HAND-BOOK

OF

TREE-PLANTING;

OR,

WHY TO PLANT,
WHERE TO PLANT,
WHAT TO PLANT,
HOW TO PLANT.

BY

NATHANIEL H. EGLESTON,

CHIEF OF FORESTRY DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON.

Ye may be aye stickin' in a tree, Jock ;
it will be growin' when ye're sleepin'."
— Scotch Farmer.

NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,

I, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. ^ 1

SI n t I — '

1884.

SJ>

COPYRIGHT, 1884,
BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION 7

I.

WHY TO PLANT.

Little planting on a large scale with us — More engaged in
destroying than in planting trees hitherto — Dearth of
trees in consequence — Effect on climate — Occasion of
floods and droughts — Evil result on agriculture, com-
merce, and manufactures — A change of sentiment aris-
ing— Better appreciation of trees — Indispensable to hu-
man life and comfort — They preserve the balance of
natural forces — Forest-planting a matter of interest to all.

II.

WHERE TO PLANT.

Most urgent need on the treeless plains of the West — How
far possible to clothe those arid plains with trees — Con-

CONTENTS.

PAGE

tinued civilization impossible without trees — Encourage-
ment already afforded — Protection against blizzards —
Former tree-growth on the prairies — Relation of rain-
fall to tree-growth — Large groves now growing in West-
ern Kansas and Nebraska — As prairie-fires are stopped
trees grow — Hill-sides and mountain-slopes from which
forests have been cut should be clothed with trees again
— These are the sources of the streams — Of little value
for tillage purposes, but the appropriate home of the
trees — Value of forest property all the while increasing —
Need of planting in California — Stony, sandy, and swampy
lands best utilized by planting with trees — Example of
planting on Cape Cod — Example, also, of Messrs. Fay, at
Lynn and Wood's Holl — Trees do not exhaust but improve
land — Estimated profits of tree-planting — Planting along
railroads for snow-breaks and to supply ties — Trees
cheaper than snow-plows — Consumption of forests by
railroads — Planting on street-borders — Fruit-trees by the
road-side. . 21

III.
WHAT TO PLANT.

No general answer — Determined by the special object in
planting — Also determined by locality — By soil — Quick-
growing trees or slow — Influence of temperature — Na-
tive trees first — Plant such as are found growing near
the planter — Nature a sure guide to choice — Experiment
with others afterward — Our country rich in variety of

CONTENTS. 5

PAGE

trees — Species exhibited at Philadelphia Centennial Ex-
position— Species indigenous to the United States —
Trees which are specially deserving the attention of
the planter — The oak — White pine — Ash — Linden or
bass-wood — Tulip-tree — Sycamore — Maples — Box-elder
— Locust — Elm — Birches — Beech — Willows — Catalpa —
Ailanthus — Hemlock — Spruces — Cedar — Scotch pine —
European larch 48

*

IV.

HOW TO PLANT.

Trees are living organisms — This often little regarded — Atten-
tion first to place where tree is to grow — Character and
condition of soil — Mouths of the tree in its roots — Its food
must be dissolved in order to be taken — Soil to be made
fine — Proper plant-food — Reasons of failure in planting —
Haste makes waste — Working not for a single season but
for scores of years — Whether to plant seeds or trees —
When to gather and when to plant seeds — How to keep
seeds — Nature our best teacher — Dr. Warder's directions
— Soft and hard seeds — Nuts — Coniferous seeds — Cut-
tings— Process of planting — Ideal method — After-care
necessary — Shelter from sun and wind — Mulching — Free-
dom from weeds — Trees to be planted, how far apart —
Close planting best — Nature's plan — Thinning — Injuries
by animals--- Different kinds of trees planted together —
Grow better in this way — More pleasing appearance also
— Beauty to be combined with utility in planting — How to

CONTENTS.

PAGE

arrange shelter-belts and wind-breaks — Not in straight
lines — Checker-board plan to be avoided — Nature moves
and builds in curves — Planting evergreens — Special cau-
tion in regard to these — Conditions of success — Impera-
tive rule 84

USEFUL TABLES.

Number of trees on an acre planted at various distances —
Specific gravity and fuel value of the most important
woods 125

INTRODUCTION.

THE special object of this book is to treat of
the planting of trees in masses. It is not de-
signed so much for the amateur, or the orna-
mental planter, as for the one who is desirous of
cultivating trees on the large scale, and with a
view to profit rather than to adornment or mere
aesthetic effect. It aims to meet the want of
land-owners, more especially of those whose lot
is cast in portions of the country destitute or
nearly so of trees, and who feel the need of
them, whether for fuel, as a source of lumber,
for shelter, or for companionship, but who are
inexperienced in the cultivation of trees, and so
far ignorant of their qualities and adaptations to
various soils and climates, that they are at a loss
what to plant, or as to the best method to be
pursued in their cultivation. It does not, there-
fore, undertake to discuss the respective merits
of the wide range of ornamental trees, properly

8 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

so called, or even to go over the catalogue of
trees indigenous to this country, more than four
hundred in number, but treats only of a limited
class and such as have a recognized economic
value that commends them to the attention of
any who are desirous of planting for use and
profit.

But while this is the author's special object,
he has endeavored to treat the subject in such
a manner as will make the work a proper guide
to the tree-planter, whoever he may be, or what-
ever may be his object in planting. The laws of
growth and the conditions of success in planting
are essentially the same, whether one plants a
forest or a single tree, whether he plants for use
or for ornament. Economic considerations may
lead to a variation of treatment in some re-
spects. These are easily specified, but the gen-
eral principles which govern all cases alike re-
main the same.

It has seemed to the author that he might
best meet the demands of the subject by casting
what he has to say in the form of answers to the
specific questions — Why to plant? Where to
plant? What to plant? and How to plant?

I.

WHY TO PLANT.

TREE-PLANTING, except for ornamental pur-
poses, as in door-yards, along the borders of
streets, and occasionally in lawns and parks, and
to a certain extent by orchardists, has hardly
been a subject of consideration in this country
until within a comparatively recent period of
time. Planting in masses, so that the result
should take on a forest appearance, has been
thought of only in rare instances. Our thought
and corresponding action have been in quite the
opposite direction. From the first settlement of
the country we have been engaged, with stout
arms and resolute will, in destroying the forests.
At the outset such action was often a necessity.
The land was almost entirely forest-covered.
Settlement could be made only as room for agri-
culture and pasturage was gained by removing

io HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

the dense masses of trees, whose leafy tops shut
out the sunlight and whose roots defied the
plow. Accordingly, they were made away with,
and in the speediest manner possible. They
were felled by wholesale, and burned by the
acre upon the ground where they lay. Wood
was worthless, except for the scanty needs of
fuel and house-building. The pioneer could
hardly have too little of it. The forests were in
the way. They were almost a nuisance ; and a
man was famous in proportion as, in the lan-
guage of Scripture, " he had lifted up the axe
among the thick trees."

The feeling engendered in that early time
has characterized our people ever since. We
have continued to make ruthless warfare upon
the woods. The trees have continued to be in
the way as the population has increased and
the tide of migration has swept westward from
the Atlantic coast. Naturally our best friends,
we have come to regard them as our natural
enemies. The forests, the slow growth of cen-
turies, have been held as an impediment to the
national growth, and one of our States has
even taken for its seal and heraldic device the

WHY TO PLANT. II

figure of a wood-chopper with his axe lifted
on high to smite the trees. It might be taken
as the characteristic emblem of the nation.

At length we have hewed our path through
the seemingly interminable forest and come
out upon the treeless plains beyond the Mis-
sissippi. And now, ^is the naked land spreads
out for hundreds of miles on every side, we
are awakening to the discovery that the trees
have a positive value.} As the settlers on the
plains of Kansas or Dakota feel the blasts com-
ing down upon them from the Arctic zone,
the " blizzards " that thrust their icy darts to
the very vitals of man and beast, they long
for the trees to stand between them and the
deadly storm. The few belts of them that are
found along the courses of the streams are
like protecting ramparts in the way of a be-
sieging foe. Happy those who are near enough
to take advantage of them ! Then, too, in an
economic point of view, for fuel and for lum-
ber, to be used for construction purposes, how
valuable have the trees become! Moreover, as
the demands of these vast and rapidly peopling
prairies draw heavily upon the forests that are

12 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

yet left around the Great Lakes, we are making
the discovery that, having already swept away
the forests of the Eastern States, the present
draft from East and West together upon these
lake forests is rapidly extinguishing them, and
with them our last resource for a species of
lumber which serves, as no other does or can,
for the thousand purposes of domestic and in-
dustrial life. More than this. As we look back
over the path by which we have reached our
present position, and see what we have done,
and notice the changes which have taken place
in our condition, we are discovering also that
the trees have an intimate connection with cli-
mate, with temperature and moisture, with the
distribution of rainfall, and so with the success
of our agricultural industry.

We are finding likewise that the forests are
closely connected with floods and droughts, and
so have a direct relation not only to agricult-
ure, but to commerce and manufactures as well.
And so the despised forests, of which we have
thought, the sooner out of the way the better,
now that they are so nearly out of the way in
many parts of the country, are coming to have

WHY TO PLANT. 13

in our esteem somewhat the position of im-
portance which belongs to them, and we are
beginning to ask, when almost too late, How
can we save them, or how can we replace them
where they have been destroyed ?

A new word, forestry, formerly a mere dic-
tionary word, and hardly that even, has come
into our common daily speech. An association
of those who have been most thoughtful in
regard to the office and value of the trees has
been formed under the name of a " Forestry
Congress," and " Schools of Forestry" and " For-
estal Experiment Stations " are under considera-
tion.

These things indicate a change of sentiment
in respect to trees, a revulsion of feeling in re-
gard to them and our treatment of them. It
has come none too soon. We were on the way
to meet great loss and suffering in consequence
of the manner in which we have treated our
forests. We were on the way to meet the evils
which have befallen many of the European na-
tions as the result of the destruction of their
forests. Happy shall we be if, through our
greater activity and readiness to apply appro-

2

14 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

priate remedies for evils when they are made
known to us, and warned in part by the experi-
ence of those nations, we adopt measures which
give promise of relief from the threatening dan-
ger, or at least a mitigation of the evils natu-
rally consequent upon our previous conduct.

History shows that the inhabited world has
been characteristically a tree-world — a world
peopled by trees as well as men, and science
teaches us that the world is habitable by man
only as man and the trees hold it by joint occu-
pancy. The trees preceded man on the earth
as a prerequisite of his existence here and a
preparative for it. It was their office to elimi-
nate from the atmosphere of the early world the
deleterious gases which made it irrespirable by
man, and it is their office now to maintain that
balance between its constituent elements upon
which man's health and vigor depend. Chem-
ists and physiologists show us that plants
are continually absorbing carbonic-acid gas and
pouring out oxygen, or vital air as it was for-
merly called, because it was regarded as having
an indispensable connection with life.

It has been the conclusion of scientific inves-

WHY TO PLANT. 15

tigation also that from one fourth to one third
of the earth's surface needs to be appropriated
to tree or plant life, in order to maintain the
best conditions of human existence. Such an
amount of wooded surface, while it would pre-
serve the atmosphere in the best state for man's
use as a living creature, would also secure to
him the amplest returns from the cultivation of
the soil, and the largest rewards of his varied
industries. In proportion as this balance of
natural forces is preserved, agriculture, com-
merce, and manufactures all flourish best. A
due measure of forest not only^maintains the at-
mosphere in the best condition to be breathed
by manj but by its continual growth, if that
growth is wisely husbanded and protected, is
able to supply him perpetually with fuel and
the material upon which the larger part of the
arts and industries of life depend.

But throughout his history man has been
found a disturber rather than a maintainer of
the beneficial arrangements of Nature in his be-
half. In almost all parts of the world which he
has inhabited, man has swept away the trees
to such an extent as to destroy the balance of

16 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

forces and bring ultimate injury upon himself.
In many cases he has been obliged to flee from
the desolation which his own reckless action has
produced. He has often changed a garden into
a desert, and has been compelled to migrate to
new regions in order to preserve his life. And
where evil has not come upon him to such an
insupportable extent, he has been obliged to
maintain his life under less pleasant conditions,
and attended with burdens and hardships which
otherwise might have been avoided. The Old
World is full of illustrations of this.

We have been pursuing the same course.
But it is only recently that we have begun to
see and feel the evils which are threatening us.
Our forest wealth was so great, in many parts
of the country it is still so ample, that it is only
within a few years that our attention has been
drawn to the connection between the presence
or absence of trees and our personal and nation-
al welfare. It has been noticed that many of
our streams have been gradually diminishing in
volume. It has been noticed also that their
flow has become less uniform, that floods have
become more frequent, and that as these have

WHY TO PLANT. 17

increased, so, on the other hand, the streams
have often shrunk away to mere threads, so that
they could not be depended upon at certain
seasons of the year for the supply of mills, or
for the purposes of husbandry or navigation.
But we have failed until now to trace these
effects to their simple and sufficient cause, the
removal of the trees.

The connection is easily shown. Every one
acquainted with the forests knows that the
leaves, falling from year to year and gradually
decaying, form a soil quite different in texture
from that in the open ground. It is loose and
spongy, and often of great depth. In the Adi-
rondack woods the "spruce-duff," as it is called,
is often four feet deep. The rain which falls
upon this soil does not flow off immediately, as
does that falling on a hill-side bare of trees, but
is absorbed by it, as water is absorbed and held
by a sponge, and oozes out gradually, flowing
down the slope with a steady stream or sink-
ing slowly into the deeper earth to reappear
in neighboring or more distant springs. So,
again, where forests crown the hill-sides in the
cooler latitudes, the snow which falls is screened

1 8 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

from the action of the sun and dissolves slowly,
remaining to a considerable extent long after
the snow has disappeared from the open fields.
Thus a protracted and steady flow into the
brooks and streams is secured.

But when the forests along the heads and
courses of streams are cut off, the first effect is
to dry up the spongy soil, and then to remove it
by the combined influence of the sun, wind, and
rain. The consequence is, that the water result-
ing from rain or the dissolving snow flows down
the hill-sides at once, and often causes the
streams to become torrents, overflowing their
banks and carrying disaster and destruction far
and wide.

For the same reason, when summer comes,
with its lessened supply of rain and more rapid
evaporation, there is no reservoir upon the hills
as formerly to send its steady flow along the
water-courses, and so the streams shrink to
brooks, and the brooks to mere threads perhaps.
The mill-wheels stop, or must be turned by the
power of steam. The boats of commerce can
not move in their accustomed channels, or are
delayed ; and so the many industries of life are

WHY TO PLANT. 19

disturbed, the course of trade is disarranged,
and great inconvenience and loss result.

Now, this is the condition of things at which
we have arrived. These evils already beset us,
or are threatening us, in a large part of our
country. And thus we have the answer to our
first question, Why to plant ? It is, comprehen-
sively, that we may, if possible, restore the lost
balance of the forces of Nature, and thus regain
the former conditions of life, or at least mitigate
the evils which have already come upon us, and
lessen, if we can not check, the greater evils
which threaten us. The question is one that
concerns not certain individuals alone, but is of
national scope and interest. Whatever special
answer the peculiar circumstances of any one
may move him to give to the question, our com-
mon interests as a people and our common needs
suggest a ready and pertinent answer to the
question for every intelligent person among us.
The dweller upon the treeless plains of Dakota,
or the valleys of California, may be moved to
plant by different considerations from those
which urge the resident in Ohio or Vermont;
but, dwell where we may within the boundaries

20 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

of our great country, we are all interested in the
maintenance of an ample supply of trees. We
are all interested in the preservation of them to
a proper extent where they now exist, and in es-
tablishing them in due measure, by planting, in
those parts of the country from which they have
been removed, or where hitherto their growth
has been prevented.

II.

WHERE TO PLANT.

IF the condition of things is as we have set
it forth, the answer to this question is readily
suggested.

The urgency of the case on the exposed
plains beyond the Mississippi, and in the arid dis-
tricts between that river and the Coast-Ranges
of the Pacific, will draw our attention to those
parts of the country first and lead us to say at
once, plant there if possible. How far it is pos-
sible to make tree-planting successful in those
regions is a matter of dispute. Into the grounds
of that dispute we do not propose here to enter.
In a simple, practical manual, such as this is de-
signed to be, it is not called for. But the urgen-
cies of the case are such that no reasonable ef-
fort should be spared in the endeavor to supply
those naked regions with an adequate amount of

22 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

trees. People ought not to be invited to live,
they ought not to try to live, in such a region as
Northern Dakota or Minnesota, unless they have
the hope of a speedy change of their condition,
to be supplied by the presence of trees. A high
civilization would be impossible there without
the aid of trees. Barbarism would not only be
"the first danger" but the inevitable result.
Wheat-fields are not enough, even if droughts
and floods could be insured against. " Man
shall not live by bread alone." Years ago, a
professor in one of the colleges of that region
said publicly that it was simple cruelty to invite
people to settle there until measures were taken
to plant trees so as to make an effectual safe-
guard against the terrible blizzards which sweep
down from the icy North with such blinding
and destructive power. Tree-planting is almost
a first necessity of life there. The man who set-
tles there should understand that he is to be en-
gaged in a battle with the icy bayonetry of the
North, and he needs at once to raise his breast-
work of trees and fight behind their cover. An
outlay for these is as needful as an outlay for
agricultural implements. With the first turning

WHERE TO PLANT. 23

of the sod in preparation for wheat-sowing,
there should be some turning of the sod for
tree-planting. The two should go together. It
is important on all accounts. The wheat-fields
themselves will be the more productive for the
sheltering and salutary influences of the trees.
Trees are equalizers of temperature and
moisture, and tend greatly to secure uniform
returns to the labor of the husbandman. This
is now getting to be well understood, and
many are planting trees liberally and with the
most satisfactory results. Nature has provided
quick-growing trees, which, on the rich soil of
the prairies, soon spring up into groves that re-
lieve the nakedness of the landscape, while they
bring abundant comfort to the dwellers there
by their grateful shade and shelter, and their
supply of fuel and timber. In the older prairie
States a very manifest change has already been
wrought. It has been found that those States
were bare of trees, not because there was any-
thing in the soil or climate which forbade their
growth, but from other though perhaps un-
known causes. Evidences of former tree-growth
have been met with. Remains of ancient trees

24 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

have been discovered on turning up the soil.
Once stripped of their tree-covering, by what-
ever cause, the annual and unimpeded fires
which have swept over those plains were
sufficient to prevent any subsequent growth.
But since settlers have come in and checked the
course of the fires by their barriers of plowed
fields, and by their watchful care, it has been
found that trees will grow wherever they are
given a chance to grow. They have been suc-
cessfully planted far beyond what many have
assigned as the natural limit of tree life. The
growth of trees, as of all plants, is dependent
upon a due supply of moisture. As we go
westward from the Mississippi, there are natural
causes which diminish the amount of rainfall in
proportion as we approach the Rocky Mount-
ains, and it has been held that from about the
one-hundredth parallel of longitude the amount
of rain is so small that trees could not be made
to grow, except sparsely just along the margin
of streams, unless by the artificial aid of irriga-
tion. But, happily, experience has proved that
the field of tree-growth reaches farther west
than many have been willing to allow. In West-

WHERE TO PLANT. 25

ern Nebraska and Kansas, there are now grow-
ing large groves of trees which the settlers
have planted, and, as the latter have taken
pains also to check the prairie-fires, the lines
of native trees along the water-courses have
begun to spread, so that it is estimated that
the area of spontaneous tree-growth is half as
great as that resulting from planting by the
settlers.

There is reason to think we have taken too
despondent a view of the practicability of grow-
ing trees on the remote plains of the West.
While their growth is dependent upon moisture,
and can not be established or maintained with-
out it, the trees are equalizers and husbanders of
moisture. When planted in masses, they shade
the ground and prevent evaporation from the
soil from being as copious and rapid as it would
be under the undiminished influence of the sun
and winds. There is hope, therefore, that we
may be able gradually to push the tree-line
much farther west than we have formerly sup-
posed was possible, and that, with the help of
irrigation in the most arid regions, we may re-
claim for human uses and comfort a large part

3

26 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

of our country which has been regarded as a
hopelessly barren waste.

There is no need of urging the necessity
of tree-planting in all that region. Every set-
tler there, every traveler even who passes over
it, must feel the desirableness of establishing a
tree-growth there as soon as possible.

But while the need of planting trees seems
most urgent on the naked and exposed plains
of the West, the need in other places is un-
questionable. On most of the hill-sides and
mountain-slopes of the North and East or of
the Pacific States from which the original for-
est-growth has been removed, an effort should
be made to restore it. There are found the
sources of the streams, important to us on so
many accounts, and the lessened flow of which
has been deplored, while hitherto we have
not known how the evil might be remedied.
The higher and steeper hill-sides are of little
value for agricultural purposes because they
are so difficult of access. Often they are so
rocky that they are intractable, while the soil
is so thin and so liable to be washed away
by the rains, that they offer little promise of

WHERE TO PLANT. 27

reward to the cultivator. Such lands are the
appropriate home of the trees. Once planted
there, and protected from the invasion of fire
and the incursion of cattle, they will grow and
produce an ample harvest with little further
care or labor on the part of their owner. In
a pecuniary point of view these rocky and often
precipitous hill-sides can be made so valuable
in no other way as by giving them up to the
growth of trees. One crop of this kind, requir-
ing almost no care, will ordinarily sell for more
than the combined crops of grain or roots that
could be raised upon the same ground during
all the years that the trees would require to
bring them to maturity. With the increase of
our population, and the consequently increasing
demand for wood for use in the arts and manu-
factures all the while extending, for building
purposes and for fuel, the value of forest prop-
erty can not but greatly increase.

There is ample reason, therefore, for endeav-
oring to reclothe with trees the hill-sides from
which the forests have been taken. In some
cases the reason for planting is as imperative
almost as it is on the exposed plains of Da-

28 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

kota. On the slopes of California and Neva,
da, for example, the removal of the trees, which
has taken place with such rapidity, is threat
ening great disaster to those portions of the
country. Fires have been allowed to ravage
the forests with hardly any effort to prevent
or to check them. And, as though this were
not enough, the young growth that springs up
is destroyed by the flocks of sheep which are
turned loose in it for pasture; and even the
mature forest is often fired and consumed in
order that grass may take its place for the sup-
port of the sheep which can not find adequate
pasturage in the dry valleys and plains below.
This very destruction of the woods, by lessen-
ing and making more irregular the flow of the
streams, renders the irrigation of the dry plains
below less practicable, and without irrigation
they are nearly if not quite worthless for all
agricultural purposes. Sparsely wooded at the
best, and needing every encouragement to make
good the deficiency of trees if possible, Cali-
fornia has lost one fourth of her forests during
the brief period since she became one of the
States of our Union. If there is any one duty

WHERE TO PLANT. 29

pressing upon that State and upon some of the
neighboring States, in view of their future
needs, in view of their future safety one may
say, it is to take the speediest and the most
effective measures to preserve what forests
they have from destruction, and to encourage
the planting of trees on the denuded hills and
in the lower plains wherever they can be made
to grow. Sheep are not comparable to the
forests in value. If those Pacific States lose
their forests, they will no longer be desirable,
hardly possible, habitations for men; and how
much better is a man than a sheep !

But, besides the hill-sides and mountain-
slopes, which are the proper homes of the trees,
and where the forests, if allowed to grow, are
sources of manifold blessings to the country,
protectors of its health and its most precious in-
dustries, there are other places which invite the
tree-planter's attention. On the lowlands there
are many stony, sour, sandy, or otherwise ster-
ile tracts, of more or less extent, which are
properly called waste-land. They are of little
value in an agricultural point of view, but, if
covered with trees, would not only have an ap-

30 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

preciable" worth in themselves, but would be the
source of great benefit to the country at large.
Many, if not most of these tracts, were formerly
covered with fo rest - trees, and only require to
have cattle excluded from them for a few years,
when a new growth of trees would be found to
spring up. Cape Cod, now to so large extent a
barren mass of sand, we have the best authority
for believing^ was, at the beginning of our his-
tory, a densely - Wooded region. Other sand-
barrens, in all parts of the country, either have
the stumps of trees remaining upon them, or
were clothed with trees within the memory of
those dwelling near them. These now worth-
less lands can be made to rank with the most
valuable* if devoted to the growth of trees.

Happily, this is not a matter of mere theory
or opinion. The experiment has been tried, and
with abundant success. Hundreds of acres on
Cape Cod have been planted, and trees thus
planted have now attained a height of forty and
fifty feet. The people of that region sow the
pine-cones upon their sandy fields with as much
confidence that a crop of trees will spring from
them as the man who plants corn on the prairie

WHERE TO PLANT. 31

of the West has that his seed will produce a
harvest. On the western coast of France vast
districts of barren sand have been reclaimed by
planting, and where formerly was an uninhab-
ited desert are now populous villages ; while
from the pines by which the wastes were re-
claimed a large revenue is annually derived
through the manufacture of turpentine, as well
as by the sale of trees for timber and fuel.

The pines will flourish on poor and sandy
soils, though they do not refuse to grow on such
as are fertile. And we have no wood at pres-
ent more valuable than the pine, or one which
for years to come will have a greater market-
able worth. The white pine, especially, enters
into more uses of ordinary life than any other
wood. Formerly it was so abundant in our
Northern States, from the St. John to the Mis-
sissippi, that we hardly noted its peculiar and
surpassing value. The supply was at hand, and
seemed inexhaustible. So we cut and consumed
unsparingly, recklessly even. We consumed
not only to meet our own wants, but for the
wants of the world.

But at length we have found a limit to the

32 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

supply of this valuable wood, and with that dis-
covery its market price has greatly increased,
and will inevitably increase yet more. The man
who has a growing forest of white pine has a
mine of wealth surer than the ores of the West-
ern mountains, and the man who now plants this
tree on his useless fields of sand or on some
rocky hill-side, called perhaps a pasture, but
where the stones will hardly allow the cattle to
get their teeth to the grass, if he does not live
to reap the sure harvest, will leave to his heirs
a legacy as valuable as stocks or bonds.

It would seem that this needs no arguing.
But, to show that practical experience bears
out all that we have said, we will adduce
some testimony from actual tree-planters. Tree-
planting in masses, designed to produce forests,
has hardly been undertaken in our country
until quite recently. Among the earliest to
engage in this work were the Messrs. Fay, in
Essex and Barnstable Counties, Massachusetts.
They have been followed by several persons
on Cape Cod. Mr. R. S. Fay began a planta-
tion on his estate, near Lynn, in 1846. In that
and the two following years he planted two

WHERE TO PLANT. 33

hundred thousand trees which he had import-
ed, and subsequently as many more raised by
him from the seed. These trees occupied about
two hundred acres. The land which he plant-
ed was of poor soil, stony, exposed to the wind,
in short, good for nothing else, but in this re-
spect like not a little of the land in the north-
ern part of the country, especially in New Eng-
land. A variety of trees was planted, such as
oaks, ashes, maples, the Norway spruce, the
Scotch and the Austrian pine, but principally
the European larch. Twenty-nine years after
the trees were planted, according to the testi-
mony of Prof. Sargent, of Harvard University,
who made a personal inspection of the planta-
tion, some of the larches were more than fifty
feet in height and were fifteen inches in diam-
eter, three feet from the ground. Other kinds
of trees had grown to a height of forty feet.
During the ten years immediately preceding
his visit, seven hundred cords of fire-wood had
been taken from the plantation, besides all the
fencing required for the large estate, and Prof.
Sargent says that, at the time of his visit, fire-
wood, fence-posts, and railroad-sleepers, to the

34 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

value of thousands of dollars, could have been
cut to the manifest advantage of the remaining
trees. Can any one doubt that Mr. Fay's stony,
sterile acres were put to a profitable use ?

A somewhat similar experiment was made
by a brother, Mr. J. S. Fay, on the southwest-
ern portion of Cape Cod, on a tract of land
about one hundred and twenty-five acres in
extent. It is now densely wooded, but when
planted was as forbidding, perhaps, as any
land to be found. It was fully exposed to the
cold northwest winds in winter, and to the
fierce gales of the Atlantic and their saline
moisture, so hurtful often to tree-growth. As
to the character of the land, Mr. Fay says:
" My land is made up mainly of abrupt hills
and deep hollows, sprinkled over with bowl-
ders of granite. The soil is dry and worn out,
and what there is of it is a gravelly loam.
The larger part consisted of old pastures, and
on the one hundred and twenty-five acres not
a tree of any kind, unless an oak, that sprang
out of the huckleberry-bushes here and there,
barely lifting its head above them for the wind,
and, when attempting to grow, browsed down

WHERE TO PLANT. 35

by the cattle ranging in winter, could be called
a tree. . . .

" Thirty -five thousand trees were imported
and set out, besides a large number of native
trees procured in this country; but fully three
fourths of the whole plantation was made by
sowing the seed directly on the ground where
the trees were to stand. A large variety of
trees, both native and foreign, were employed,
and while few have failed entirely, the foreign
species, as was to be expected from the situa-
tion, have been the most successful. Larch and
Scotch pines, transplanted from the nursery in
1853, are now (1875) forty feet high, and from
ten to twelve inches in diameter at one foot from
the ground. Trees of the Scotch pine, raised
from seed planted in 1861, where the trees have
grown, but in favorable situations, and which
have been properly thinned, have been cut this
winter, and measured thirty feet in height and
ten inches in diameter one foot from the ground,
while the average of the trees in a large planta-
tion of Scotch pine, made in the same manner in
1862, and which has received no special care, is
twenty feet high and six inches in diameter."

36 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

Instances of a much more rapid growth, on
the rich soils of the West, might be adduced,
though not reaching over so long a period of
time. But we have chosen to take illustrations
such as the above, as showing not only a tree-
growth satisfactory in itself, but the additional
fact that land, poor and otherwise unremuner-
ative, may thus be put to profitable use. Fur-
ther, it ought to be taken into consideration
that a plantation of trees is not only profitable
in itself, but that, if rightly disposed, it makes
adjacent lands more valuable. In regard to
many if not most farms in our country, it may
be said with confidence that if from a tenth
to a sixth part of their area, on the sides most
exposed to winds, were devoted to a growth
of wood, the protection thus afforded to the
growing crops would increase their yield by a
large amount.

It is to be remembered also, when consider-
ing the economic aspects of forestry, that trees
are not an exhausting crop, but on the contra-
ry, by the accumulation and decay of their
leaves, falling from year to year, they serve
to enrich the ground where they grow. On

WHERE TO PLANT. 37

this account a barren, sandy, and practically
worthless soil for the ordinary purposes of til-
lage may be so reclaimed by the growth of
trees as to be fitted to produce other crops
when the trees are cut off, or, if retained as
woodland, to give a more rapid and vigorous
growth of trees than before. The effect of the
larch in enriching the ground is quite remark-
able. A writer in the Scotch Highland Soci-
ety's " Transactions " cites the case where the
pasturage under a plantation of larches thirty
years old, and which had been thinned to four
hundred trees to the acre, produced an annual
rental of eight or ten shillings the acre, while
the same land, previous to the introduction of
the larch, was let for one shilling the acre.
Grigor, an eminent English authority, says :
" No tree is so valuable as the larch in its fer-
tilizing effects, arising from the richness of the
foliage which it sheds annually. In a healthy
wood the yearly deposit is very great; the
leaves remain and are consumed on the spot
where they drop, and, where the influence of
the air is admitted, the space becomes clothed
in a vivid green with many of the finest kinds

38 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

of natural grasses, the pasture of which is high-
ly reputed in dairy management."

Prof. Sargent has endeavored, from the ex-
amination of Mr. Fay's plantation, to make a
practical estimate of the profit of tree-planting.
He says : " I think we can feel confident that on
the ordinary soil suited to their culture, larch,
planted when about one foot high and three
years old, will in twenty years average twenty-
two feet in height and seven inches in diameter,
three feet from the ground ; and that in thirty
years they will be from thirty-five to forty feet
high and twelve inches in diameter ; and if the
plantations are thinned to four hundred trees
to the acre, that at the end of twenty years
more, or fifty years from the time of planting,
the trees will reach from sixty to seventy feet in
height and at least twenty inches in diameter.
This is also the average growth of this tree in
the Highlands of Scotland, under nearly similar
conditions.

" Let us consider what profits a plantation of
larch, ten acres in extent, and intended to stand
for fifty years, would give. The labor of cut-
ting the trees will be more than paid for by the

WHERE TO PLANT. 39

sale at different periods of a large amount of
small wood suited to many rustic purposes, but
for which no credit is made. It must also be re-
marked that the following account is charged
with a permanent wire -fence, although it is
more than probable that any land suited to this
purpose is already surrounded by stone walls,
which would require but little subsequent care.
Present prices for forest products are taken,
without allowance being made for their proba-
ble future increase in value.

Estimated Profits of a Plantation of European
Larch of Ten Acres, to last Fifty Years.

Dr.

Ten acres of land, at $20 $200 oo

Wire fence 1,000 oo

Plants, 27,250, at $5 per 1,000 136 25

Labor of planting 500 oo

$1,836 25
Interest on investment as above, 50 years, at 6

per cent 5499 oo

Taxes, 50 years, at 1.5 per cent 150 oo

Interest on taxes equal 25 years, at 6 per cent.. 225 oo

$7,710 25

40 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

Cr.

Product of first cutting, at the end of
20 years : 13,000 trees, less 20 per
cent for casualties = 10,400 trees, or
20,800 fence-posts, at 20 cents $4,160 oo

Product of second cutting, at the end
of 30 years: 10,200 trees, less 10
per cent for casualties = 9, 1 80 trees,
or 18,300 sleepers, at 50 cents, $9,180 oo

And 9,180 fence-posts, at 25 cents.... 2,295 °°

-$ii,475 oo

Product of third cutting, at the end of
50 years : 4,000 trees, less 5 per cent
for casualties = 3,800 piles, worth $5
each $19,000 oo

And 7,600 sleepers, worth 50 cents . . . 3,800 oo

$22,800 oo

Land at cost 200 oo

$38,635 oo
Thirty years' interest on $4,600 at 6 per

cent $7,488 oo

Twenty years' interest on $11,475, at 6

per cent J3,77° oo

$21,258 oo

$59,993 oo
Profit $52,282 75

WHERE TO PLANT. 41

" Equal to about thirteen per cent per annum
for the entire fifty years, after returning the
original capital invested.

" There is no branch of agriculture at once
so pleasant and so productive of possible gains
as farming on paper. It is a dangerous pastime,
however, and often leads into grave errors and
great dangers, as the agricultural population
has learned to its cost. In this case it will be
well to be on the safe side. The larch, in com-
mon with other plants, is liable to disease ; it is
preyed upon by many insects, and our planta-
tions may be often injured by fire, bad manage-
ment, and other dangers now unforeseen.

" In view of such chances, let us reduce the
total yield of our ten acres of larch a little more
than one half, and be content with a profit of
only six per cent per annum on the capital in-
vested."

Such a diminution would leave us, in round
numbers, $24,000, as the profit of the ten acres.

Many estimates of the returns of tree-plant-
ing, made by those living on the fertile soils
of the West, promise a much larger profit than
that supposed by Prof. Sargent. But whatever

42 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

deductions any may be disposed to make from
one estimate or another, it admits of no question
but that a fair and satisfactory remuneration
awaits the tree-planter who engages in planting
with reasonable skill and proper attention to the
business.

In answering the question " Where to plant? "
the railroads ought not to be passed by. They
are great consumers of forests, both for fuel and
for their very construction, and although the
increased price of wood, arising from the dimi-
nution of the forests, has led to the increased
use of coal for fuel in place of wood, the de-
mand upon the forests for railway-ties is enor-
mous and all the while increasing. We have
now at the lowest calculation, including second
tracks and sidings, 150,000 miles of railroad
track. Every mile has required from 2,200 to
3,000 ties. It will not be in excess of the truth
if we make the average demand 2,640. We have
then 396,000,000 used in the construction of our
railroads. But railroad-builders choose for their
use young and vigorous trees, trees that have not
half reached their maturity, and are only large

WHERE TO PLANT. 43

enough to make one tie to a cut and only two
or at the most three cuts to a tree. Two will
probably be the average. The building of our
railroads, therefore, has consumed 198,000,000
trees, and those cut off when, if left a few years
longer, they would have made a more rapid
increase in bulk than they had done in their
younger life. It is a generous estimate that
allows fifty such trees to be found on an acre
of woodland. We have, then, 3,960,000 acres
of forest stripped of their most valuable trees in
the construction of our existing railroads.

But this is not all. Railroad-ties last, on an
average, seven years. To keep up the equip-
ment of our roads, therefore, requires every
year 56,571,428 ties, in addition to what are de-
manded for the construction of new roads, or
the product of 565,714 acres. So that if the
railroads would keep themselves good, as it re-
quires thirty years to grow trees large enough
to make ties, they need 16,971,420 acres devoted
to their growth, or 113.3 f°r every mile of their
length. It may well be considered, therefore,
whether the railroad companies should not be-
come forest-planters as a matter of self-interest.

44 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

Especially may this be urged, when we regard
the trees not only as a source of supply for
the renewal of the road-bed, but also as a shel-
ter from sweeping winds and a preventive of
impeding snows, often such a hindrance and
source of expense. We have it on the authority
of the superintendent of the Northern Pacific
Railroad, that the removal of obstructions by
snow on that road during the winter of iSS2-'83
cost not less than $100,000, and he estimates that
by planting a shelter-belt of trees along the line
of the road, at a cost of one fourth that sum,
a permanent protection from impeding drifts
may be secured. The work has already been
begun. Some other Western companies are
doing a like work, and where, as in so many
cases, they have such ample grants of land as
have been given them, there would seem to be
no good reason why they should not only plant
shelter-belts along their lines, but devote sec-
tions enough to the growth of forest-trees to
supply in the not distant future all their needs
for ties. By so doing, they would not only pro-
mote their own interests and the comfort of
travel, but would be doing their part to secure

WHERE TO PLANT. 45

for the region through which they pass those
ameliorating climatic influences and those bene-
ficial effects upon agriculture which forests are
adapted to produce.

Finally, we name, not so much on the score
of profit or advantage, as of comfort and taste,
our common roads and the streets of our cities
and villages, as appropriate places for the plant-
ing of trees. What else is there that gives such
a charm to many of the villages in the older
parts of our country, and especially to many of
the New England villages, as the lines of noble,
graceful trees which border and often overarch
their streets, and whose beauty every one sees
and feels ? The beauty and charm are so mani-
fest to the dullest nature almost, that as popula-
tion has spread into newer regions, road-side
planting has been often repeated. In many
cases, however, there has been neglect in this
particular, and in all parts of the country there
are places where, by a comparatively little ex-
pense in planting the proper trees along the
street-borders, villages and towns now unat-
tractive and even forbidding in appearance, per-
haps, would be transformed into inviting places

46 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

of residence. The whole tone of society would
be perceptibly improved in a few years, as, fol-
lowing the appearance of the trees, one change
after another would come in for the better.

But why should not the highways that lead
from village to village and from town to town
have pleasant borders of trees as well as the
village streets? How pleasant would be their
screen from sun and wind oftentimes ! What a
preventive of the annoyance of dust, and how
grateful to the sight their varied forms of grace
and beauty ! In some European countries the
planting of trees by the road-side is made ob-
ligatory by law.

Usefulness is combined with beauty also, by
choosing fruit-bearing trees for road-side plant-
ing. We might well follow the example of
those countries in both these respects. What
beautiful forms do many of our fruit-bearing
trees have, as, for instance, the cherry and the
pear, or the hickory and chestnut ! And let us
not suppose that, if trees of this class were made
thus abundant, so that the passer-by might be
free to help himself for his present satisfaction,
our people would not be as easily restrained

WHERE TO PLANT. 47

from plundering or injuring the trees as are the
European populace. In proportion as fruit is
abundant, the temptation to plunder is lessened.
Put people on their good behavior, and you in-
crease their self-respect, and with that their re-
spect for the rights of others.

III.

WHAT TO PLANT.

No general and comprehensive answer to
this question can be given. The answer in
any particular case will be determined by the
special object one has in view in planting, and
also by the character of the climate and soil
where the trees are to grow ; in part, also, by
the personal preferences of the planter. If
one is planting for the purpose of securing the
best return of timber or lumber from his for-
est, he will, very properly, plant a different
class of trees from what he would choose for
the purpose of making a wind-break or to add
their charm of beauty to a lawn. If the land
which he proposes to devote to the growth
of trees is of a light, sandy character, his se-
lection of trees will be different from what
it would be if the soil were a deep, rich

WHAT TO PLANT. 49

loam. A dry soil will favor a different class
of trees from one that is moist or wet. Some
trees will bear exposure to winds better than
others. Some will bear a temperature that
others will not. A variation of a few degrees
of the thermometer is sufficient to decide the
question of success or failure in planting many
trees. Some, again, are of slow growth as com-
pared with others, in themselves of equal value.
Some have a symmetry of form that others
have not, and may be preferable on this ac-
count. Some, by their structure, are better
adapted to use in the arts than others. All
these considerations are taken into account in
deciding in any given case what to plant. Suc-
cess depends upon it.

Native Trees.

But while each one must answer for him-
self the question, What to plant ? it is safe ad-
vice to the inexperienced tree-planter, and may
be very serviceable to him, when we urge him
to plant native trees. By this we mean not
simply those that may be found growing freely

50 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

in some part of our own country, in distinc-
tion from those whose native home is in other
lands, but we mean those which are found
growing spontaneously in the particular region
where the proposed planting is to be done. It
is always safe to follow the indications of Na-
ture. If one is at a loss how to commence the
work of tree-planting, let him look around him
or in the region nearest him where trees are
growing and have come to maturity without the
aid of man. He may be sure that it will be
safe for him to plant such trees. These are
what Nature certifies to him are adapted to the
conditions of soil and climate which exist where
his lot is cast. He may be where trees are
few at the best. He may be on the prairie,
and where, perhaps, the annually recurring fires
have kept down almost all arboreal growth.
But here and there, along some stream, he
will find a few trees, at least, lifting themselves
up, to show that trees are possible. Let him
be encouraged by this sure indication. Let
him gather the seeds of these trees, or take
sprouts from them, and plant with confidence.
They may not be trees of the most valuable

WHAT TO PLANT. 51

class, possibly. They may not be the most de-
sirable for timber. They may not be century-
growing oaks. But they are the most valuable
trees for him for present use, because they
have the certification of adaptability. They
are on their native ground. Let him begin
with these. Then, if he chooses to experiment
with others afterward, or even in connection
with these, let him do so. The first necessity
of the dweller on the naked prairie, or any
place bare of trees, is to get whatever tree will
hide, in part at least, its nakedness. He wants
to begin with a screen about his house, some-
thing that will stand between him and the
freezing and scorching blasts that by turns
sweep by, and he wants something to shut
him in a little from the boundless sea of space
around him and give him a sense of locality
and neighborhood, some companionship close at
hand, if it be but the companionship of trees.
And there is a deal of companionship in them.
There are " tongues in trees," as many others
know, as well as Shakespeare.

And so, also, the man thus situated wants
sheltering belts, or stretches of trees, for his

52 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

cattle and his crops. He needs wood for fuel
and for fences as soon as may be. Nature points
him to the cottonwood and the willow, not
far away, with their rapid growth, and with
these his immediate and most pressing wants
are met. And while these are his dependence
for present effect, there are other trees in great
numbers offering themselves to his use as he
looks for more distant, and, in a sense, more
valuable results.

Our country is wonderfully rich in its va-
rieties of trees, and there are valuable ones
adapted to every portion of it. At our Cen-
tennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, more than
four hundred native species were shown. Prof.
Brewer estimates that we have as many as
eight hundred species of woody plants indige-
nous to the United States. Two hundred and
fifty of these, and which grow to the height
of thirty feet, are abundant somewhere in our
country. We have a hundred and fifty species
of trees of larger size, of which fifty are of
the coniferous class. Twenty species grow to a
height of more than one hundred feet. Twelve
species attain a height of two hundred feet. Five

WHAT TO PLANT. 53

or six gain a height of more than three hundred
feet. We have thirty-eight species of the oak,
and five of the ash, second only to the oak in
value. There are not more than fifty species
of forest-trees in all Europe worth cultivating.
Out of this great variety of trees with which
our country abounds, there is comparatively
little difficulty in finding valuable kinds adapt-
ed to almost any situation. There are the ma-
ples and birches, the beeches and elms. There
are the walnuts, black and white, the latter
more commonly known as the butternut.
There are the hickories, peculiarly American
trees, and for which there is a great demand
in Europe as well as in our country, for uses
where strength and toughness are needed.
There is the chestnut, quick growing and use-
ful for so many purposes, and whose fruit by
cultivation would be made to exceed that of
the Spanish in size and value. There are the
tulip, or white-wood, and the bass, or linden-
trees, and the sycamore and the various gum-
trees, with the hackberry, the cherry, and the
locust. And then there are the fifty species
of cone-bearing trees, the pines, spruces, and

54 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

larches, so valuable both for lumber and for
their resinous products, as well as for screens,
and for their cheering beauty in the season when
the deciduous trees have dropped their foliage.

We can not, within the compass of a volume
like this, speak in detail of the long catalogue of
trees which offer themselves to our hand for
planting, and which, for one purpose or another,
arc valuable, and commend themselves to the
attention of the planter. We leave that to the
special treatises on the subject, and confine our
remarks to a few trees which are worthy of al-
most universal consideration.

One who is contemplating planting on a con-
siderable scale, can hardly go amiss in making
use of the oak, in one or more of its varieties, a
tree which, as far back as history goes, and
among so many nations, has been recognized
and cherished on account of its many valuable
qualities. For fuel and for timber, for building
and for many purposes in the constructive arts,
it easily ranks as one of our most valuable
woods, if it does not stand clearly at the head of
the list. And already the alarm is sounded that
this tree, so common, so well known, growing

WHAT TO PLANT. 55

throughout such a wide range of latitude and
longitude, is becoming scarce. By this is meant
the finer specimens, the sound and well-ripened
trees which will make the best grade of timber
or furnish lumber fit for the uses of the carpen-
ter and cabinet-maker. European agents are
constantly searching our forests in quest of this
tree.

The oak, if the king of trees, grows slowly,
and, though valuable for some purposes at all
stages of its growth, only reaches the maturity
of its strength and its greatest value with the
lapse of centuries. Oaks and beeches grow well
together, as the roots of the former penetrate
the ground deeply, while those of the latter
spread upon the surface. In our reckless treat-
ment of the forests hitherto, our best trees have
been destroyed for the commonest purposes,
sometimes only to get them out of the way.
Quite early in our history, fear was excited on
this account, lest there should soon be a scarcity
of the oak of a quality desirable for ship-build-
ing. But we have continued our reckless con-
sumption until some species of trees have be-
come well-nigh extinct, and it is only with diffi-

56 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

culty that fine specimens of others can be ob-
tained. The steady increase of the market-price
of almost all our woods, and the rapid increase
of that of some, is the sufficient proof of our
wasteful use of the forests without having made
any provision for their renewal.

The most valuable of our forest-trees is,
unquestionably, the white pine (Pinus strobus).
While it can not take the place of the oak or of
some other trees for particular purposes, we
have no other tree which meets our need for so
many uses as this does. It combines strength
with lightness as no other wood does. Hence it
is in great demand for the masts and yards of
vessels. It enters into the construction of our
buildings of every kind as no other wood does.
It long ago took the place of the hard-woods,
such as the oak and the chestnut, for the frames
of buildings and for floor-beams. On account of
its being so easily worked by the tools of the
carpenter and cabinet-maker, in this respect sur-
passing all other woods, it has been almost uni-
versally used for the outside covering and the
interior finishing of buildings, and for the con-
struction of a multitude of articles which minis-

WHAT TO PLANT. 57

ter to the necessities or the conveniences of life.
So extensive and so multiform has been its use,
that in those parts of the country where it has
abounded, it has been almost the one tree known
and used. And so desirable is it, on account of
its peculiar qualities, that it has been carried in
great quantities far beyond the regions of its
native growth.

The proper home of this tree is in cool lati-
tudes or on the high hills. At the settlement of
this country a belt of this timber stretched from
New Brunswick on the east to the Mississippi
River, and along the Alleghany Mountains as
far south as Georgia. Maine has been known as
the Pine-Tree State, on account of the almost
exclusive prevalence there of this tree and the
kindred spruce. The value of the white pine
is shown, and its adaptability to many uses,
when we find that, owing to the demand for it,
the forests of Maine have been virtually swept
away by the lumberman's axe, enough only be-
ing left for home consumption, while the inter-
vening region has been nearly cleared, and ten
years more, at the present rate of consumption,
threaten to leave nothing valuable of the great

58 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

pine-forests of Michigan and Wisconsin. The
limited supply of pine has doubled its price
within a few years, and will inevitably increase
it still more. Whoever has a tract of this wood
now growing, has a valuable property, well
worth his care and protection ; and whoever
plants a tract of land with this tree may be sure
that he could put his ground to no more profit-
able use.

The white ash and its kindred species
are among the most widely diffused and valu-
able hard-woods. The ash is commended to
the planter by its rapid growth, as well as its
substantial qualities. It is one of our most
beautiful trees, and eminently adapted for plant-
ing on the lawn, or along the street border.
But it is also one of our most valuable timber
and lumber trees. The wood is in great demand
for the manufacture of agricultural tools and
machines, for carriage-building, the making of
oars, barrels, tubs, and many other things.
While it is light, it is very tough and elastic.
It is much sought for by cabinet-makers, and
is coming into use quite extensively for the in-
terior finish of dwellings. There is a large de-

WHAT TO PLANT. 59

mand for it from foreign countries. It prom-
ises, therefore, to be one of the most profit-
able trees for the planter's use. It is adapted
to the cool climate of our Northern States, but
grows from Nova Scotia to Louisiana, and is
one of the few deciduous trees found also on
the Pacific slope. It is best grown in a cool,
deep, and moist soil, and does well when min-
gled with other trees of denser foliage, as the
beech and maple.

The linden, or bass-wood, and the tulip-
tree, or white-wood, sometimes also called the
yellow poplar — though it is not a poplar — are
trees of great value. They have a wide range,
being found from Canada to Florida, and as
far west as Kansas. As the white pine is be-
coming scarce, these woods are substituted for
it in many cases, especially in house-building.
They are extensively used also for the manu-
facture of furniture, carriage-bodies, trunks, and
boxes of various kinds. While light, they are
strong and easily wrought, and their use is
likely to increase. They are also among our
most desirable trees for ornamental planting,
whether on the lawn or by the road-side.

60 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

With them may be classed the sycamore
and the maples, which are at home throughout
a wide extent of our country, and offer them-
selves for a great variety of uses. The}'' are
among our most valuable trees for fuel, and,
with all our use of lumber in the arts and for
building purposes, it is to be remembered that
three fourths of the legitimate demand upon
the forests is for fuel. In our general esti-
mates of the value and importance of the for-
ests, we perhaps lose sight of their value in
this respect. But this, after all, is their chief
and commonest use. Coal may lessen the de-
mand upon the forests for fuel, in some places,
and for a certain length of time. But the coal-
mines are not inexhaustible. Coal does not
grow — wood does. The English have already
begun to forecast the time when their coal-
fields will be exhausted. What, then, will re-
main for them but to bring their fuel from
abroad? And what will be the condition of
their great manufacturing industries, when the
fuel which drives their machinery has to be
brought from afar instead of being mined cheap-
ly at home ? Put off the time of the exhaustion

WHAT TO PLANT. 61

of our immense coal-fields as far as we may,
there will come a time of exhaustion. Formerly
we thought our forests as exhaustless as we now
think our coal-mines to be, and yet we are look-
ing upon an almost naked country where the
forests once darkened the land. But if what re-
mains is properly husbanded, and if forests are
planted on the hills and on the waste and un-
tillable lands, we can have, for all time to come,
all the lumber we need for the arts and for
construction purposes, and all the wood we
need for fuel, while at the same time we are so
maintaining the balance of the natural forces
as to secure the highest measure of health and
material prosperity.

Not to speak of the particular merits of
others of the maple class, the rock or hard
maple, known also as the sugar-maple, deserves
special consideration. No tree, perhaps, com-
bines in itself more desirable qualities. No tree
excels it in beauty of form, in massive solidity
of appearance, none in beauty of foliage, espe-
cially when it puts on its robes of crimson
and gold in the autumn of the year. Then it
seems the very monarch of the trees. Its wood

62 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

is also as solid as the outward appearance of
the tree would indicate. It is of fine texture,
adapting it to many important uses, such as
the framework of machinery, agricultural im-
plements, and tools of various kinds. It is used
extensively in making furniture and cabinet-
work. No other wood unites in an equal de-
gree the properties of ease in working, tough-
ness, compactness, and perfect smoothness when
exposed to wear. Not unfrequently the pecul-
iarity of its grain gives us the beautiful " bird's-
eye-maple," as it is called, or the " curled ma-
ple," so highly prized by the cabinet-maker, and
contributing so much to the ornament of our
dwellings. For fuel this tree is second only to
hickory, and for making charcoal it is unsur-
passed. But, to all these qualities which make
it so valuable, is added the saccharine nature
of its sap, which brings it into competition with
the cane of the tropics for the production of
sugar. On this account it deserves special con-
sideration by the tree-planter. The census re-
ports the annual production of sugar from the
maple as 35,576,061 pounds, and 1,796,048 gal-
lons of sirup in addition, equivalent to 20,000,000

WHAT TO PLANT. 63

pounds of sugar, making a total sugar-product
of 55,576,061 pounds. This sugar is of the best
quality, nearly identical in chemical composi-
tion with the cane-sugar of commerce, but hav-
ing also a peculiar flavor which makes it a uni-
versal favorite. Why should we not avail our-
selves of the capability of the maple for sugar-
making more than we do? It is estimated
that the average product of well-grown trees is
from three to six pounds a year, arid this with-
out injury to the tree in its final product of tim-
ber or fuel. An important industry and source
of revenue is here opened. We might produce
a quantity of sugar from this source which
would materially lessen our outlay for that
which we now import at great cost. It would
require but a few acres devoted to the growth
of the maple to furnish the farmer with an
ample supply of this important article of domes-
tic comfort and use. The " sugar-bush," as it is
called, might be greatly extended in many parts
of our country with manifest advantage, for
while this maple combines in itself almost every
desirable tree-quality, it has also a very widely-
extended range, being found in greater or less

64 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

abundance from the forty-second degree of
north latitude to Georgia, and from the eastern
border of Maine to the Rocky Mountains.

Among the maples the box-elder (Negimdo
aceroides), or ash-leaved maple, is especially wor-
thy of notice, on account of its hardiness and
rapidity of growth. For this reason, though it
is an inferior tree for lumber, it is valuable for
use, especially on the dry and bare plains of the
Northwest. Its form and foliage likewise make
it a desirable tree for planting by the road-side.
It has also a saccharine sap, from which sirup
and sugar are made, but its value on this ac-
count is not equal to that of the sugar-maple.

Another tree of rapid growth, but of more
substantial merit, is the locust (Robinia pscudaca-
cid). This tree deserves more attention than it
has commonly received. No tree when young
is more beautiful, owing to the peculiar tint and
shape of its leaves, and the graceful disposition
of its long and slender branches, in which it re-
sembles the willows. It is one of the trees to be
chosen for planting near the dwelling, especially
where it is desirable to get the shelter or com-
panionship of trees quickly. But the locust has

WHAT TO PLANT. 65

other claims to attention. While it is of very
rapid growth, it is one of our most valuable
timber-trees. It is compact in structure, close-
grained, very strong and durable. No other
wood will bear a greater strain. It is especially
valuable for fence-posts, resisting decay, when
used for this purpose, better than any other
wood except the cedar and the catalpa. It has
long been sought after for treenails for ships
and for the floors of vessels, and it is adapted
to many other uses. It is easily propagated, is
at home throughout a wide belt of country,
reaching from the New England coast to the far
West, and will grow in comparatively poor
soils. Owing to its peculiar foliage, grass will
grow under the shade of this tree more freely
than under that of most trees, and cattle may be
pastured in locust-woods with comparative im-
punity to the trees. It has been extensively cul-
tivated on Long Island for a century, and its
cultivation has been found profitable. The prin-
cipal discouragement which the planter meets is
the attack of the borer, but in many localities
there is comparatively little trouble from this
source.

66 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

The honey-locust (Glcditschia triacanthos), or
three-thorned acacia, though a different species
of tree, and not equal in valuable qualities to
the Robinia, or common locust, is yet a substan-
tial tree, and worthy of cultivation.

The elm, of course, will not be forgotten or
neglected by the tree-planter. As a single tree
on the lawn, or by the side of a wide road,
where it has room in which to spread and de-
velop its true character, we have no tree among
the broad-leaved or deciduous species equal to
it in combined grandeur and beauty. And so it
has been a favorite tree for planting by the road-
side, dividing favor in this respect with the
maple alone. It reaches its best development
along the river-valleys of the Middle States and
New England. No one who has seen the elms
of the Connecticut Valley at Northampton or
Deerfield, or who has walked under the over-
arching elms of Temple Street and Hillhouse
Avenue, New Haven, will ever expect to see
anything finer in tree-form, or wonder that a
city which bears the honor of being the seat
of Yale College should also be called the " Elm
City."

WHAT TO PLANT. 67

But the elms, of which we have four species
at least besides the white, are all estimable for-
est-trees, having a high fuel-value, as well as
great usefulness as timber for many constructive
purposes. Elm is the favorite wood for the
hubs of carriage-wheels and for ships' blocks,
and is in demand for many other uses. It bears
well exposure to the atmosphere. While it
grows best in deep, moist soils, it is found in a
great variety of situations.

The birches, among the most widely diffused
of all our trees, are also among the most valua-
ble, though they have often been underrated be-
cause of their very abundance, or because they
do not compete with the oak and the pine as
timber-trees. But they have a very high fuel-
value, and, when we consider that by far the
largest and most necessary use of the trees is for
heating purposes, we shall feel that this class of
trees ought to be cherished by us. They have
other qualities, however, which commend them
to our attention. For many small articles of
manufacture the birch is preferred to any other
wood. For spools and bobbins, for instance, and
for many articles made by the turner's art, the

68 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

white birch is in great demand, and birch-forests
are frequently bought by our manufacturing es-
tablishments, to the extent of thousands of acres,
for the purpose of securing a sufficient supply
for such uses. The (in one view) insignificant
article of shoe-pegs makes annual demands
upon the birch-forests to the extent of many
acres, these little helps to locomotion being
made very commonly of this wood. The white
birch, moreover, has large claims as an orna-
mental tree. What is finer than the delicate
ramification of its limbs, which give it a positive
beauty in winter, while in the leafy season the
contrast of the white wrapping of its silvery
trunk with the prevalent green of grass, and the
darker hues of other trees around, sets the
whole lawn or landscape into life ? Indeed, the
birches, as a whole, are among our most beauti-
ful trees.

The beech is another of the nobler forest-
trees, carrying a denser mass of foliage than
most other trees, while its wood is among the
most useful, having a high specific gravity, great
value for fuel, and is held in much esteem for
many mechanical uses, especially in the manu-

WHAT TO PLANT. 69

facture of planes, tool-handles, and the like.
The fruit of the beech-tree, the beechnuts, or
beech-mast is also valuable as food for swine,
and in Europe the right of feeding swine in the
great forests of beech and oak, or the right of
" pasturage," was one of the most valuable
rights of the peasantry. In the endeavor to
improve the quality and productiveness of the
forests in recent times, by protecting the young
trees from injury by animals, this has been the
most difficult right to extinguish. The peas-
antry have clung to it tenaciously.

The willows have not received the attention
which they have deserved from tree-planters.
The weeping-willow, an imported tree, and
limited in the range of its adaptability to our
soil and climate, has been used to some extent
as an ornamental tree on the lawn and as a fu-
nereal tree in the cemetery, and we have been
accustomed to see other willows growing spon-
taneously along the water-courses, without re-
garding them as having any particular value.
Their principal use has been as cheap fuel, ex-
cept where a powder-mill has happened to be
near where they have grown, and then the own-

70 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

er of them has found it for his advantage to cut
off the sprouts, after a few years' growth, and
take them to the mill, as the qualities of this
wood make it very desirable in the manufacture
of powder.

But the willow is a quite valuable tree. Few
trees are so easily cultivated or adapt them-
selves to so many situations. It grows rapidly,
and the white or gray willow especially, if al-
lowed to do so, attains a large size. There is
one in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, which, at
four feet from the ground, measures twenty -two
feet in circumference. It is said to have been
planted seventy-five years ago. Its limbs spread
so as to cover an area of nearly one hundred
feet diameter, and they are so large as to admit
of seats being constructed among them in the
form of a gallery, which is reached by a stair-
case from the ground, and will contain nearly a
hundred persons.

Contrary to the general impression, the wil-
low is not a tree which is confined to low or
wet situations. It flourishes equally well upon
high ground. In Europe it is highly esteemed
as a timber-tree, and willow-lumber is constantly

WHAT TO PLANT. 71

quoted in the market. It is used much for house
and ship floors, and for the frames of buildings.
It is light, tough, and elastic. A peculiarity of
it is that it does not splinter as many woods do.
This adapts it to use for flooring, and for car-
riage and cart bodies. It is used in the manu-
facture of bowls, trays, and other vessels, and
for turned goods of various sorts. It has also
great durability under water or when much ex-
posed to its action. It is very valuable, there-
fore, for the floats of paddle-wheels and the
buckets of mill-wheels.

Considerable attention has been given to the
willow of late in the Western States, especially
in those which have been lacking in trees, where
it has come into use to some extent for hedges
and wind-breaks. Its use may well be encour-
aged on a larger scale. Few trees will yield a
supply of fuel and timber as soon as the white
willow.

Special attention has been recently called to
one of our native trees which we have not men-
tioned, but which ought not to be passed in si-
lence. It is the catalpa. This tree abounds in
the region adjacent to the confluence of the

72 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, but is found more
or less throughout the Southern and Middle
States, and in the lower portion of the Western.
How far toward the north it can be successfully
cultivated, remains to be proved by experiment.
Hitherto it has been classed among the orna-
mental rather than the useful trees, its large, fan-
like leaves and showy clusters of flowers, some-
what like those of the horse-chestnut, making it
a very attractive object on the lawn or by the
street-side. In its native region, however, it has
had a reputation for great durability, especially
when exposed alternately to the influences of
dryness and moisture. It has consequently been
much in request for posts for gates and fences,
and specimens have been exhibited which have
been thus used for a great number of years
without showing signs of decay to any consid-
erable extent. The tree is said to have been a
favorite with the Indians for the construction of
canoes, because of its durable quality when ex-
posed as canoes are, and because of its not being
liable to crack. Latterly it has been much
sought by the railroad companies for ties, on ac-
count of its durability. It has been so much in

WHAT TO PLANT. 73

demand that the present supply for this pur-
pose is likely soon to be exhausted. There is
an increasing demand for it also for the uses
of the cabinet-maker and carpenter, as the wood
is of a beautiful color and grain, and takes a
high polish, making it valuable for the manu-
facture of furniture and for the inside finish of
houses. With these desirable qualities it com-
bines great rapidity of growth, so that it prom-
ises to be one of the most valuable trees for the
use of the planter.

There are two species or varieties of this
tree, though, until recently, they have been con-
founded. They are now known as the hardy
and the tender, or Catalpa speciosa and Catalpa
bignonioides, and are distinguishable chiefly by
their seeds and the time of the appearance of
their flowers, the one blooming about a fort-
night before the other. The earlier one is the
more hardy, and is to be chosen by those plant-
ing north of the Ohio.

The railroad companies of the West are
wisely turning their attention to this tree, and
planting it on a considerable scale in view of

their future wants for ties, and others are doing
7

74 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

the same, on account of the promise it gives of
pecuniary returns.

Another tree may well be spoken of also in
connection with the catalpa, viz., the ailanthus,
or "tree of heaven," as it is sometimes called.
This tree, originally from China, has become
quite domesticated with us. It grows as far
north as Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It is of
rapid growth, is propagated easily from seeds
or cuttings, and attains a height of seventy feet.
The wood is very hard and compact, has a
beautiful grain, and the tint of fresh mahogany.
It is valuable for the cabinet-maker's use. The
ailanthus was a fashionable tree formerly, and
was much planted in door-yards and on the
streets of many of our cities, but the disagreeable
odor of its flowers, and perhaps also its dispo-
sition to throw up suckers freely, led to its being
discarded. But the bad odor of its blossoms
pertains to the trees of the male sex only, and
may be avoided by a proper selection in this
respect. The odor, however, will be no special
objection to a tree when it is to be planted not
as an ornamental tree, and near the house, but
for forest purposes. The ailanthus has a high

WHAT TO PLANT. 75

value for fuel. Prof. Sargent, of the Arnold
Arboretum, commends it in strong terms, and
expresses the opinion that we have no tree that
promises to give the planter so valuable return
in an equal space of time.

An entire and very valuable class of trees,
with the exception of a single one which we
have mentioned, remains to be spoken of. It is
that of the evergreens, or trees which are not
stripped of their leaves during any part of the
year, distinguished otherwise as the coniferous
or cone-bearing trees. As a class they are of a
softer texture and less specific gravity than
those of which we have hitherto spoken, and
which, in commercial language, are known as
" hard-woods." But the evergreens are not less
valuable than the latter. Indeed, they make up
the great bulk of our lumber-traffic, and furnish
the largest share of material used in the arts and
industries of mechanical life. Nine tenths of the
lumber in the market now is probably that of a
single species of the evergreens, the white pine.
The forests of the Pacific slope are made up
almost wholly of the coniferous trees, the red-
wood being the principal; and a belt of pines

76 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

extends along the Atlantic coast and around the
Gulf of Mexico to Texas. Of the white pine
we have spoken already. The yellow and pitch
pines, though inferior to that, in some respects,
are of great value. They do not require so
cold a climate or so rich a soil. They are pro-
verbial for growing on the poorest ground,
which they tend to enrich by the decay of their
foliage as it falls from year to year. On this
account the pines may be used to prepare the
way for other trees which it is desirable to es-
tablish.

In the Southern portions of the country the
yellow pine has long had a special value, on ac-
count of its yield of turpentine and its associated
products. It is also very valuable for its lum-
ber, for some purposes being preferred to the
white pine, and, as the latter is becoming scarce,
the former is often used as a substitute for it.
It is harder than the white pine, and is coming
into use more and more for floors, stairs, win-
dow-sashes, and many other purposes.

The hemlock, though for the production of
lumber it is inferior to the pine or the spruce, is
a very valuable tree. It is the most beautiful of

WHAT TO PLANT. 77

all our evergreens, for while it attains a lofty
stature, like that of the pine, its limbs and foliage
are more delicate, and the tree has a more
graceful appearance. It is recognized as one of
the most desirable trees for planting on the
lawn. It is one of the best trees also for use in
making screens and wind-breaks, and no tree is
better for forming hedges, as it bears the shears
extremely well. Though it does not produce
lumber of the first class, yet where it is not ex-
posed to the weather, as when used for the sills
and rafters of buildings or for lining-boards,
hemlock-lumber is strong and durable, and holds
nails better than pine does. But in addition to
its other merits, the bark of this tree is among
our most valuable tanning materials, and vast
numbers of the trees have been cut down in
the forests and left to decay after being deprived
of their bark ; treated, as one has aptly said, like
the buffaloes, that are stripped of their skins and
left to decay.

The spruces, black and white, deserve atten-
tion. The black spruce, especially that which
grows in the Eastern States, supplies a lumber
which, for many purposes, may be substituted

78 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

for the white pine. For joists and roof-beams
it is preferred, as also for the lighter spars of
vessels, because it is stiffen For boards also the
spruces are extensively used in place of pine.
The Norway spruce is completely naturalized in
our country, and deserves consideration by the
tree-planter. It is one of our largest and finest
trees, and second only to the hemlock in beauty
and for ornamental purposes. When allowed
sufficient space it spreads its branches widely
and in a downward direction, so that after a few
years they rest upon the ground, and the tree
rises thence, as almost a solid cone, to a height
of seventy feet or more, forming at all seasons
of the year a delightful object. This spruce
will be found among the best trees for making
shelter-belts on the exposed prairies and along
the sea-coasts, and wherever there is occasion
to form screens to protect from troublesome
winds.

In speaking of planting by the sea-coast,
however, it ought to be borne in mind that
many trees will not bear the exposure to winds
which are not only severe in themselves but are
also laden with salt-spray. It is thought that

WHAT TO PLANT. 79

some of the hard- wood trees bear this exposure
better than the evergreens, and that the latter
do better when they have a row or two of
such trees as the poplar or the bass-wood
planted nearest to the water to form a partial
screen for them. But, wherever trees are ex-
posed to strong winds, they bear the exposure
better when planted in several rows than when
they are in a single line. They seem in the for-
mer case to give each other support.

The cedars are as widely diffused in this
country as any trees we have. They are found,
especially the red, in almost every kind of soil
and situation. There is no place where we can
affirm that the latter will not grow. And it is
one of our best trees. It is noted for its dura-
bility. Hence it has been in great request for
fence-poles, for hop-poles, bean-poles, and the
like, and for railroad-ties. It is also a fine-
grained wood, and desirable for many uses in
cabinet-making and house-building. Its color
and peculiar fragrant odor add much to its
other merits. It is the wood of which our lead-
pencils are made, and is in request for the con-
struction of chests and drawers, as its odor is

8o HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

supposed to be a safeguard against insects inju-
rious to clothing.

Our stock of native trees is so large that we
hardly need to seek any from abroad. And yet
some European trees of similar kinds to our own
are found to be of better quality than ours.
Some of the English oaks, elms, and birches are
better for some purposes than ours of the same
name. The European larch is better than the
American, and is to be preferred for planting
here.

Among evergreens the Scotch pine (Pinus
sylvestris) has been noted for its rapid growth
and its adaptation to almost every variety of
soil, as well as for its valuable qualities as a tim-
ber-tree. It is a favorite tree in Europe. It has
not been growing with us for a sufficient time to
warrant a decisive opinion as to its merits. It
has seemed to give promise of being a valuable
accession to our list of trees. Latterly, however,
there has come up some distrust of it. Trees
which had previously grown well, and appeared
vigorous, on reaching the age of twenty-five or
thirty years have seemed speedily to lose their
vitality, and so there has begun to be doubt

WHAT TO PLANT. 81

whether this will become a desirable timber-tree
with us. The fact thus noticed may be the re-
sult of peculiarity of situation. It needs further
time and investigation to determine. It may be
the result of the use of bad seed. The true
Scotch pine, a native of the cool north, does not
bear seed profusely. But there is a degenerate
pine of this sort, growing in France and the
neighboring countries, which seeds freely. On
this account, the seed of the latter is most abun-
dant in the market, and the inferior tree has been
widely disseminated as the result. To be sure of
the best trees, it would be well to procure seed
from a better source. Seed of the genuine sort,
or trees, may be obtained without difficulty from
Riga, Russia, a source from which it will be ad-
vantageous to procure many kinds of trees and
seeds, especially for use upon the dry, cold
prairies of the Northwest, a region quite akin to
some portions of the Russian country. Genuine
seed may also be procured from some of our
own dealers.*

The " Iowa Forestry Annual " recommended,

* The best Scotch-pine seed is that known as Pinus syfoestris,
variety Rigensis.

82 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

several years ago, a combination of the Scotch
pine with other evergreens for shelter-belts, and
proposed two or three rows of white pine for
the center, two rows of Scotch or Austrian pine
on each side, and two rows of red cedar, or ar-
bor-vitse, outside of these.

We have thus indicated some of the more
desirable trees for the planter's use, our design
having been to call attention to those which are
of established character and recognized worth,
and such as are likely to prove successful in
the hands of the ordinary planter. We have
endeavored, by limiting the number of trees
treated of, to avoid confusing the mind of any
reader, for persons confused by attention to too
many are likely in the end either to abandon
planting altogether, or to make such a choice as
will leave room for subsequent regret. It is
better for the inexperienced to devote their at-
tention to a few of the various kinds of trees
than to undertake at once to plant many sorts.
Their work is thus simplified, and for this reason
will be more wisely and thoroughly performed
than where the culture of a greater variety at
the same time is undertaken. When experience

WHAT TO PLANT. 83

has been gained in this way, and an intelligent
interest in trees has been established, the planter
may properly, as he will be likely to do, add to
the value of his plantation, and, at the same
time, to his own pleasure, by experimenting
with less common trees, testing their value, and
adding them to his plantation as he finds them
to serve his purpose. His tree-planting, which
was at first, perhaps, a stern necessity, and en-
tered upon with much doubt and uncertainty,
now becomes a source of constant enjoyment.
The trees are his friends, and he delights to
widen his circle of acquaintance among them
continually. And he may widen it to any ex-
tent.

IV.

HOW TO PLANT.

THIS is the most practical of all questions
with the tree-planter. He may feel the need of
trees, he may be full of craving for their so-
ciety, he may even have made his selection of
trees and decided where they shall be placed ;
but all may come to naught, all will come to
naught, if the actual planting is not done aright.

The first requisite for a successful tree-
planter is that he shall recognize the fact that
trees are living organisms. To plant a tree
is not to fix a post, or to set a stone in place
in a wall. Yet much of our tree-planting has
been done with as little adaptation of means
to ends as if such were supposed to be the
work in hand. Very often little regard has
been paid to the condition of the tree in itself,
or in its relation to the soil or climate of the

HOW TO PLANT. 85

region where it was to be placed. Then, in its
committal to the ground, there has often been
the least possible consideration of the proper
requisites for a vigorous and successful growth.
The work has been intrusted but too frequently
to persons altogether uninterested in its suc-
cess, and ignorant of the necessary conditions
of growth. A hole has been hastily dug in the
ground, just large enough, probably, to allow the
roots of the tree to be crowded into it, the
lumpy earth has been shoveled back, the stamp
of a boot-heel given to it, possibly a dash of
water added, and the work has been considered
complete, and the tree expected to grow with-
out further attention. If failure has resulted,
as it has in so many cases, the result has been
attributed to the peculiarity of the season, or to
any other but the true cause, the ignorance or
carelessness of the planter or both together.

Looking upon the tree, then, as a living
thing, having organs of delicate sensibility and
special functions, common sense would decide
that attention should be given, first, to the place
where it is to grow — that is, where it is to feed
and have its life sustained. The character and

86 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

condition of the soil, then, are first to be taken
into account. These are prerequisites to the
thrifty growth of a tree, such a growth as every
planter wishes to secure. A calf or a colt will
live and possibly make some growth on a scanty
pasturage in summer or on straw-fodder in win-
ter. It will barely live. But no successful
stock-raiser, no one worthy to be considered as
a stock-raiser, feeds his animals in that way. So
a human child will possibly live and maintain
a feeble existence upon slop milk or when the
diet is defective in quality and insufficient in
quantity, though many drop off and die from
such causes.

Now, the soil is the source of the tree's nour-
ishment. The roots of the tree are its mouths
— or, more properly, its mouths are in its roots.
What we call the roots are, in part, only a me-
chanical contrivance by which the tree is held
in an upright position — a brace, so to speak.
But these underground arms branch off into fin-
gers innumerable, which are covered with hairs
or rootlets, somewhat as our own fingers are.
In these are the mouths of the tree, so small as
to be invisible. It is clearly impossible, there-

HOW TO PLANT. 87

fore, that any food should enter these mouths
except in a fluid state, either liquid or gaseous.

The soil ministers to the life of the tree
planted in it, only as the plant-food contained
in the soil is dissolved, so that it can be ab-
sorbed by the minute mouths of the roots.
Hence the need of having the soil reduced to
a fine condition, having it " pulverized," as we
say — that is, reduced to a state of powder. In
proportion as the soil is thus made fine, more
particles of plant-food are exposed to the action
of the water and gases, which are ready to dis-
solve them, and in proportion to its fineness
are the dissolving particles brought into con-
tact with the little mouths ready to take the
food thus prepared for them. In other words,
the tree needs to have its food prepared for it
in soluble form; and to this end the soil in
which it is to stand and make its growth must
have among its constituents appropriate plant-
food, and must be put into such a mechanical
condition as will enable the tree to appropriate
the food that is offered it.

The farmer or gardener does not expect to
have a crop of corn or wheat unless he prop-

88 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

erly prepares the ground beforehand, or chooses
a soil already stored with the elements of plant-
food, and then, by means of plows and harrows,
brings it into the best mechanical condition to
supply the roots of the corn or wheat with
their food. Why should he be any less careful
in regard to the growth of his trees, those
nobler plants ? The principles in which success
is involved are the same in both cases. There
is no difference ; only, as the life and growth of
the corn or wheat are limited to a single year,
or a few months of the year, whereas the tree
is to reach its maturity only after the process
of growth has been carried on for scores, per-
haps for centuries of years, the preliminary
preparation for its work ought to be undertaken
with the greater care.

It is because it is not so undertaken, but
oftentimes less care is given to the planting of
an oak than to a few grains of corn, that half
the failures in tree-planting occur. Instead of
wondering that so many trees after being
planted never put out a green leaf, or that,
after showing some feeble signs of life, they die
utterly in a year or two, the wonder should be

HOW TO PLANT. 89

rather that so many live at all. The trees treat
us better than we treat them. They more than
repay us for our care. They triumph over
difficulties and discouragements astonishingly
oftentimes. Life is a mighty power and works
miracles almost. But we can not expect the
trees to work miracles to make up for our
negligence.

Let it be understood, then, by every planter,
whether he be the owner of a little village plot
and wishes to plant but a single tree or a clump
of trees in his door-yard to beautify it, or is
possessed of a stretch of treeless prairie beyond
the Mississippi, which he wishes to clothe in
part with trees and so bring it into a pleasant
and comfortable condition for human occu-
pancy, that the first thing to be done is to see
that his ground has a proper supply of plant-
food — though in most cases Nature will have
provided that — and that the soil is so triturated
and mellowed that his trees can easily take
their food into their mouths. This is the most
essential thing.

Neglect at this point is at the expense of
further growth and ultimate success and satis-

90 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

faction. Neglect here in order to secure a
speedy planting will furnish another illustration
of the truth of the proverb, " Haste makes
waste." The planter on the prairie which has
never been broken may, perhaps, venture to
plant his corn or sow his wheat upon the
freshly-turned sod without further care, and
those plants of a season will give him a suffi-
cient return for his labor, for there will be
enough pulverized soil to meet the demands of
their short life. But if he is about to grow a
crop of trees, how inadequate does such treat-
ment appear to any intelligent mind ! It is only
a waste of time and ground. Let him rather
hasten slowly. Let him plant no more trees
in any given year than he can plant properly
and well. A hundred trees so planted will be
worth more to him than a thousand thrust into
ground not suitably prepared.

Let him break up his ground in the spring
or early summer — that is, at the customary time
— and in the autumn cross-plow it or turn it
again, sinking his plow as deep as he can. The
next spring let him plow again, and go over
the ground with the harrow, lightening the labor

HOW TO PLANT. 91

with the thought that he is doing a work not
only for the present year, but for ten, twenty,
it may be fifty years to come. To secure a
more complete preparation of the ground for
his tree-crop, let him for a year plant it with
potatoes or some seed which will call for the
use of the hoe or cultivator, and thus kill off
the weeds which otherwise might kill his trees
by taking their food from them. Now he may
plant his trees, though there will be no loss if
he waits still another year and works the ground
yet more thoroughly with another temporary
crop. At the end of ten years he will proba-
bly see in the stalwart growth of his trees
that his seeming delay was really the best has-
tening.

Meanwhile, with his first breaking of the
ground, if he expects to grow his trees from
the seed, he should have procured the seeds
and planted them in a nicely pulverized seed-
bed, where the young trees can be watched and
kept free from weeds in their tender infancy.
If he transplants them from one seed-bed to
another at the end of their first year's growth,
and plants them where they are to stand finally

92 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

only after they have grown another year in
the seed-bed, it will be all the better. They
will have multiplied their roots so as to be
able to take hold of the soil of their permanent
home with the greater vigor and assimilating
power, and will make a more rapid and sturdy
growth.

By planting seeds in the seed-bed or nursery
at the same time that the field is taken in
hand to be made ready for the ultimate plant-
ing, the trees will be getting ready to be plant-
ed while the ground is being prepared by
thorough cultivation to receive them and give
them a good send-off, so that no time will have
been lost.

But the question comes in here, whether it
is better for one to plant the seeds of trees, or
to procure trees for planting from those who
make it their business to raise them for sale.

Of course, if one is about to plant only a
few trees, he will hardly hesitate about pur-
chasing them, rather than be at the trouble
of raising them from the seed. But the ques-
tion respects chiefly those who may be propos-
ing to plant on the large scale, as, for instance,

HOW TO PLANT. 93

shelter-belts about their farms, or to comply
with the terms of the Government timber-act.
For such even, unless they have had consider-
able experience in raising trees from seeds, it
will be policy to procure trees rather than to
sow seeds. The practiced planter, if he has the
time and facilities for doing it, and if he also
enjoys this part of the work, may begin his
plantation at the seed-bed, or by gathering his
seeds where Nature has produced them, or from
the dealer who offers them for sale. But one
who has had little or no experience will ordi-
narily do best by purchasing trees rather than
by planting seeds.

Time and trouble are involved in gathering
seeds ; and, if they are purchased, there is the
risk that they may not be in proper condition
to germinate, or may not prove true to name.
And then there is a great deal of care demanded
in the seed-bed. There are weeding and shad-
ing and protection. The young pine, though it
may be a giant by-and-by and bid defiance to
sun and storm, is at first a very tender and
delicate plant. There is hardly one in the
lady's flower-garden more so. It needs to be

94 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

shaded from the sun, and to be supplied with
moisture in proper measure. So of other trees.
They require much fostering care to bring them
forward from the seed to a condition for suc-
cessful growth in the field or forest. The pro-
fessional tree-grower or nursery-man can give
this care, for that is his business, and there is
nothing to interfere with it. Prosecuting the
business also on a large scale, he can not only
grow trees more successfully but more cheaply
than others. On all accounts, therefore, it will
usually be best for the one about to plant a
grove or a forest to purchase trees rather than
to plant seeds.

But, if one is resolved to raise his trees from
the seed, there are some considerations to be
offered which may be of service to him. If he
does not go to the dealer and purchase his
seed, when shall he gather and when shall he
plant it?

Nature, here as elsewhere, is our great
teacher. She never makes a mistake. She
plants her seeds when they are ripe. When they
have arrived at maturity, when they are so
perfected that they are in a condition to repro-

HOW TO PLANT. 95

duce their kind, thus fulfilling the law of crea-
tion, under which the herb and the tree were
ordained to yield seed each "after its kind,"
they are dropped upon the ground by the par-
ent tree, and there find the conditions of shel-
ter and moisture which enable them to germi-
nate. Our lesson, then, is before us. We
should gather the tree-seeds when they are
ripe.

This, also, is the appropriate time for plant-
ing them. It may not be convenient for us,
however, to plant them at once. When, for
any reason, the seeds can not be planted at the
time of ripening, common sense would indicate
that they should be kept, if possible, in such a
condition that their power of germination will
not be impaired. This is sometimes a difficult
matter, owing to the different characters of
seeds. The late Dr. John A. Warder, of Ohio,
to whom the country is as much indebted as
to any one for the interest which has been
aroused in recent years in favor of forest tree-
planting, has treated the subject of gathering,
preserving, and planting seeds so well, in a
paper prepared by him for the Minnesota State

96 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

Forestry Association, that we feel that we can
not do better than to draw very liberally from
it for the benefit of our readers.

For convenience of treatment, Dr. Warder
divides seeds into five classes: i. Soft seeds.
2. Berries and pulpy seeds. 3. Nuts and acorns.
4. Hard seeds. 5. Coniferous seeds. "All
seeds," he says, " are best gathered as soon as
they are ripe, or even a little before their per-
fect maturity/'

Class /. — Soft Seeds.

" When any of these kinds stand over a pave-
ment or smooth and clean piece of ground,
they may be allowed to perfect their ripening
upon the trees, as the fallen seeds can be swept
up and gathered — for it will not pay to pick
them up singly.

" The white maple, in its favorite habitat
near water, may be allowed to shed its seeds,
which float in the stream and are collected in
the eddies, and may be drawn out with a rake,
to be dried and planted immediately. These
maple seeds are ready for germination as soon

HOW TO PLANT. 97

as they ripen, and indeed they are already
young plants, as may be seen by breaking
them open ; hence the difficulty of preserving
and transporting them. Once thoroughly dry
them, and their vitality is lost.

" The elms, with a single exception, are also
early summer fruits, ripening in some cases
before the expansion of the leaves. This, how-
ever, is an advantage to the seed-gatherers,
who can strip them from the limbs just as the
winged seeds begin to turn brown and are
ready to fall. The seeds of the elms are less
impatient than the maples, and retain their vi-
tality sufficiently to admit of transportation to
a distance, but it is better to commit them to
the soil as soon as possible.

"Poplars and willows also blossom in the
early spring, and ripen their seeds before the
summer heats. Their seeds are produced in
elongated catkins. They must be harvested
from the trees. This is done just as the catkin
begins to burst open in ripening. The minute
seeds should be sown at once on a finely-pre-
pared seed-bed and very lightly covered by

sifting fine soil over them, and then firming the
9

98 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

surface with a board or the back of the spade,
or with a light roller.

" Birches and alders have small and winged
seeds that are also produced in catkins. They
blossom very early and ripen their fruit usually
in the autumn, when they should be collected
and laid away to ripen and shed out. These
may be sowed in beds at once, or they may
be kept over winter in a suitable seed-room,
where, after sufficient drying, they should be
kept covered from the air.

i( Mulching will be found serviceable with
all these small seeds that are sowed in summer.
Freshly-mown grass, short broken straw, or
autumn leaves, will do if spread so lightly as
to let the sunshine through the material.

" Some other seeds are endowed with great-
er vitality, and may be kept for a longer time
out of the ground. The different species of the
ash have seeds that belong to this class, and
some of them, if kept dry during the winter,
will not vegetate until the second year. It is
better to sow these in drills in the autumn,
or to winter the seeds out-of-doors by throw-
ing them upon a hard surface, such as a gar-

HOW TO PLANT. 99

den-walk, and covering them with some loose
boards or an inverted box, or they may be
mixed with an equal bulk of damp sand and
kept in a cool room under shelter ; but do not
allow them to become too dry."

Class If. — Pulpy-fruited Seeds.

" The seeds of berry and pulpy-fruited plants
need especial treatment. Thus, mulberries,
elders, currants, and other fruits with small
seeds imbedded in pulpy matter, need to be
macerated in water and washed, then -dried,
when they may be preserved.

" Peaches, plums, and cherries should have
the pulp separated from the stones, and these,
when dried, may be stored or transported at
any time, but their germination is much aided
by exposure to the frosts of winter. The
larger may be thrown upon the ground and
lightly covered with earth. The smaller seeds
may be mixed with sand and exposed to frost
and moisture in the vessels containing them,
and should be planted early in the spring."

ioo HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

Class III. — Nuts and Acorns.

"These should be gathered as soon as they
fall, separated from their hulls or cups, and
partially dried, if to be stored.

" Most of the oaks, and notably the chest-
nuts, need to be gathered as soon as they fall,
and then partially dried, as they are prone to
germinate immediately on the damp earth, and
their tender radicles are easily broken off in
handling. It is best, therefore, to mix these
seeds with moderately damp sand so soon as
gathered, and keep them in the coolest temper-
ature and under cover. Better still, however,
where practicable, to plant them in the drills
as soon as convenient after they are procured.

" Walnuts and hickories are easily managed,
and may be preserved in good condition if kept
dry and cool ; but, if too warm, these oily seeds
are liable to become rancid, when their vitality
will be destroyed."

Class IV. — Hard Seeds and Refractory.

" Some seeds are so indurated, or so closely
and carefully incased, that their vitality is pre-

HO W TO PLANT. 101

served from injury for years, even under ex-
posure to the elements. Of these the common
black or yellow locust gives an example. The
seeds of this tree may be gathered at any time
during the first half of winter, and can be kept
almost indefinitely, but they require preparation
before planting. This is usually done by scald-
ing and soaking. The swollen beans are to be
separated with a sieve and at once committed
to the soil. The scalding process may need to
be repeated several times before all the seeds
become swollen."

Class V. — Conifers.

"Pines, spruces, firs, and such trees, ripen
their fruits successively, and each must be
gathered in its season, from the trees. This
must be done before the scales of the cones
begin to gape and shed the naked or winged
seeds. Many of these species require a con-
siderable time to mature, and some need the
aid of artificial heat to make them gape and
shed their seeds. When separated from their
cones, many of these seeds can be safely kept
by preserving a regular and moderate tern-

102 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

perature in the seed-room. The bags, boxes,
or drawers should be closed, so as to avoid
too free an exposure to the atmosphere and
humidity."

Cuttings.

There is one method of propagating trees
of which we have as yet said nothing, that is
by cuttings. Many trees are so easily propa-
gated in this way, that it has been adopted
quite extensively. It consists, as most know,
in inserting in the ground pieces of well-grown
wood nearly to the extent of their whole length,
leaving only one or two joints or buds above-
ground. Most persons are aware that the wil-
lows, treated in this way, readily push out
roots and grow. But so will the cottonwoods,
the box-elder, the maples, the sycamore, and
many others. Prof. Budd, of Iowa, one of
our best authorities upon trees and tree-cult-
ure, speaks thus in regard to the treatment
of cuttings : " They should be cut early in
winter, before severe freezing, in lengths of
about one foot. They should be chosen from
three fourths of an inch to an inch and a half

HOW TO PLANT. 103

in diameter, and the lower end with a clean
cut, without bruising or mashing. Of maples,
the two-year-old wood is best; of the other
kinds it makes but little difference, if the
growth is free and healthy. Tie in bundles
with willows, the lower end nicely evened, so
that when placed on the ground in spring
every piece will touch the moist earth. Pack
the bundles in a dry-goods box with moist
prairie soil, putting the box where it will not
get too dry or wet, and will not freeze. With
the first warm weather of spring, clean off a
spot under an old hay-stack, level the surface
carefully, and set the bundles, butt-end down,
closely together, upon the fresh, moist earth,
then cover them with straw so as to keep
them from the air. By the time the ground
gets warm enough to plant, the base of the
cuttings will be softened, and most of them
will have small roots."

Process of Planting.

We have already said enough, perhaps, con-
cerning the roots of trees and their functions

104 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

to make any further remarks about the pro-
cess of planting unnecessary. And yet mis-
takes are so often made in regard to this
matter, and failure and disappointment are so
often entailed as the consequence, that a few
words still may not be superfluous.

If, as we have said, the roots contain the
mouths of the trees, the organs by which
they take in their nourishment and secure
their growth, then the more widely these
mouths are diffused through the ground, and
the more intimately they are brought into con-
tact with the soil and the plant-food which it
contains, the more certain and vigorous will
be their growth. Hence the need, already inti-
mated, that the ground should be mellow and
minutely subdivided, so that the trees may
easily push out their rootlets to the utmost
extent, and that the soil may be brought into
closest contact with them.

This indicates the course to be pursued at
the time of planting. It is not enough that a
hole be made of barely sufficient size to admit
the roots of the tree as they then are, very
likely diminished from their natural amount

HOW TO PLANT. 105

because a portion of them — and that the most
important portion — has been cut off by the
spade in the act of taking the tree from its for-
mer place of growth. The excavation should
be ample, and the ground around so soft and
permeable that as new roots are made they
may be able to push out in every direction.
The roots, as they are at the time of planting,
should not be thrust in at hap-hazard, but
should be spread well asunder, and the earth
should be carefully pressed into the interstices
and firmed around the small fibers, remember-
ing that the feeding mouths of the tree are
upon them rather than upon the bulky roots,
which are more buttresses for keeping the
tree in place than feeding organs.

To secure this proper planting, the planter
should select a time for his work when the
ground is neither too dry and hard, nor too
wet and pasty — the one state being about as
bad as the other — but a time when the earth
will work readily under the spade and the
hand. After covering the roots properly, as
we have described, he should fill the space left
above them, an inch or two in depth, with

106 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

fine but loose earth, in order that the air and
moisture may have ready access to the roots;
then, finally, cover the surface with a mulch of
some sort — leaves, straw, tan-bark, chip-dirt, or
the like — for the purpose of screening it from
the sun and wind, which would rob the roots
of their appropriate moisture by the rapid
evaporation which the former would occasion.

If the ground is in proper condition, it
will seldom be necessary to apply water to
the trees when planting them. The nursery-
men make little use of water at such time.
To have the earth fine and simply moist, and
to have it brought into close contact with the
fibrous roots, is the important matter. A dash
of water, as the earth is being packed around
the roots, may assist, but unless care is used
the water may do more harm than good.

Some may say this is an ideal method of
tree-planting, one that can not be carried out
in practice, or only in special cases and where
but a few trees are to be planted. It may
be that the forest-planter can not take all the
pains with his work that we have indicated as
desirable. But let him hold this ideal plant-

HOW TO PLANT. 107

ing in mind, and come as near realizing it as
he can. On the lawn, in the door-yard, in the
garden or orchard, by the road-side, this ideal
should always be reached. On the prairie, or
where one is planting a forest of acres in ex-
tent, let him do the best possible. He can at
least have his ground in good condition. He
has no excuse if he does not. And though he
may feel that the work of planting, when done
on the large scale, must be done rapidly, it
need not be done carelessly. With the aid
of children's fingers, the trees being small, as
in forest-planting they usually will be, he can
come reasonably near to the proper standard
of tree-planting.

After-Care.

But, having planted ever so carefully and
well, the growth of the trees is not yet secured.
They need to be watched afterward and guarded
from injury. The one who plants a single tree
or a few trees near his dwelling, to beautify
his home and make it more pleasant, more
home-like, will hardly fail to watch them and
see that nothing interferes with their welfare.

Io8 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

He will guard and protect them in every need-
ful way. But the one who plants on the larger
scale, the one who is planting a grove or a
wind-break covering acres in extent, the one
who is undertaking to secure his timber-claim
on the prairie, is in danger of neglecting his
trees after having planted them, and of suffer-
ing loss in consequence, perhaps of finding his
tree-planting almost, if not quite, a failure. He
is likely to be a farmer, occupied with other
crops as well as with his trees. He may not
be, probably is not, a capitalist, with the means
of employing all the help he needs. He i^
struggling, it may be, with the hardships inci-
dent to a new settlement, and is carving out
his future with his own hands. Pressed with
the other and ordinary cares of his farm, and
knowing that the trees are not to make imme-
diate returns of value, like the corn, he will be
very likely to leave them to themselves, and to
think that, as they have been planted, they will
of course grow. The consequence is, that weeds
spring up among them and rob them of their
needed nourishment, or they wither for lack of
protection from the sun and wind.

HOW TO PLANT. 109

In multitudes of instances the want of proper
care after planting has blasted the planter's
hopes. Sometimes this neglect is the result of
simple ignorance. The planter knows little
about trees. So far as he has seen them, in
forests or in orchards, he has seen them left to
themselves, growing without having any care
or culture bestowed upon them, and he thinks
he may treat his trees in the same way. But
after-care is as important as proper planting,
especially in the case of young and tender
trees, such as are commonly used in extensive
planting. The tree-planter should consider it
as important to go between the rows of trees,
from time to time, with the hoe or the culti-
vator, as to go between the rows of corn. It
is important, for precisely the same reason, to
keep down the weeds and grass and to stir and
open the soil so that the air, the rain, and dew
may readily penetrate it. After giving the
trees such care for two or three years, they
will have thrown out branches to such an
extent as to shade the ground sufficiently to
suppress the growth of weeds, and thenceforth
they will take care of themselves, except that

10

no HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

they must be protected from the incursion
among them of cattle and other animals which
might trample them down or feed upon them.

How far apart to be planted.

It is a question of much importance at what
distance apart from each other trees should be
planted. While within the seed-bed, they may
be planted within a few inches of each other
and in rows just sufficiently far apart to allow
the ground to be worked so as to keep down
weeds. When they have attained a height of
from twelve to eighteen inches, they will need
to be transplanted and to have more room.
When transferred to the nursery, they should
not be placed nearer to each other than six
inches for those kinds of trees that have a
slender form. Those of a more spreading habit
may be set at the distance of a foot; and the
evergreens, which throw out branches near the
ground, may be placed eighteen or twenty
inches from each other.

There is some difference of opinion as to
the distance from each other at which trees

HO W TO PLANT. ill

should be set in the final planting in the field.
The timber-culture act of Congress was found,
in practice, to be defective, because it allowed
trees to be planted at a distance of twelve feet
from each other. Practical experience teaches
that they should be planted much closer than
this, and there is now a very general concur-
rence of opinion that the best results are ob-
tained when trees, for forest purposes, are
planted not more than four feet from each
other, and in rows four feet apart. Some
would plant even closer than this. If planted
at a greater distance, the trees, when young
and tender, are very likely to be injured by
sweeping winds, especially in the prairie re-
gions. They are also more exposed to the with-
ering effect of the hot sun, and are liable to
have the soil parched and deprived of its moist-
ure by excessive evaporation, whereas, if plant-
ed closely, they afford mutual support, shading
the ground so that its moisture is retained,
while at the same time weeds are prevented
from growing.

Moreover, this is Nature's mode of planting.
When cattle and other injurious animals are

112 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

excluded from our native forests, we see the
young trees spring up thickly and grow in
close order, and, instead of spreading out their
limbs to a great extent near the ground, the
tendency is to shoot upward, making tall trunks,
the lower branches gradually withering and
dropping off. So we are told that in the for-
ests of Oregon and Washington Territory the
great trees often stand so close together that a
principal difficulty in converting them into lum-
ber is to find vacant space enough to allow their
fall to the ground when cut. Of course, these
giants of the wood, which have been growing
during one or even two hundred years, do
not stand within four or, perhaps, twenty feet
of each other. Nor is it meant, when we speak
of planting trees so close together, that they
are to preserve that closeness for a great length
of time. After a few years they will begin to
crowd each other and interfere with one an-
other. Then a thinning process must be com-
menced. At first one fourth may be removed ;
after a few years more, another fourth. The
general statement may be made that one half
of the trees should be removed before they

HOW TO PLANT. 113

have attained a height of twenty feet. The
trees thus removed from time to time will be
valuable for hoop-poles, vine-stakes, fence-poles,
and for many other uses. The remaining trees
will now have room enough in which to grow
for another term of years, when a further thin-
ning should take place. When the trees have
reached an average height of thirty feet, not
more than eight hundred should be left on an
acre ; and, when forty feet, not more than three
hundred or three hundred and fifty under the
most favorable conditions of soil and exposure.
Then the trees may be left to themselves, only
removing from time to time the dead or decay-
ing ones. As the successive thinnings take
place, the trees which are removed will be
more and more valuable for lumber on account
of their constantly increasing size.

It is usual also with the most experienced
tree-culturists, in view of the anticipated thin-
nings, to plant various kinds of trees together
—planting, for example, oaks, if the design is to
have the final forest mainly of this tree, sixteen
or twenty feet apart, and filling in the inter-
mediate spaces with other trees, such as the

114 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

ash, the larch, the pines, or other trees which
grow to maturity or to a valuable size sooner
than the oak, and may be economically used at
an earlier period.

It is found also that a better forest-growth
can be obtained when different kinds of trees
are planted together than when a plantation is
made of one kind exclusively. This may be
because the different kinds of trees appropriate
for their nutriment different elements of the
soil, or because some have their roots near the
surface, as the beech and the hemlock, while
others, like the oak, send theirs downward, and
so they feed at different depths, and do not
interfere with or limit each other's pasture.

The appearance of a grove or forest is cer-
tainly more pleasing when several kinds of
trees are planted together. However satisfac-
tory in look a single tree may be, or a few of
the same kind, when we meet it in masses to
the exclusion of others it becomes less pleasing
and may even become unwelcome. The mind
craves variety. So we never tire of our native
forests, because they are usually made up of
many kinds of trees. We do not plant a sin-

HOW TO PLANT. 115

gle kind of tree, to the exclusion of others,
around our dwellings. We do not on the lawn ;
why should we, when planting on the larger
scale? Although our chief aim may be to
secure trees for practical use, for shelter-belts
or for timber or fuel, there is no reason why
we should not combine beauty with utility.
We may make a belt of trees or a forest beau-
tiful, and more beautiful than it would be oth-
erwise, not only by our choice of trees, but by
our method of disposing of them in planting.

Avoid Checker-Board Style.

And we are inclined to emphasize this sug-
gestion, in reference to the West, and especially
to the prairie region, where there is so much
planting to be done. There nearly all the
roads and farm boundaries run in straight
lines, according to the Government surveys, and
as the result of those surveys. This is very
convenient for some purposes, but it is any-
thing but favorable to aesthetic or landscape
effect. It makes a great checker-board of the
western portion of our country. It gives it a

Ii6 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

stiff and far less pleasing appearance than the
older portions, with their winding roads and
fields of varying and irregular forms. When
you have seen the shape of one farm you have
seen the shape of all. And there is danger
that, as the tree-planter undertakes his work,
especially in those parts of the country most
destitute of trees, he will increase this checker-
board, this artificial appearance, by planting his
trees in straight lines along the boundary of
his farm on one or more sides. This he will
be apt to do for the purpose of getting a shel-
ter-belt, as it is called, to screen himself, his
crops, and his stock from hurtful winds, while
he hopes also to derive from it in due time a
sufficiency of lumber and fuel. It is also the
easiest, because the simplest way of planting.
His lines are all set for him. But if he follows
this course he will find, when his belt of trees
have grown, that he has shut himself in, im-
prisoned himself, so to speak, within a stiff,
square wall fifty feet or more in height.

Let him avoid this, which will be a lasting
source of regret when the trees have become
established. And he may avoid it by a little

HOW TO PLANT. 117

consideration beforehand. Instead of planting
in parallel rows along the border of his farm,
it will be better to plant shelter-belts only
where they are plainly needed, and then to
plant them more or less in curved lines con-
formed somewhat to the natural curves, the
elevations and depressions of the fields them-
selves. Instead of a continuous belt of trees
along the farm-border, whether upon one side
or more, it will be much better to leave open-
ings here and there, through which to look out
upon the pleasant stretches of country around.

By a little forethought in this respect, se-
lecting and combining various kinds of trees,
planting some upon the most elevated por-
tions of his wide-spread farm, and drawing
about his dwelling the bright birches and the
cheerful evergreens for shelter and compan-
ionship in the long winter, he may make his
prairie homestead most beautiful while doing
what will make it also most productive.

People of the prairie region are quite
awake to the desirableness and even necessity
of extensive tree-planting, and in numerous
publications plans have been suggested for

Ii8 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

the best disposal of the trees. But, so far as
we have seen, they all have the fault of ar-
ranging them in stiff, straight belts, or in
square blocks equally stiff. Now, Nature does
not give us straight lines, except in rare in-
stances. Only Art does this. Nature moves
and builds in curves. Clouds, streams, mount-
ains, fields, snow-drifts, all have curved and
graceful outlines. The flattest prairie ever
seen has at least its occasional gentle swells,
as though struggling against the irksome mo-
notony of a dead level. And the tree-planter
may well take a lesson in this respect from
Chicago and what has been done there in her
now beautiful parks, which have so changed
the aspect of the place. That city is now an
object-lesson for all the region around, not
only of business energy and success, but of
taste and refinement. So effective are simple
means when rightly used. In like manner
may any dweller on the prairies, by taking
advantage of the contours of his fields and
massing his trees in graceful forms, make his
tree-planting a source of constant beauty as
well as substantial benefit.

HOW TO PLANT. 119

And what we have said in regard to plant-
ing on the prairie applies more or less to
planting everywhere. In the door-yard and
on the lawn care should be taken to avoid
the stiffness and mechanical look which will
be the result of planting in straight lines.
City lots and streets are, almost necessarily,
bounded by such lines. But even a city lot
can be changed from a square inclosure or pen
into a lovely pleasure-ground, by a little care
in selecting trees and shrubs of various char-
acter and throwing them into graceful curves,
instead of ranging them in lines parallel with
the boundary fences.

Planting Evergreens.

We should leave the last of our questions
answered incompletely if we were not to add
a few words in regard to the planting of ever-
greens, or the conifers, including the larches
and some others which are not strictly ever-
greens. These trees are in themselves so
beautiful, and add so much to the general
effect of planting, by the pleasing variety

120 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

which they give when mingled with other
trees, while also so valuable for constructive
purposes, that their cultivation is very desir-
able. They are, in a special sense also, the
home trees, or trees to be planted near or
within sight of our dwellings, particularly in
the northern portions of the country, where
winter reigns throughout so large a part of
the year and the snow lies like a winding-
sheet upon the face of the earth. In such
places how cheerful, how like the presence of
friends, is that of these trees in their livery of
perpetual green, mocking at the death-like tor-
pidity around, making the very snows them-
selves to take on the aspect of life and beauty,
as they catch them in their extended fingers
and wreath them in graceful folds, or wrap
themselves in them as in a mantle of ermine !
How grateful the presence of these trees also
when a belt of them is interposed between
one's dwelling and the cutting blasts which
pour down from the north! What a perfect
screen also they furnish with which to shut
off any disagreeable or unsightly object near
the dwelling or within the range of vision!

HO W TO PLANT. 121

But we have not had the benefit of this
class of trees as much as we might have done,
because they have been regarded as so diffi-
cult of cultivation that many have not even
attempted it. The frequent failures of those
who have attempted it have given, it must be
confessed, much reason for discouragement.
Who has not seen these trees, looking bright
and fresh at the time of planting in the door-
yard or on the lawn, very soon beginning to
take on that reddened hue which is the sure
sign of departed vitality?

The most frequent cause of failure has been
ignorance on the part of the planter, and often
also on the part of those of whom he has pro-
cured the trees, in regard to the peculiar
character of this class of trees, and the pecul-
iar treatment therefore demanded. The ever-
green or coniferous trees have a resinous sap,
to say nothing of any other and minor pecul-
iarities in which they differ from the broad-
leaved or deciduous trees. If this resinous
sap is once allowed to be checked in its flow
or hardened by the exposure of the tree-roots
to the drying influence of the sun or wind,

ii

122 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

the circulation of the vital fluid is stopped
forever. No application of water, though in
floods, will start the flow again. It is not so,
as we know, with other trees.

An Imperative Rule.

Hence the imperative rule for all successful
planting of evergreens — keep their roots moist
from the time that they are taken from, the earth
until they are planted. We mean this to the
letter ; for we have seen trees brought to be
planted, and by those who knew something
about trees, brought apparently in good con-
dition, and then laid upon the ground to be
exposed to the sun or wind while the holes
were being dug for their reception ; and this
exposure was just long enough for them to be
death-struck and the holes to be their graves.
It requires but a little time for the fibrous
roots to become dry, whether from sun or
wind, and it is on these hair-like roots that life
depends. When, therefore, one is about to
plant evergreens, he can not be too careful on
this point. If he purchases the trees, let him

HOW TO PLANT. 123

purchase only of such dealers as know the pe-
culiar nature of this class of trees, and who
have honor enough to pack them properly for
transportation. Then, when received, let the
planter be sure that they are not exposed to
sun or wind, but that their roots remain cov-
ered and moist until the appropriate places are
made for them, and the trees are then planted.
If he is about to plant from his own nursery-
beds or to procure trees from the native for-
est, let him choose a still and cloudy or even
misty day for the purpose. Let him throw a
mat or blanket over the roots of the trees, as
he takes them from the ground, and keep them
covered until he reaches the spot where he
intends to plant them. Having now the ground
properly prepared beforehand, suitable holes
already dug, the earth made fine, as it should
be, so that it can be brought into close and
firm contact with the delicate, fibrous roots
with their waiting mouths, let him commit his
trees to the ground again, with the care and
attention which delicate, living things may
rightfully claim, and he may retire from the
field with a confident assurance that his labor

124 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

has not been in vain, but that his trees will
reward him amply for his pains, and hold out
their leafy hands to thank him in years to
come.

USEFUL TABLES.

NUMBER OF TREES ON AN ACRE.

THE number of trees needed to plant an
acre of ground, at various distances apart, is as
follows :

2 feet apart each way ......... 10,890

3 feet by 2 feet ............... 7,260

3 feet apart each way ......... 4,840

4 " " ......... 2,722

5 ......... i,742

6 « « ......... 1,210

8 " " ......... 680

10 ......... 435

12 " " ......... 302

15 " " ......... 200

IS " « ......... 135

20 " " ......... 1 10

22 " « ......... 00

25 " " ......... 70

30 " " ......... 50

126 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING.

Rows six feet apart, and trees one foot apart
in the row, 7,260 trees per acre.

Rows eight feet apart, and one foot apart
in the row, 5,445 trees per acre.

Rows ten feet apart, and one foot apart in
the row, 4,356 trees per acre.

One mile of wind-breaks or shelter-belt re-
quires 5,280 trees or cuttings for a single row,
one foot apart in the row.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

Seeds and Seedlings of
Forest Trees.

WHEN one decides to plant a forest, it is usual to send for a
nurseryman's catalogue and make an estimate of cost from
catalogue prices. Forest seedlings must be sold at one or two
years, and they that raise seedlings on risk have often to burn
thousands of unsold stock. Catalogue prices are made with this
contingency in view. If stock is ordered a year or so in advance
and large numbers taken, very low figures can often be quoted.
It is the same with forest-tree seeds. Orders should always be
given in advance of the season of ripening.

Our firm has been for thirty years in the business of contract-
ing for forest-tree seeds and for forest-tree seedlings, and is well
known over all the world.

THOMAS MEEHAN,

Q-ennantown, Philadelphia, United States.
PENNSYL VANIA.

Forest Trees for the Prairie,

BT THE 1,000, 10,000, 100,000

White and Green Ash, Maple, Boxelder, Cotton wood, and
Hardy Cata/pa,

FIRST-CLASS NURSERY-GROWN TREES.

PRICES THE SAME TO ALL.

For information and prices, address

GEO. H. WRIGHT,

Supt Tree-Planting, N. P. R. R.,
Lock Box 95. SIOUX CITY, IOWA.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

REES.

P. I?. Eoster,

BABYLON NURSERY,

BABYLON,
LI.,N.Y.

THIS fine, new
American Pear
originated in
Washington
County, New
Y ork, and is
very productive,
russe t- yellow
when ripe, thin
skin, flesh white,
juicy, buttery,
flavor neither
sweet nor sour,
ten days after the
Bartlett, as good
a bearer and bet-
ter fruit, smooth,
does not crack
nor canker.

This pear has
shipping prop-
erties which the
Bartlett does not
possess. It can
be sent to Lon-
don without dif-
ficulty; its beau-
tiful appearance,

proper size, and fine quality will place it, in a European market, in advance

of any pear known in this country.

The undersigned have tested the good qualities of this advance in new and

useful acquisition. Every man should have a tree of this variety growing, and all

fruit-raisers should plant it for profit and family use.

vjTjrvvwrw f THOS. MEEHAN, of "Gardiner's Monthly."
REFERENCES. J g D WILLARD, Geneva, N. Y.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

Now is the time to prepare your
orders for NEW and 11 ARK Fruit
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RUMSON NURSERIES.

Established 1854. Centennial Award, 1876.

A large STOCK OF HARDY SHADE-TREES, including Maples
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PEACH-TREES A SPECIALTY.

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