all kinds of fanciful theories.
At first no one thought of any such influence. There
was nothing to bring it forcibly to the attention, and what
little was read of it in foreigr books was taken for useless
theories of the detail-loving Germans. Moreover, the con-
ditions were not diversified enough to offer different view-
points. Every place was covered with woods and plenty
of it. There had been no experience with the open prairies,
or with cut-over mountain slopes. When the develop-
ment of the country pushed civilization out over the plains,
and the great commercial rivers of the East became spas-
modic in their flow with the clearing of the timber from
the mountains, people began to read on these subjects in
the histories of other countries. The newspapers took
the cue with a will, the possible results of deforestation
in this country were carried to the limit of the imagination,
and the theory of forest influence grew apace in the public
mind. Naturally, public opinion has gone to the other
extreme and it now attributes to the forest many ridicu-
lously impossible powers, but there is, nevertheless, a
301
302 The Farm Woodlot
leaven of truth -in it all, and the present beliefs, wild as
they seem, are nearer the facts than no belief at all.
INFLUENCE ON PRECIPITATION
The most generally mooted question of to-day is whether
the forest is the direct cause of greater rainfall, whether
the precipitation is greater in the forest than in the open
country; and if so, how much greater. Belief in such
influence is used as an argument in favor of planting trees,
and. has considerable weight with many. In spite of its
prominent place in the public mind, this is probably the
least important of the forest influences. Competent
scientific men have been studying this question in Euro-
pean countries for a century or more, where there are vast
forests of very dense growth, but they have not as yet
been able to decide definitely whether that particular in-
fluence exists or not. If, then, this influence, increase -in
rainfall, is so small as to be imperceptible in the case of an
extensive and dense forest, it certainly need not interfere
with our calculations in the consideration of a small plan-
tation of a few acres. This factor may be wholly disre-
garded in all farm forestry. A forest, then, does not in-
fluence the amount of precipitation, but it does have an
important influence on the disposal of the precipitation.
This, in fact, is one of the most important effects of forest
cover. It directly controls the permanent flow of springs
and streams.
INFLUENCE ON RUN-OFF. Fig. 60
The influence of forest cover on surface run-off was noted
long ago in other countries and has been forced upon the
Forest Influences
attention in this coun-
try by the cutting of
the timber in the
mountainous regions.
The best examples of
the results of deforest-
ation are now to be
found in China, but
the records of the pro-
cess are not to be se-
cured. The more
recent denudation of
the mountains in
France, though not so
complete as that in
China, is more to the
point, because all the
records of the process
from the densely
wooded mountain
sides to the bare hills,
and even the attempts
at reforestation are
complete.
Rainfall is not dis-
tributed evenly
throughout the year.
There are seasons of
heavy precipitation,
and seasons of more or
less severe drought.
303
This land should never have been cleared.
Fic. 60.— Gullies caused by erosion on deforested clay slope.
304 The Farm Woodlot
When the surface of the earth is bare uncovered rock or
impervious soil, the rainfall runs off in unobstructed streams
as itfalls. The result is a heavy flood, varying in strength
with the character of the country and the size of the drain-
age basin, for a short time after the precipitation and then
a dry stream bed. This is true of the conditions existing
in a very large part of China and the Mediterranean coun-
tries, as well as in considerable areas of the United States.
These conditions are not at all adapted to man’s wants.
His business and even his life is dependent upon an even
supply of water in the rivers and springs, and this even
supply can best be secured by keeping the natural water-
sheds under forest. History and theory agree that this
will accomplish the purpose. Attempts have been made
in the United States to find two water-sheds, near together,
of practically the same area, one forested and one bare, —
to compare the run-off of the water in the two. It was
very difficult to find two water-sheds which exactly cor-
responded to the requirements, but sufficient data has
been secured to establish the following facts :
The force of the falling raindrops is so broken by the
network of limbs and branches that the ground is not
beaten hard as is the case in the open. The soil remains
light and permeable; the organic litter from the trees
mingled with the surface soil helps to keep it so. The
water dripping lightly from the branches or sliding down
the trunks of the trees sinks readily into this permeable
soil, instead of running quickly over the surface as is the
case on rock or packed clay. Not until the soil has be-
come wet to the point of saturation does any moisture
run from it to the stream bed, which means that an
Forest Influences 305
unusually heavy and long-continued rain is necessary to
cause a flood in a stream whose water-shed is well forested.
This water that soaks into the ground gradually seeps
to lower levels and finally emerges from the springs to
maintain the normal stream flow. Naturally a moderate
rise in the streams occurs after a prolonged period of
heavy rainfall, but such a rise can do little or no damage,
and, as we have seen, a sudden and destructive flood is
impossible.
The snow is disposed of by the forest in the same way
as the rain. The crown cover shuts out the rays of the
sun and prevents the snow from coming under the heat of
direct insolation. It is late in the season in the mountain
regions when the temperature in the shade rises sufficiently
to melt the snow for any length of time during the day.
Thus the run-off from the forested mountains is practically
none when the snow is melting rapidly in the early spring
in the open and in the lowlands. The water supply from
this region is kept stored up in the ground and in springs
as a reserve that keeps the streams flowing through the
dry months when other sources are exhausted. Observa-
tion of two streams in California, one with a bare water-
shed and the other with water-shed well forested, has
proved this almost conclusively. The streams were
well located in a region in which there was a distinct rainy
season followed by absolute drought. The bare water-
shed sent down its waters immediately after the rain in
torrential floods carrying away everything movable
along the banks and making any use of the water impos-
sible. Shortly after the close of the rainy season, the
volume of the stream began to decrease rapidly and in two
x
306 The Farm Woodlot
months the stream bed was dry. The forested water-
shed, on the other hand, absorbed the rainfall in the way
described above, and, though there was high water in the
creek during the rainy season, there was no flood to injure
improvements along the banks. At the close of the rainy
season, there was very little decrease in the volume of
stream flow and a fair amount of water flowed in the
stream bed throughout the dry season, when water is
most needed and most valuable for irrigation purposes.
Perhaps as much water comes down from the bare water-
shed in the course of a year as from the forested one;
in fact, probably considerably more water comes from the
former, for there are several factors that tend to dissipate
a part of the water that falls on the forested shed. A
part of the water — the lighter the rain the larger the
percentage — is intercepted by the crowns of the trees and
evaporates before it reaches the ground at all. It is also
a well-known fact that more moisture evaporates, through
the transpiration of the leaves, over an area covered with
vegetation than from a bare surface. Also, in the forest
the water is held in the ground so much longer than in the
open that there is more opportunity for evaporation in
that way. Thus, the actual amount of water in the forest-
born stream in the course of a year is really less than in
those coming from the bare country; but seventy-five
per cent of the latter is lost in flood, is of no value for irri-
gation purposes or water power and does much damage
to improvements along its banks, while all the former can
be utilized all the year round and there is no damage to
adjacent property.
Since the cutting of the forests at the headwaters of
Forest Influences 307
many of our rivers, disastrous spring floods have developed
in these streams that do a tremendous amount of damage
both to shore property and to navigation. Later in the
summer the water in these same streams reaches such a
low level that navigation is again impeded and water
power seriously disabled. The floods, formerly unknown,
that have of recent years become of annual occurrence in
the southern Appalachian mountains are said to damage
improved property alone to the extent of ten million
dollars annually. The spring flood and consequent sum-
mer drought in the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers
above Pittsburgh, besides the enormous damage done in
that city and in the Ohio valley, greatly impair the navi-
gation of the Ohio River for five months. Floods in the
spring make navigation dangerous, and in the summer
there is not sufficient water for the larger boats to get into
the upper stream. If the water that now flows down the
Ohio in a year were evenly distributed throughout the
seasons, the now coveted nine-foot level would be main-
tained the year round at Pittsburgh and the navigation
of the river would be perfectly safe for the largest boats at
all times.
All these flood and drought phenomena are now proved,
as far as such a thing can be proved, and generally ad-
mitted to be the result of the removal of the forests from
the water-sheds. Moreover, as has been proved by many
observations in all parts of the world, springs are affected
in the same way as the rivers. There were very many ex-
amples of this in India. As the forests were cleared away,
the flow of the springs became less and less each dry season
until it was finally as dry as the remainder of the country.
308 The Farm Woodlot
EROSION. FIG. 61
We have seen how the forest cover prevents rapid
surface run-off, conserves the rainfall and consequently
regulates the flow of the streams. What happens when
Fic. 61.— Land badly eroded as result of clearing and cultivation.
the forest is cut away? The removal of the shade opens
up the ground to the direct insolation and more open
circulation of the wind. The humus and leaf mold
which was kept always moist in the sheltered shade of
the forest is now exposed to alternate wetting and drying.
Under these conditions it decays very rapidly, all its vege-
table structure disappears, the leaves and twigs are re-
duced to fine mineral particles and the bare soil is exposed
to the driving wind and rain. There is no longer any
Forest Influences 309
spongy blanket to absorb the water as it falls and there
is an immediate surface flow toward the lower valleys.
This flow gathers volume and velocity as it goes and
finally joins the torrential streams in the valley in a very
short time after the rain has fallen. This is the beginning
of the flood which probably does great damage in the
valley on the lower stretches of the river, where millions
have been invested in bridges, quays and other improve-
ments.
The exposed mineral soil, heretofore protected and mixed
with the humus, is, upon the disappearance of the humus,
a loose mass of mineral particles. A drop of water rolling
over this surface carries the lightest of the mineral par-
ticles with it in suspension. As these individual drops
join and the stream gains in volume and velocity, larger
particles are carried along with it, until the great mountain
torrent rolls huge bowlders down its worn bed. The first
little trickle of water makes an almost imperceptible
track in the soft earth; the water from the next rain
naturally follows the track of the first, and the track
grows deeper. The deeper the cut, the larger the stream
of water collected in it; the larger the stream of water,
the greater its carrying capacity; and so erosion pro-
ceeds apace.
First the humus — and with it the fertility of the soil —
is carried away; then the surface soil follows, leaving the
subsoil exposed in great gullies; finally nothing but rock
and hard packed gravel remain. This process occurs in
every hillside forest that is cut over and abandoned.
There are millions of acres of cut-over land in the hilly
parts of the United States now in various stages of erosion.
310 The Farm Woodlot
Some are just losing the humus from the surface soil,
some are in the last stages of rock and gravel. The rapidity
of the erosion depends largely on the nature of the soil.
The clay soils of the Mississippi and the foothills of the
southern Appalachian mountains lend themselves readily
to this process and become lost to cultivation by this
means in a few years. The farmer has robbed himself
of millions of acres of valuable woodland in attempting
to bring under cultivation mountain land not suited to
that purpose; and it now lies worse than a worthless
waste.
In France, when the government of the Republic ordered
the cutting of the forests that had been conserved for
years under the rule of the monarchy, thousands of square
miles on the steep slopes of the Alps were eroded to a barren
waste in just this way. The ground became so gullied
and so completely robbed of all its fertility that it was im-
possible to establish any growth on it by ordinary means.
Everything was washed out of the ground as soon as
planted. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been
spent, and hundreds more must yet be spent in the
future in the building of dams and the digging of ditches
to hold the floods till vegetation of some kind has secured
a foothold.
Sections of Greece, a large part of Asia Minor, Arabia,
Palestine and all northern Africa and nearly all of
China have come to their present desert condition from
former fertility and luxurious vegetation through just
such process of erosion. It is bound to come to us if we
persist in clearing the forests from the hillsides. Nor is
the damage from erosion confined to the hillside districts.
Forest Influences 311
The detritus washed from the lands above is deposited
on the fertile lands in the valleys below. Thousands of
families were driven from their homes in the most fertile
valleys of France along the foothills of the Alps because
two and three feet of sterile débris from the mountains
were spread over their fields. In our own country the
floods in the Missouri and Mississippi rivers have many
times buried the overflowed lands along their banks with
many feet of sand that absolutely destroys the value
of the lands for several years to come. This is taking
place along all our foothill streams and rivers.
When this sand and débris is not deposited on the over-
flow lands, it is deposited in the stream bed or along the
coast near the mouth of the river. Hundreds of miles of
rivers in the United States have been lost to navigation
in this way, and the government has spent millions and
millions of dollars in keeping others open. The govern-
ment experts estimate that one billion cubic feet of débris
are carried to the sea by the streams annually. It is the
heaviest tax that the farmer has to pay and most of it
comes from areas from which the forests should never
have been cut:
This sediment carried by the streams does the greatest
amount of damage in the irrigated districts. Here vast
reservoirs are constructed at enormous expense, and to
make the work economical these structures must last a
long time. If the forests are cut away from the drainage
basins of the streams that feed these reservoirs and erosion
sets in, these expensive reservoirs are filled in a few
years and their value destroyed. Not only is the reservoir
destroyed, but the natural reservoir site — probably the
312 The Farm Woodlot
only one in the region—is destroyed and irrigation in a
larger part of that district is rendered impossible. While
this silting up of the reservoir is going on, the fine particles
not deposited in the basin are carried down the ditches
and spread over the fertile fields, dulling their productive
capacity.
These are the results of cutting forests as expressed in
the terms of erosion. A well-placed forest prevents these
results. :
LESSENING OF EVAPORATION
Distribution of stream flow and the prevention of erosion
are not, however, the only influences that the forests
exercise over the surrounding country. They lessen
evaporation, which is a very active agent in drawing the
moisture from the soil. T. Russell, Jr., of the United
States Signal Service, made some experiments in 1888
to learn the amount of evaporation on the western plains.
During the year this evaporation amounted to 50-80 and,
in some spots, even to 100 inches, while the rainfall over
this area is 30-12 inches and less. ‘Thus in Denver,
where the maximum annual precipitation may reach 20
inches, the evaporation during one year was 69 inches.
This deficiency of 49 inches naturally must be supplied
by waters coming from the mountains, where the precipi-
tation is large and the evaporation low. (On Pike’s
Peak alone there may be 45.6 minus 26.8 or 18.8 inches
to spare.)”’
To understand better the application of this, we must
examine the most important factors determining the
amount of evaporation. The first of these factors to be
considered is the soil cover. In experiments made in Ger-
Forest Influences 313
many during the months of July and August, 1883, to deter-
mine the amount of evaporation from different soils, it was
found that from 1000 square centimeters of bare ground
5730 grams of water were evaporated, and that from
the same area of similar soil covered with two inches of
straw 575 grams were evaporated. This shows that the
naked soil evaporated more than ten times as much as
the covered soil. It is evident, then, that the soil covering
has an important function in preventing evaporation.
The forest cover acts in the same way. If the loss by
evaporation from an open field be compared with that
of a forest-covered ground, as a matter of course it will be
less in the latter case, for the shade not only reduces the
influence of the sun upon the soil, but also keeps the air
under its cover relatively moist, therefore less capable
of absorbing moisture from the soil by evaporation.
Moreover, the forest cover above, which intercepts the
direct rays of the sun and shades the ground, also assures
us that the ground will be covered with a layer of dead
branches, leaves, twigs and the like.
The next point to be considered is the effect of wind
velocity on evaporation. The evaporation under the
influence of the wind is dependent not only on the tem-
perature and dryness of the wind, but also on its velocity,
which being impeded, the rate of evaporation is reduced.
T. Russell, Jr., experimented on this subject in 1887.
His experiments were made with Riche’s hygrometers
whirled around on an arm 28 feet in length, the results of
which were compared with those from a tin dish containing
40 cubic centimeters of water exposed under shelter.
The results show that, with the temperature of the air at
314 The Farm Woodlot
84° and a relative humidity of 50 per cent, evaporation
at 5 miles an hour was 2.2 times greater than in a calm;
at 10 miles, 3.8; at 15 miles, 4.9; at 20 miles, 5.7; at
25 miles, 6.1; and at 30 miles the wind would evaporate
Fic. 62.— The results of wind erosion in the bad lands.
6.3 times as much water as a calm atmosphere of the
same temperature and humidity.
When we consider that the average velocity of the winds
that constantly sweep the western arid and subarid plains
is from 10 to 15 miles, not rarely attaining a maximum of
50 and more miles, the cause of the aridity is not far to
seek.
N
Forest Influences 315
In Switzerland the change of temperature from the
normal, experienced under the influence of the Foeher,
or warm wind, has been noted as 28° to 31° F., and a re-
duction in relative humidity of 58 per cent. A Foeher
of twelve hours’ duration has been known to “eat up”
entirely a snow cover of two and one-half feet. In Denver,
a Chinook has been known to induce a rise in temperature
of 57° F. in twenty-four hours (of which 36° in five minutes),
while the relative humidity sank from 100 to 21 per cent.
Anything that lessens the velocity of. the wind lessens
evaporation: hence the influence of the forest. Any one
who has been in the heart of a dense forest knows that the
severest wind is not felt there. This is because the trees
impede the velocity of the wind, and consequently evapora-
tion in the forest is less. As one approaches the windward
side of the forest, one feels the wind more and more.
This shows that the degree of influence that the forest
exerts on the wind is in direct proportion to the size and
density of the forest. But even the narrow windbreaks
and shelter belts exert a very appreciable influence.
King has found in experiments. made in Wisconsin that
the influence of even a thin stand of woodland on the rate
of evaporation was considerable. In one experiment made,
in the month of May, the instruments were so placed as
to measure the evaporation to the leeward of a scant
hedgerow 6 to 8 feet high, containing a few trees 12
feet high and many open gaps. It was found that
at 300 feet from the hedge the evaporation was 30.1 per
cent greater than at 20 feet, and at 150 feet it was 7.2
per cent less than at 300 feet. The experiment was made
during a moist north wind. It is sufficiently evident,
316 The Farm Woodlot
therefore, that even a thin hedgerow exerts an influence
that can readily be measured. In fact, the presence or
absence of protecting belts of trees under the conditions
often existing on the prairies may make a difference be-
tween a good and a poor crop. All who are acquainted
with our prairie regions know that great damage is often
done to wheat, corn and other crops by the hot southwest
winds which are likely to occur in the growing months.
In Kansas and Nebraska in the summer of 1894, im-
mense tracts of corn, fully tasseled out, were killed by
such winds. At the same time it was noticed that when
corn was protected by trees or slopes of land, or when the
humidity of the wind was increased by passing over
bodies of water or clover fields, the injury was greatly
lessened. King found that an oak grove 12 to 15 feet
high exerted an appreciable effect in a gentle breeze at a
distance of 300 feet.
The records show that in southwestern Minnesota in the
dry years of 1910-11 many of the grain fields were com-
pletely burned up with the exception of a narrow strip
north of the windbreaks. The yield from these strips was
sufficient to furnish seed grain for the whole farm, and in
one season the windbreaks more than paid rent on the
land they had occupied throughout their existence.
At the Dominion Experiment Station in Assiniboia,
Saunders found on one occasion that windbreaks exerted
an appreciable influence at 50 to 80 feet to leeward for
every foot in height, but this was during a very severe
wind. The greater the velocity of the wind, the farther
the influence of the windbreak is felt. It probably may
be laid down as a general rule that windbreaks will exert
Forest Influences 317
an appreciable influence for at least one rod for every
foot in height.
It may not be necessary to state that the damage done
to crops by the cold, dry winter winds is mainly due to
rapid evaporation, and that plants are liable to suffer
as much by winter drought as by summer drought.
This is certain, that since summer and winter drought,
that is, rapid evaporation due to continuous dry winds,
is the bane of the farmer on the plains, rationally disposed
timber belts will do much to increase available water
supply by reducing evaporation.
The exact difference in the rate of evaporation in the
forest and in the open country from all causes is not known
in this country, but experiments in Bavaria show the
rate in the open field to be six and one half times that in a
deciduous forest. In this connection we must consider
the hot winds that so often cause injury to farm crops
in Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas. These are often
ascribed to the ‘‘staked”’ plains, whence, taking a north-
easterly direction, they draw all the moisture from the
vegetation with which they come in contact. The view
has also been presented that they have their origin on the
Pacific coast, ascend the Rocky Mountains, lose their
moisture and descend on the eastern slopes. But all
theories that ascribe their origin to a distant source are
inadequate to explain their phenomena. For example,
all who are acquainted with these winds know that they
blow only during very dry weather, when the earth is
heated very hot, that a good rain speedily brings them
to an end, and that they blow only during the day time,
commencing about 9 a.m. and continuing until sundown.
318 The Farm Woodlot
This daily movement is often constant for several weeks,
showing that there is evidently some connection between
them and the course of the sun. For these reasons, and
others, the best authorities unite in attributing them to
local origin.
George C. Curtiss describes the process of the production
of a typical hot wind as follows: ‘‘The necessary con-
ditions are those of the ‘warm wave,’ namely, a diminishing
pressure to the northward, producing southerly winds
which initially elevate the temperature above the normal.
A cloudless sky favors an intense insolation, as a result
of which the dry ground is soon raised to an extreme
temperature, and the air is heated from it by radiation,
reflection and conduction. The resulting diminution of
density due to the rise of temperature furnishes impetus
to previously existing horizontal currents, and by 10
o’clock in the morning the hot wind is fully developed.
Hundreds of miles of hot dry earth contribute to maintain
and feed the current, and gathering strength as the sun
mounts higher, the hot wind sweeps over the defenceless
prairie. Neither hills nor forests rise in its path to break
its power or dispute its sway, and with no enemy save the
tardy rain cloud, the fetid blast sucks out the life sap of
the growing grain. It will be readily seen then that each
of the states, Kansas, Nebraska and North and South
Dakota, develops its own hot winds and cannot charge
them to the account of its neighbors.”
Since, then, these hot winds are of such origin, it is
clear that windbreaks at frequent intervals on the prairie
farms would prevent their formation. The increased
humidity of the air in the immediate neighborhood of the
Forest Influences 319
windbreak and the physical obstacle presented would
counterbalance the superheating of the intervening
space. These same groves and shelter belts that prevent
evaporation and drying winds also perform several
other important functions. They prevent the drifting
of the sand and snow. This property of shelter belts
has been almost completely ignored in this country but
has been recognized in Europe for many years. In France,
plantations have been used to check and successfully keep
in place the enormous sand dunes which were and in some
places still are, traveling inland from the coast. The root
systems help to hold the sand in place and the upper parts
of the tree reduce the force of the wind. On the steppes
of Russia, where the tremendous sweep of the wind lays
bare the winter crops over large areas, and piles the snow in
great drifts where it is not wanted, low windbreaks have
been used very effectively to keep the snow in place.
It will not be long before such simple and natural devices
will take the place of the expensive snow breaks now built
-by the railroads.
Neither sand nor snow drifts in the forest and we should
learn our lesson from nature. Moreover, the absence of
strong winds in the interior of a forest makes it appear
very probable that the planting of breaks and groves at
short intervals would prevent the formation of tornadoes on
the open prairie, — for these violent windstorms soon lose
their force when they enter the forest.
Another. factor of forest influence well worth noticing
is the improvement of the soil on which trees grow. Large
amounts of soluble mineral salts are added to the surface
soil by the falling of leaves and small twigs, which decay
320 The Farm Woodlot
and give up their mineral content. This mineral matter is
either taken from the air by the leaves themselves or drawn
up from the ground by the roots. The roots of the trees
pierce to the subsoil and bring up mineral foods that the
roots of smaller plants would never reach. In the same
way large amounts of humus are added to the soil and keep
it porous and retentive of moisture and gases. The roots
by their decay also open up the subsoil and let in air and
moisture. In this way the surface soil is being continually
improved. It has been estimated that after a sandy soil
in New England is so exhausted that it will produce no
other crop, it may be renewed to its original fertility and
productiveness by the growth of trees on it for thirty years.
This should always be kept in mind in locating the woodlot
and in calculating the benefits to be derived from it.
CHAPTER XV
TABLES AND RULES
RELATIVE HARDNESS OF WOODS
TakineG shell bark as the highest standard of our forest
trees, and calling that 100, other trees will compare as
follows (Scribner’s Lumber and Log Book) :
Shell Bark Hickory . .. . . .:. 100
Pignut Hickory. . . ..... . 96
White Oak . ........ =. «8
White Ash .« « «2 « «© «© « « # » V7
Dogwood fe Re ee oe Re ee ae a FS
Serub Oak 0. ec we ow ce ee
White Hazel. . . . . . . OT
Apple Tree ae oe ee « » &0
Red Oak 3 & ~ 6 6 Bow & ie ae &- -60
White Beech . Se oe aloe ey 65
Black Walnut . . ...... 65 ‘
Black Bireh . . . ...... +. ~ 62
Yellow Oak eo Ao ale'é) Bess, 60
White Elm . Beet: Ga Wicto Mies OS
Hard Maple. . ........ ~ «56
Red Cedar ........~. 56
Wild Cherry. . . ...... 55
Yellow Pine. . . ...... =~. ~ «54
Chestnut. . . ........ 62
Yellow Poplar . ........ Ot
Butternut. . . . .. .. es . 48
White Birch... .... .. . 48
White Pine . ......... 80
‘ Y 321
322 The Farm Woodlot
TABLE OF TREES ARRANGED IN ORDER OF FUEL VALUE
AND WEIGHT OF DRY woop!
(Green’s Forestry in Minnesota)
APPROXIMATE Specirric Gravity
NAMES Revative Fuet OF ABSOLUTELY
VALUE Dry Woop
Shellbark Hickory . 83.11 0.8372
Hop Hornbeam . 82.43 -8284
Juneberry. 77.95 -7838
Bitternut Hickory « 74.74 -7552
White Oak : 74.39 -7470
Bur Oak . 74.06 -7453
Locust 72.96 -7333
Hackberry 72.08 .7287
Blue Beech 72.26 -7286
Cork Elm 72.20 -7263
Green Ash 70.71 -7117
Scarlet Oak . 70.82 -7095
Slippery Elm. 68.98 -6956
Kentucky Coffee Tree 68.88 .6934
Sugar Maple. - 68.75 -6916
Norway Maple . — .6800*
Honey Locust 66.86 .6740
Red Oak . 66.04 -6621
Yellow Birch 65.34 -6553
White Ash 65.16 -6543
White Elm. . 64.54 -6506
European White Birch —— .6400*
Black Ash. ‘ 62.72 -6318
Tamarack . 62.16 -6318
Red Ash 61.99 -6215
Red Maple . 61.65 -6178
Black Walnut 60.91 6115
1In this table the figures relating to North American species have been
taken directly from or calculated from data in Sargent’s ‘‘Silva of North
America”’ and the report of the tenth census, and those relating to Euro-
pean species are from various European sources.
* Air dried.
TABLE OF TREES — Continued
Tables and Rules
323
APPROXIMATE Sprciric GRAVITY
NAMES RELATIVE FUEL or ABSOLUTELY
VALUE Dry Woop
Canoe Birch . 59.40 5955
Red Mulberry . 58.56 5898
Wild Black Cherry 58.14 5822
River Birch . : 57.42 -5762
Austrian Pine — .5700*
Silver Maple 52.52 .5269
Scotch Pine . —- .5200*
Douglas Spruce. 51.53 .5157
Wild Red Cherry . 50.03 5023
Red Juniper 49.11 -4926
Red Pine . 48.41 4854
White Poplar —— -4800*
Jack Pine. 47.50 A761
Bull Pine . 46.99 A715
Norway Spruce . — .4700*
Largetooth Poplar . 46.11 -4632
Speckled Alder . 45.88 4607
Black Spruce 45.71 4584
Ohio Buckeye 45.03 4542
Basswood 45.00 4525
Chestnut : 44.95 .4504
White Willow — .4500*
Black Poplar —— .4500*
Boxelder . 42.82 -4358
Hemlock... 42.20 .4239
Hardy Catalpa . 41.48 4165
Balm of Gilead . 41.42 A161
Butternut 40.66 4086
White Spruce 40.38 4051
Aspen... 40.10 4032
Cottonwood . 38.52 -3889
White Pine 38.47 -3854
Balsam Fir . 38.02 .8819
Blue Spruce . 37.26 .3740
White Fir. . .36.07 3638
Balsam Poplar . 36.11 3635
Arborvite 31.53 3164
~ 324
The Farm Woodlot
WEIGHTS OF CORDWOOD
(Scribner’s Lumber and Log Book)
Lb. CaRBON
1 Cord of Hickory . 4468. 100
Hard Maple 2864 58
Beech . 3234 64
Ash . 3449 79
Birch . bb 2368 49
Pitch Pine . 1903 43
Canada Pine : 1870 42
Yellow Oak ids 2920 61
White Oak . 2 1870 81
Red Oak . . . 3255 70
Lombardy Poplar 1775 41
LAND MEASURE
10 Rods by 16 Rods 1 Acre
8 Rods by 20 Rods 1 Acre
5 Rods by 32 Rods 1 Acre
4 Rods by 40 Rods 1 Acre
5 Yards by 968 Yards 1 Acre
10 Yards by 484 Yards 1 Acre
20 Yards by 242 Yards 1 Acre
20 Yards by 121 Yards 1 Acre
220 Feet by 198 Feet 1 Acre
110 Feet by 396 Feet 1 Acre
60 Feet by 726 Feet 1 Acre
120 Feet by 363 Feet 1 Acre
300 Feet by 145.2 Feet 1 Acre
400 Feet by 108.9 Feet 1 Acre
T ables and Rules 325
WEIGHT PER 1000 FEET OF SEASONED LUMBER
KIND LB. KIND LB.
Ash . : . . 8550 Poplar... . . . 3056
Cedar... » . . 2925 Willow. . . . . . 2780
Cypress... . . . 8850 Locust . ... . 3800
Beech. . . . . . . 4000 Norway Spruce . . 2760
Cherry . . . . . . 3720 Hemlock . . . . 2350
Bireh. . .. . . 2950 Hickory. .. . . 3960
Dogwood . .. . . 8930 Walnut... . . . 3690
Elm... .. . . 8220 Pitch Pine. . . . . 4150
Butternut . . . 1960 Red Pine . . . . . 8075
Chestnut . .. . 3170 Yellow Pine . . . 2890
Maple . .. . . . 4000 White Pine. . . . . 2880
Oak . .... . . 8675
WELL-SEASONED FUEL
‘(Scribner’s Lumber and Log Book)
“The best time to cut, haul and prepare wood for fuel
is in the comparative leisure of the winter, and where
wood is used for fuel it should be thoroughly dried, as
in its green and ordinary state it contains 25 % of water ;
the heat to evaporate which is necessarily lost; therefore,
the burning of green wood is greatly wasteful.
“A log of unseasoned wood weighing, say 100 lbs., will
weigh, when dry, only 66 lbs. What now has it lost?
any combustible matter? anything that will warm your
house or cook your food? No! it has lost 34 lbs. of water.
If about one-third the weight of green wood is water, then
there are 1443 lbs. of water in acord. This has to be made
into steam before the wood can be burned. By drying the
wood most of the water is expelled and there is little loss of -
heat in the drying as it burns. Now, it costs about
$2.00 to work up a cord of wood for the stove after it is
326 The Farm Woodlot
hauled to the wood pile, and it makes a difference that
anyone can calculate, whether a cord of wood burned
green lasts 20 days, or burned dry lasts 30 days. A solid
foot of green elm wood weighs 60 to 65 Ibs., of which 30 to
35 Ibs. is sap or water. Beech wood loses one-eighth to
one-fifth its weight in drying; oak, one-quarter to two-
fifths. Therefore, get the winter’s wood for fuel or kin-
dlings and let it be seasoned as soon as possible, and not
have a daily tussle with sissling firebrands and soggy wood.”
CORDWOOD ON AN ACRE
(Scribner’s Lumber and Log Book)
“To estimate the quantity of cordwood on an acre of
woodland requires experience. A person who has been
engaged in clearing land and cutting wood could give a
very close estimate at a general glance, but other persons
would make the wildest guesses. An inexperienced per-
son may proceed as follows: measure out four square rods
of ground; that is, 33 feet each way, and count the trees,
averaging the cubic contents as nearly as possible of the
trunks, and adding one-fourth of this for the limbs. Then,
as 128 cubic feet make a cord, and the plot is one-fortieth of
an acre, the result is easily reached.
“Fairly good timber land should yield a cord to every
four square rods. A tree two feet in diameter and 30 feet
high to the limbs, will make a cord of wood if it is growing
in close timber, and the limbs are not heavy. If the limbs
are large and spreading, such a tree will make 14 to 14
cords. 10 Fr. | av 20 Fr. | ar 30 Fr. | at 35 Fr.
Aaz, | ON Srumr| Breasr- ABOVE ABOVE ABOVE ABOVE
YEARS ZNSIDE HIGH OUT- | Srump, 1n-| STUMP, IN- Stump, 1n-|Srump, INn-
Bark, | SIDE BaR&,) opp Bark, | SIDE BARK, | SIDE BARK, | SIDE Barx,
INCHES INcHES INCHES INCHES INCHES INcHES
10 2.1 2.1 1.35 0.
20 5.4 5.1 4.3 3.4 0.9
30 8.7 7.8 6.9 6.1 3.7 2.9
40 11.45 9.7 8.9 8.0 5.8 5.0
50 13.7 11.3 10.6 9.5 7.25 6.5
60 12.5 11.9 10.7 8.55 7.8
B. Trees in the open
10 3.0 3.0 2.2
20 7.8 7.4 5.9 4.5 2.5
30 13.2 11.5 9.8 8.0 6.0
40 18.5 15.3 13.2 11.0 7.9
50 23.4 18.5 15.9 13.4 11.2
330 The Farm Woodlot
RATE OF GROWTH OF RED CEDAR
(Graves’ Mensuration)
(Based on the measurement of 23 trees near New Haven, Conn.)
A. Trees in the open
DIAMETER INSIDE| DIAMETER INSIDE] DIAMETER IN-
- |DIAMETER INSIDE Ft. | B Fr.
Ah | Beecou crear) ened eae | eee ee | See eee
INCHES INCHES Stump, INcHEs
30 5.5 4.0 2.3 1.6
40 6.8 5.1 3.5 2.6
50 7.8 5.9 4.5 3.6
B. Crowded trees, but not overtopped
30 “4.8 3.7 2.3 1.3
40 5.9 5.0 3.3 2.1
50 6.8 6.0 4.1 2.6
60 7.4 6.6 4.6 2.8
C. Trees free in youth, but later on overtopped
40 4.4 3.7 2.7 1.4
50 5.1 4.5 3.4 2.2
60 5.5 4.8 3.7 3.0
COMPARATIVE RATE OF GROWTH IN HEIGHT AND DIAMETER
OF CHESTNUT FROM THE SEED AND COPPICE
(From the measurement of 1245 trees in Maryland)
ROV A
| Haw | CROW ncn Te] Ang Gaowre exon
YEARS | Trees from| Coppice, | Trees from| Coppice, | Trees from Coppice,
Seed, Feet Feet Seed, Feet Feet Seed, Feet Feet
10 7 23 7 23 0.7 2.3
20 17 42 10 19 1.0 1.9
30 33 57 16 15 1.6 1.5
40 52 69 19 12 1.9 1.2
50 64 77 12 8 1.2 8
60 73 83 9 6 9 6
70 80 87 4 ne mt
80 84 90 4 3 4 3
90 88 92 4 2 o A 2
100 91 93 3 1 3 1
110 93 94 2 1 2 |
120 95 95 2 1 2 1
Tables and Rules 331
COMPARATIVE RATE — Continued !
Diameter Breast- Growrs EacH Ten | ANNUAL GROWTH EACH
HIGH EARS Ten YEARS
ge
BARS | Trees from . Trees from . Trees from .
Coppice, Coppice, Coppice,
eet, Inches Fae Tages po Tackes
10 0.8 3.8 0.8 3.8 0.1 0.4
20 3.4 6.8 2.6 3.0 3 3
30 6.0 9.3 2.6 2.5 3 3
40 8.7 11.4 2.7 2.1 3 2
50 11.2 13.4 2.5 2.0 3 2
60 13.4 15.1 2.2 1.7 2 2
70 15.4 16.7 2.0 1.6 2 22
80 17.2 18.0 1.8 1.3 2 A
90 18.8 19.2 1.6 1.2 2 a |
100 20.1 19.8 1.3 6 wl l
110 21.0 20.4 9 6 wl wl
120 21.6 20.8 6 A wl all
NORMAL YIELD TABLE FOR SCOTH PINE. QUALITY Vv
(Graves’ Meusuration)
DriaMETER | YIELD | YIELD PER
Acs, |NOMBER oF) B eae ieee or Aver- | PER | ACRE OF Fonner
Years | "Xone" |Sq'Fr.| Fee’ | 4G TREe,| Acar, \Tainivcs,) pero
10 2.3
20 6.6
30 3200 57.9| 14.8 1.9 186 .225
40 2256 81.2] 21.0 2.6 586 57 349
50 1588 93.3} 25.9 3.3 1058 86 455
60 1152 | 100.2] 30.2 4.0 1429 86 485
70 828 |104.1|) 34.1 4.8 1743 86 492
80 640 | 106.3] 38.0 5.5 1986 71 486
90 520 | 107.6) 41.3 6.1 2158 57 A479
100 428 |108.4| 44.3 6.8 2287 57 472,
1From ‘‘ Chestnut in Southern Maryland,” by R. Zon, Bull. No. 53,
U.S. Forest Service.
332 The Farm Woodlot
YIELD OF FULLY STOCKED STANDS OF SECOND-GROWTH
WHITE PINE!
Ace or Sranp, AVERAGE Torat TREES | MERCHANTABLE YIELD PER
YEaks Heieut, Freer PER ACRE |TREES PER ACRE! AcRE, Corps
10 5 2220
15 9 1700
20 14 1600
25 22 1310 400 11
30 32 1090 510 21
35 45 885 620 30
40 54 690 540 38
45 62 510 460 45
50 68 400 380 53
55 72 300 300 65
60 76 260 260 80
NORMAL YIELD TABLE FOR SPRUCE QUALITY III
(Graves’ Mensuration)
D1IAMETER | YIELD | YIELD PER
Yio | on inses | Kneas [Hicwn, | OF AYER: | TER | ACRE OF | "Roma
: PER Acre |Sq. Fr.| Frer Incues | |Cu. Fr.) Cu. Fr. Factor
10 3.6
20 61.3] 10.2
30 3300 |102.3) 19.4 2.4 672 331
40 1924 |140.8} 30.2 3.7 2115 29 495
50 1216 |162.4| 42.0 4.9 3673 129 -534
60 840 |178.9| 52.2 6.2 5059 229 539
70 628 | 189.2) 61.0 7.4 6274| 243 539
80 500 | 200.0! 68.9 | 865 7317 229 584
90 424 | 209.5) 73.6 9.5 8217 200 528
100 380 | 217.7} 78.4 10.2 8960 186 .522
110 346 | 224.2] 82.0 10.9 9632 171 -520
120 320 | 229.8] 84.6 11.8 |10232 143 -520
1From ‘‘The Natural Replacement of White Pine on Old Fields in
New England,” by S. N. Spring, Bull. No. 63, U. S. Forest Service, 1905.
Tables and Rules 333
VOLUME TABLE FOR RED OAK
(Graves’ Mensuration)
(Based on 130 trees measured at New Haven, Conn.)
a Heient or TREE IN Feet
a
alan
Be
abe 2) 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Qe
A& 4
a MERCHANTABLE Corpwoop IN Cusic FEET
5 1.23 | 1.61 | 1.91 | 2.24 | 2.55 | 2.91 8.12 3.40
6 1.78 | 2.31 | 2.83 | 3.81 | 3.77 | 4.22 | 4.61 5.04
7 3.79 | 4.40 | 5.08 | 5.68 6.25 6.79
8 4.88 | 5.75 | 6.56 | 7.31 7.99 8.75
9 8.31 | 9.27 | 10.13 | 10.97
10 . 12.62 | 13.64
11 15.70 | 16.87
" Heiaat or TREE IN Freer
go
eis | 60 | 65 | 70 | 75 | 80 | 85 | 90
247 ‘
Agm
5 MERCHANTABLE CorDwoop IN Cusic FEET
5 3.66
6 5.45 5.81 6.16
7 7.32 7.81 8.31 8.78 9.27
8 9.43 | 10.07 | 10.70 | 11.31 | 11.93
9 11.76 | 12.62 | 13.31 | 14.04 ; 14.75
10 14.63 | 15.62 | 16.52 | 17.42 | 18.30 | 19.20 |
11 18.04 | 19.16 | 20.18 | 21.17 | 22.15 | 23.12 | 24.06
12 12.33 | 23.62 | 24.90 | 26.04 | 27.15 | 28.16 | 29.14
13 27.33 | 28.85 | 30.34 | 31.62 | 32.98 | 34.21 | 35.40
The Farm Woodlot
334
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Tables and Rules
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336 The Farm Woodlot
VOLUME TABLES FOR PITCH PINE
(Graves’ Mensuration)
Dominant trees 60 to 80 years old.
(Based on 75. trees measured in Milford, Pa.)
Fur.t-Woop
Bnpasratcn, 45/-54’ Trees 55/64’ TREES eee
Cousic Freer
9 9.6 15.7 9.6
10 11.9 15.7 12.3
11 14.6 17.8 15.6
12 18.0 20.5 19.2
13 22.1 23.9 23.4
14 27.0 28.1 28.3
15 33.4 34.0
16 39.8 40.1
17 47.8 47.3
LUMBER AND FUEL-WOOD
DiwasKe OnE-LoG TREES Two-Log TREES THREE-LOG TREES
BRreEast-
HIGH,
IncHES gag Cords sat Cords Cords
9 19 0.045 28 0.023
10 22 -059 33 -028 43 0.017
11 27 .075 41 .033 52 .021
12 33 -095 51 -039 63 .026
13 41 .120 64 .047 » 76 -031
14 52 79 .057 93 .038
15 97 .069 114 .046
16 117 141 -056
17 177 -070
Tables and Rules 337
VOLUME TABLE FOR CHESTNUT
(Graves’ Mensuration)
Dominant trees about 50 years old.
(Based on 99 trees measured in Milford Pa.)
HEIGHT IN FEET
DIAMETER
BREASTHIGH, 40 | 45 | 50 55 60
INCHES
MERCHANTABLE CuBIc FEET
6 3.4 3.8 4.1
% 4.7 p.2 5.6 6.0
8 6.1 6.7 7.3 7.9
9 7.8 8.5 9.3 10.0
10 9.6 10.5 11.4 12.3
11 11.6 12.7 13.9 14.9 15.9
12 15.2 16.5 17.7 19.0
13 17.8 19.4 20.9 22.3
14 20.6 22.3 24.2 25.9
15 25.8 27.7 29.7
TABLE SHOWING RANGE OF DURABILITY OF FENCE
POSTS IN MINNESOTA. (AIR-DRY)
(From ‘‘Forestry in Minnesota,”’ by Green)
Red Cedar DV : e118 30 years
White Cedar dcpisetensd inch fees): tel has . 10-15 years
White Oak (6-inch round). . . oe oe Lg ae og 8 years
Red and Black Oak. . . . 1... eee 4 years
Tamarack (Redwood)... ...... ~~. 9 years
Elm. . So we a we we we w Ge Pyears
Ash, Beech, “Maple e+ tay. Nae, Wyde tee SAD, WR UR LA oe 28 4 years
Black Walnut . . : 7-10 years
White Willow (6” in dimncten: pebled and daed 6-7 years
Z
INDEX
Abies, 42, 49.
Acer, 53, 54.
Agrilus anxius, 78.
America, beginnings of forestry in,
285.
Forests of, in seventeenth cen-
tury, 282.
Annual rings, 32.
Arbor day, 287.
Arboriculture, 259.
Artificial regeneration, 98.
Ashes, key to, 53, 60, 133.
Aspen, 53, 76.
Axe, shape of, 327.
Balsam, 263.
Bark, 33.
Beech, 53, 72.
key to, 73.
Betula, 53, 82.
Birches, 53, 82.
key to, 83.
Board foot, 183.
Board measure, 13.
Bole, 31.
Box elder, 53, 57.
key to, 58.
Broadcast sowing, 105.
Broadleaves, 41.
key to, 53.
Bronze birch borer, 178.
Brown-tail moth, 171.
Brush, effect on tree growth, 100.
Buds, function of, 34.
Bureau of forestry, 289.
Butternut, 53, 85.
key to, 86.
Cambium, 34.
Canada, development of forests in,
292.
protection system in, 298.
Canadian Association, 300.
forests, 293.
forest administration, 296.
forest experiment station, 300.
forest reserves, 299.
Carbolineum, 257.
Carbon in wood, 138.
Care of trees after planting, 129.
Carolina poplar, 80.
Castanea, 53, 71.
Cattle, grazing of, 162.
Cedar, 263.
white, 42, 51.
red, 42, 52.
Chestnut, 53, 71.
key to, 72.
spacing of, 132.
growth table, 329.
volume table, 337.
Clearing the farm, 24.
Collecting seed, 107.
College of Forestry at Toronto and
Guelph, 300.
Conifers, 41.
key to, 42.
Coniferous seedlings, 112.
Coppice system, 96.
Cord, 192.
Cordwood, weight of, 324.
on an acre, 326.
Cottonwood, 53, 76.
Creosote, penetration of, 255.
Crown, significance of shape, 39.
339
340
Cruising, 197.
methods, 200, 204.
Cubic contents of log, 191.
Cull, 204.
table for center defects, 188.
table for slab waste, 189.
Cyllene robiniz, 181.
D. B. H., 199.
Deciduous trees, definition, 29.
Defects, allowance for, in logs, 187.
Deforestation, results of, 301.
Dendrology, definition of, 40.
’ Dendroctinus ponderosa, 174.
piceaperda, 175.
Density of stand, 140.
Division of forestry, 288.
Durability of fence posts, 337.
Economics of forests, 2.
Elmleaf beetle, 177.
Elms, 53, 73.
key to, 75.
Erosion, 308. i
Esthetic value of woodlot, 13.
Euproctis abrysorrhora, 171.
Europe, increased yield in, 140.
status of forestry in, 282.
Evaporation as affected by forests,
312.
and wind velocity, 313.
Evergreens, 30.
Fagus, 53, 72.
Fall web-worm, 180.
Famine, first timber, 279.
Fence posts, durability of, 327.
grades of, 184.
Fertility increased by forests, 319.
Feudal ownership, 279.
Fire, 193.
damage to young growth, 155.
danger season, 156.
causes of, 156.
Fire breaks, 158, 159.
Firefighting tools, 159.
Index
Firs, 42, 49.
Floods, cause of, 304. |
Flower, function of, 35.
Forester’s work, explanation of, 291.
Forests in development of country,
2.
of America in seventeenth cen-
tury, 282.
influence of, 301.
Forest reserves, 288, 289.
Forest tent-caterpillar, 179.
Forestry, definition of, 1.
development in Germany, 5.
returns from, 5.
beginnings of, in America, 285.
Fraxinus, 53, 60.
Frontier forests, 277.
Fruit, function of, 35.
Fuel value of woods, 322.
well seasoned, 325.
Galerucella luteola, 177.
Germany, development of forestry
in, 4.
Gipsy moth, 170.
Gleditsia, 53, 89.
Goats, grazing of, 163.
Grass sod, effect on tree growth,
100.
Grazing, 160.
Group system, 96.
Growth of sprouts; of pitch pine,
328.
of chestnut, 329, 330.
of red cedar, 330.
Guelph, College of Forestry at, 300.
Hackberry in mixture, 130, 131.
Hardness of woods, 321.
Heartwood, 33.
Heeling in, 124.
Height measure, 194.
Hemlock, 42, 50.
Hickories, 53, 87.
key to, 88.
Hicoria, see hickory.
Index
Hill lands of New York, 8, 18.
History of forest, 277.
Hornheam, 53, 84.
Horses, grazing of, 165.
Hough, Emerson, 288.
Hypantria textor, 180.
Increment, 32.
Inexhaustible timber supply, 283.
Influence of forest, 301.
Insects, 168.
Ironwood, 53, 84.
key to, 84.
Jack-pine lands in Lake States, 9.
Joly de Lotbiniere, Sir Henri, 298.
Juglans, 53, 85.
Juniperus, 42, 51.
Lake States, jack-pine lands in, 9.
Land measures, table of, 324.
Land, development of ownership,
278.
classification of, 5.
basis of value, 6.
Larch, 42, 46.
key to, 47.
spacing of, 132.
Larix, 42-46.
Lawn trees, choice of, 259.
requirements of, 260.
Leaf litter, effect on tree growth,
101.
Leaves, function of, 29.
Life history of tree, 36.
Locust borer, 181.
Locusts, 53, 89.
key to, 90.
Log rule, 186.
seale, 185.
Lumber rule, 184.
Malacosoma disstria, 179.
Maples, 53, 54, 58.
spacing of sugar, 132.
Medullary rays, 32.
341
Mensuration, 183.
Mismanagement, 165.
Moisture, effect on range, 99.
Municipal forests, 282.
National forests, 290.
Natural regeneration, 91.
Norway poplar, 79.
Nursery practice, coniferous, 112.
broadleaf, 119.
cost of, 122.
Oaks, 53, 64.
key to blacks, 70.
key to whites, 69.
red, spacing of, 133.
Ornamental groups, 261.
planting, 259.
Ornamental trees tabulated by
species, 270, 276.
Ostrya, 53, 84.
Papineau rebellion, 296.
Penetration of creosote, 255.
Picea, 42, 47.
Piling, 185.
Pine-destroying beetle, 174.
Pines, 42, 43.
key to, 45.
Pinus, see pines.
Pitch pine, growth table, 328.
volume table, 336.
Pith rays, 32.
Plantations, suitable mixtures in,
130.
returns from, 18.
Planting, choice of methods of, 103.
seed for, 111.
care after planting, 126, 129.
begun in Europe, 286.
Poles, 185.
Poplars, 53, 76.
key to, 79.
Populus, see poplars.
Precipitation, influence of forest on,
302.
342
Preparation of land for seeding, 102.
Products of woodlot, 12.
Protection, 153.
systems of, in Canada, 298.
Pruning, 266, 269.
Quercus, 53, 64.
Range of species, 98.
Red cedar, growth table, 330.
Red oak, volume table, 333.
Regeneration, natural, 91.
artificial, 98.
Restrictions in use 6f wood, 280.
Revenues from forests in Europe,
14, 281.
from woodlots, 281.
Roadside trees, 261.
Robinia, 53, 89.
Roots, function of, 30.
Run-off, 302.
Salix, 53, 80.
Sapwood, 33.
Scaler, 184.
Scale stick, 186.
Schools, development of forest, in
Europe, 281.
Scotch pine yield table, 331.
Screen of trees, 262.
Seasoned lumber 325.
Seed collecting, 107.
storing, 110.
planting, 111.
broadleaf, 120.
Seed, selection of, 99.
Seedbeds, see nursery.
Seeding, 98.
preparation for, 102.
broadleaf, 105.
Seedlings, identification, 36.
protection in nursery, 117.
transplanting, 118.
broadleaf, 121.
cost of, 122.
Seed spots, 106.
Index
Selection system, 92.
Sheep, grazing of, 164.
Single tank treatment, 256.
Soil requirements for forest, 22.
effect on range, 99.
Soil cover, 99.
Sowing, see seeding.
Spacing, 132.
Spraying mixture, 171.
Sprouts, 96.
growth of, 328, 330.
Spruce, 42, 47.
key to, 49.
as a screen, 263.
spacing of, 132.
yield table, 332.
volume table, 334.
Spruce-destroying beetle, 175.
Stand table, 197.
Standard, log measure, 191.
Stem, function of, 31.
analysis, 191.
Strip system, 94.
Storing seed, 110.
Sunscald, 168.
Sylvies, 41.
Sylviculture, 40, 134.
Tamarack, 42, 46.
key to, 47.
Thinning, 137, 140, 141, 142.
time of, 143.
improvement, 146.
reproduction, 148,
Thuja, 42, 51.
Timber supply, 3.
first famine, 279.
culture act, 287.
estimating, 202.
Toronto, College of Forestry at,
300.
Transplanting conifers, 118.
broadleaves, 121.
large trees, 263.
Treating posts, 255.
cost, 256.
Index
Tree, growth of, 29.
life history of, 36.
Trespass, 166.
Trunk, 31.
growth of, 32.
Tsuga, 42, 50.
Ulmus, 53, 73.
Unprofitable farm lands, use of, 11.
United States Forest Service, 287,
289.
Valuation survey, 196.
Volume table, 199.
red oak, 333.
spruce, 334.
white pine, 335.
pitch pine, 336.
chestnut, 337.
Walnuts, 53, 85.
key to, 86.
Weight of dry wood, 322.
seasoned lumber, 325.
cordwood, 324.
343
White pine, yield table, 332.
volume table, 335.
Willow, 53, 80.
as a screen, 263.
Windbreak, value of woodlot as,
13.
location of, 22.
benefit from, 22.
Windfall, 167.
Winds, hot, 318.
how formed, 318.
Woodlot, products of, 12.
increases value of farm, 14.
revenues from, 14.
place in farm management, 15.
location of, 19.
percentage farm in, 21.
weeding of, 134.
Yield, increased, of forests in Eu-
rope, 140.
of woodlot, 14.
Yield tables, Scotch pine, 331.
white pine, 332.
spruce, 332.
‘Ts following pages contain advertisements of a
few of the Macmillan books on kindred subjects
TREES IN WINTER
BY
ALBERT F. BLAKESLEE
Professor of Botany, Connecticut Agricultural College
AND
CHESTER D. JARVIS
Horticulturist, Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station
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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
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INJURIOUS INSECTS
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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
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NEW VOLUMES IN
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TEXT-BOOK ON FORAGE CROPS
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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
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By K. J. T. EKBLAW, MSS.
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