STATE OF NEW YORK

forest, fisb ant> <5ame Commission

JAMES S. WHIPPLE

Commissioner

WILLIAM F. FOX

Superintendent of Forests

INSTRUCTIONS FOR

REFORESTING LAND

By C R* PETTIS

Forester

ALBANY

J. B. LYON COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS
1909

STATE OF NEW YORK

Iforest, Jfieb ant) <5ame Commieeion

JAMES S. WHIPPLE

Commissioner

WILLIAM F. FOX

Superintendent of Forests

INSTRUCTIONS FOR

REFORESTING LAND

By C R PETTIS

Forester

ALBANY

J. B. LYON COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS
1909

INSTRUCTIONS FOR REFORESTING LAND.

Introductory.

The requests for some information as to the best methods of
reforesting land have become so numerous that it seems advisable
to issue a pamphlet containing directions regarding the work.

So many of our people are now ready to undertake tree planting
operations that some definite, detailed instructions for their use
should be supplied. Hence we have combined here in one publica-
tion directions showing how to secure planting stock, what to plant,
where to plant, when to plant, how to plant, and some information
as to the results that may be expected.

How to Secure Stock.

The Forestry Department of the State of New York maintains
several large nurseries for the propagation of forest tree seedlings
and transplants — pine, spruce and other species — for reforesting
the public lands and for distribution at a nominal price among
land owners in this State who may wish to undertake reforesting
operations on their own account. The price of these seedlings and
transplants is small, being placed at the bare cost, but varies with
the age of the plant and species.

Any land owner who desires trees for planting land in order to
raise a forest can secure them while there is a supply on hand by
making application to this Commission.

398118

4
The application blank for 1909 was as follows:

Jforest, jfisb anfc (Bame Commission

Albany, N. Y.

Gentlemen. — The undersigned hereby applies for the following

number and kinds of trees for planting in the town of

County of State of New York:

White pine transplants at $4.25 per 1,000, f. o. b., Saranac

Inn, N. Y.
White pine seedlings at $2.25 per 1,000, f. o. b., Saranac

Inn, N. Y.
Scotch pine transplants at $3 . 75 per i ,000, f. o. b., Saranac

Inn, N. Y.
Scotch pine seedlings at $2.25 per i.ooo, f. o. b., Saranac

Inn, N. Y.

DESCRIPTION OF LAND TO BE PLANTED.

Topography

A O -IT J "'

Original growth

o o

Present growth

Previous use of land

Kind of soil

In consideration of granting this application for trees at the
price stated, the undersigned hereby agrees:

1. To pay the purchase price of the trees to said Forest, Fish
and Game Commission within ten days after the granting of this
application.

2. That the trees hereby applied for shall be used by the under-
signed for the sole purpose of reforesting lands within the State of
New York.

3. That the trees shall not be sold, offered for sale, or given away
by the said applicant, or his agents, to any person.

5

4. That the trees shall be planted in accordance with instruc-
tions furnished by the Forest, Fish and Game Commission.

5. That the applicant shall furnish the Forest, Fish and Game
Commission from time to time, when asked for, reports in regard
to the condition of such plantings.

Signed

P. O

...190 Express office

It will be noted that this application is a contract made with
this Commission. The first clause calls for payment within ten days
after the trees are granted. This gives us the opportunity to resell
any trees that the applicants do not pay for within that time. The
second clause is necessary because the law under which this work
is done requires that the trees shall be used for reforesting purposes.
No trees will be sold for ornamental planting. The third clause
prevents speculation and the interference with our work. The
fourth clause simply means that applicants should follow the
directions given in this pamphlet in regard to planting. The fifth
clause asks that reports stating the condition of the plantation be
made to this office, such information being desirable in order to
secure data in regard to the work for the benefit of others.

What and Where to Plant.

The soil where the planting is to be done will, in a measure,
determine what kind of trees should be used. The growth already

•

on the land where the planting is to be done indicates the age or
size of the stock to be used.

Relation of Species and Soils. — No complete directions covering
such a large subject can be given in any small pamphlet, and in
some cases examination of the land would be desirable before
giving advice. There are, however, a few points that can be dis-
cussed generally here.

White Pine. — This species is usually found on sandy or light
soils, but it will do well on any land that is well drained. It will
thrive in good soil as well as any other tree when once established.
The better the soil, the stronger its growth will be.

Scotch Pine. — On the poorest, sterile soils the Scotch and red
pine makes a faster growth than white pine, but the timber in these
species is not as valuable. These trees are particularly adapted to
such sites because they have a long root which goes deep in the
ground. The white pine is preferable, but on the poorest soils the
Scotch pine will make a more rapid growth.

Spruce. — Our native spruce is a slow-growing tree and difficult
to propagate. It develops so slowly that its use is not recommended.
The Norway spruce, which is used extensively abroad, is a much
faster grower and is equally desirable in all respects. It should be
used wherever spruce is to be planted. The spruces all require soil
of moderate quality, and should not be planted on sandy lands.
They will withstand a large amount of shade, and their use is
preferable for underplanting in an existing forest. It is also better
adapted than most of our conifers for planting in swamps or wet
locations.

Hardwoods. — At present we are not growing hardwoods in our
nurseries; but in the .Spring of 1909 we will sow a quantity of
black locust and yellow poplar seed for distribution in 1910.

Whenever it is desired to raise oak or chestnut the acorn or nut
should be planted directly in the field where the future tree is
desired.

Size oj Coniferous Plants Used. — The smaller the tree that can be
planted and succeed, the cheaper the work can be done and the
greater profit finally secured. There is less shock in moving small
plants than large ones, which makes the risk and expense in plant-
ing smaller trees less. The size of tree required in order to succeed
will be determined by the amount and nature of the vegetation
where the planting is to be done, i. e., the amount of competition
it will encounter in order to grow. Seedlings, two years old, are

large enough for planting on pasture or other lands where there is
little or no shade. If, however, there is a heavy growth of weeds,
or other plants making a dense shade, transplants should be used*
Otherwise, there will be too many failures.

When to Plant.

Planting is best done in the spring, as early as possible, so that
the trees may secure the benefit of the spring rains and become
well rooted before the season's growth takes place. We will ship
trees in the spring as early as possible, and they ought to be planted
at once.

How to Plant.

When the trees arrive they should be taken to the planting field
immediately and unpacked. The roots should be dipped in water
and the plants " heeled in "; i. e., placed upright in a ditch, and
the dirt packed tight around the roots. (See illustration.) They
can be kept in this manner while the planting is in progress.

The number of men required and the organization of the force
will depend entirely upon the amount of planting to be done. In
these directions we will assume that only a small number of trees
are to be set out — i. e., not over 10,000 plants. For larger opera-
tions the force must be increased.

The working unit is two men, one of them equipped with a grub
hoe, and the other with a pail for carrying the little plants. Two-
men working thus as a pair — one making the hole and the other
planting the tree — will, after a little experience, set out about
1,000 transplants or 1,200 seedlings per day. If only a few thou-
sand trees are to be planted two men can do the work within the
required time; but if many thousand, several pairs of men will be
necessary.

The planting site having been selected, the men with the grub
hoes will begin making the holes in a straight line across the field.
It is well to set up a stake, or two, in order that the man digging

holes can move forward in a straight line. These stakes or poles
can be moved over and used again when making the next row of
holes. The planter follows immediately behind the grub-hoe man
setting a tree in each hole before the exposed soil becomes dry.
The planter's pail should always have enough muddy water in the
bottom to keep the tree roots wet.

In making a hole, it is well to cut off and remove a thin slice of
sod, as this gives the plant a better opportunity to grow. The
hole should be large enough to give room for the roots without
crowding; but on a light soil the least dirt that is moved in order
to set the plants properly the better it will be. The plant should
usually be placed in the ground at the same depth that it was
before; but on light, sandy soil it may be set slightly deeper. The
earth should be packed about the roots thoroughly, so that the
plant will be able to get all the moisture possible from the sur-
rounding earth. Care should be taken also to place the roots in
their natural position.

Special pains should be taken to prevent any exposure of the
roots to the sun. Once the roots become dry the plants are very
likely to die. The trees " heeled in " should be kept moist at
roots.

The men continue planting back and forth across the field until
the work is completed. The trees planted in these rows should
be set at regular distances apart and the rows also at even dis-
tances in order to properly utilize the soil and light and to secure
in time the greatest product. The spacing varies under different
conditions, but for general forest planting six feet apart both
ways is most desirable. When the trees are planted six feet apart
in the row, and the rows are made six feet distant, it will require
1,200 trees to plant an acre. It will be readily seen that the
interval used determines the number of trees required per acre, the
amount of labor necessary to plant them and the cost per acre of
the work.

It is absolutely necessary that a much larger number of trees be
planted on an acre than would be found in a mature forest. A
close, dense stand of trees is necessary while they are young in
order to produce a proper development in the future growth. The
close planting produces a crowded and shaded condition which
kills off the side branches when the trees are small, reduces the
number and size of the knots and finally makes a higher grade of
lumber. The dense stand also causes the trees to grow much
taller, and hence there will be more logs in a tree. The value of
this close planting is easily seen when we compare the difference
in trees which have naturally grown in a forest with those in the
open.

There are, however, other considerations than growing the
highest possible grade of wood material. We all realize that some
soils will produce much larger quantities of farm crops than others.
The land that is most likely to be used for tree planting will be
the poorer, meager soils of a small productive capacity. Hence,
in order to make the growing of wood crops profitable, considera-
tion must be given to the quality and productive capacity of the
soil where the planting is to be done. If twelve hundred trees
per acre are planted, we would naturally expect to grow a tree
having a diameter of twelve inches in less time than we would if
there were seventeen hundred trees per acre. Therefore, in order
to make planting profitable, we must not only grow good timber
in dense stand, but at the same time aim at a profitable harvest
in the shortest possible period.

Protection of Plantations.

After the plantation is made it should be protected from fire.
Any light fire, even if it burns over only the dry grass among the
little trees will kill or injure them, because their bark is very thin.
The plantation should be protected also from cattle, sheep or other
animals. Grazing should not be permitted.

10

Value of Planting.

In the destruction of forests by axe and fire which has been
taking place in this country ever since settlement began, vast areas
not adapted to agricultural purposes have been cleared, placed in
farms, tilled for a time, the soil exhausted and then abandoned.
These areas are of varying size, but in the aggregate are extensive.
In some places they include a few acres of an occupied farm; at
others they embrace entire abandoned farms. This land is lying
idle, is not producing any revenue for its owner; in fact, is held
at a loss because taxes must be paid, and the interest on the capi-
.tal invested is lost. A large area of such idle land in any state is
just as serious an economic proposition as idle labor, because both
are non-productive.

Such land should be planted with small trees in order to grow
forest crops and reap a future profit. The resulting forests will
also make the country more beautiful, more habitable, more healthful
and more enjoyable. These forests will protect the hillsides from
erosion, prevent the floods which carry down debris and devastate
the low lands, and will make the water in the streams more equable
in its flow. These streams rendered cooler by the shade will sup-
port more fish, and the forest cover will also afford a shelter for
birds and game. We can secure all these benefits, and at the same
time realize a large profit from these idle lands if they are placed
under wood crops.

Natural-grown forests are not the most valuable, because nature
does not utilize the light and moisture to the best advantage; but
by properly spacing the trees, as done in an artificial forest, more
and better trees can be grown in a shorter period.

We have not many planted forests in this country old enough
to give complete information of what can be expected from them.
Therefore, we have to use natural growth in determining the yields
from prospective wood crops. The quantity produced will, on the
average, be less than what would be obtained from planted forests;
therefore, these figures are conservative.

II

We have not yet had time to secure data in regard to the growth
of white pine in this State, but careful examinations and measure-
ments have been made in New Hampshire and Massachusetts
which are just as reliable as a basis for computing future growths
in New York as in those states.

The following yield table for white pine was constructed after
examining and measuring 177 sample plats1 in Massachusetts of
various ages in all parts of that state:

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New York State Nurseries.

While Pine, 4 Years Old, Once Transplanted — % Natural Size.
New York State Nurseries.

Scotch Pine, 4 Years Old, Once Transplanted — 34 Natural Size.
New York State Nurseries.

Norway Spruce, 4 Years Old, Once Transplanted — 3^ Natural Size.
New York State Nurseries.

I

Making the Hole

Photo C. R. Pettis

Photo C. R. Pettis

Planting a Seedling Tree.

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This table indicates at a glance that much more timber can be
grown in the same period of time on good soil than on poor
soil. The highest production was found on the rich lowlands,
where the soil was deep, rich and moist, but withal well drained.
The upland pasture, our hillsides and upland plateaus, which form
the largest part of land where wood crops will be planted, is indi-
cated by soil quality two. The rate of growth here is not far below
that of soil quality one, because the pine finds its demands as re-
gards moisture, food supply, etc., well supplied. The third quality
of soil consists of the wet, cold, mucky swamps, or the most sterile
drifting sands. For the purpose of this publication soil of the
second quality will be considered, because this is the kind of soil
that will most largely be used for growing forest, raising crops of
timber and wood materials.

The table shows in a most striking manner how the quantity
of timber increases with the age of the forest. It, therefore, shows
what a short-sighted policy and poor financial plan it is to cut
growing forests. It will be seen that a forest thirty years old contains
nearly twice as much lumber as one twenty-five years of age, or
a thirty-five-year-old crop three and one-half times as great as
when harvested at twenty-five years; also, that while it takes
twenty-five years to grow the first 6,750 feet of lumber nearly
40,000 feet more can be grown in a second twenty-five years — i. e.,
allowing the crop to grow fifty years.

The land owner is also interested in knowing what he may ex-
pect in the way of financial returns as well as quantity production.
For this purpose the following interesting tables, which were pre-
pared by the State Forest Service of Massachusetts, are herewith
published with the permission of Frank Wm. Rane, State Forester
of Massachusetts :

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21

•

There is profit not only in growing white pine, but also Norway
spruce and many other kinds of wood. With permission of Mr.
George Aiken, manager of the Billings farm at Woodstock, Ver-
mont, we submit the following data in regard to profits derived
from growing Norway spruce on that farm. One acre was planted
with three-year-old Norway spruce, eight feet apart each way,
requiring 289 trees to the acre. The land was poor, sandy hill-
side, unfit for cultivation. In 1908, when the plantation was
thirty-two years old, or thirty-five years from seed, four average
sized trees were cut. Their measurements were as follows:

No. i 72 ft. high, ii inch butt cut, 46^ ft. of logs 6" at top end
" 2 57 " " 15 " « « 4?£ «««««««

3 63 * ; 14 ' «42«««««««

"4 67 " • 16 " " « 40 "««««««

Four trees produced one cord of pulp wood; or the acre, if cut,
would have yielded 172^ cords, which at the prices paid there at
the present time, $6.50 per cord, would give the income from this
acre $1,120.00 in thirty-two years.

Placing the value of the land at $5.00 per acre, cost of trees and
planting at $5.00 additional, making a first cost of $10.00 per acre
computed at compound interest would amount to $65.50. To this
should be added the taxes for the thirty- two years $7.50, making
a total investment of $73.00, leaves a net income of $1,046.86, or
a yearly average of $36.72 per acre, from poor, wornout side hill
pasture land worth about fifty cents per annum for grazing. The
pulpwood cut here was sold to the International Paper Company,
who made it into paper at the Bellows Falls Mill.. Mr. Edward
Barrett, superintendent of this mill, reports as follows: " The
Norway spruce test: One cord of rough wood, 71 sticks 4 feet long,
after preparing for grinder room, gave us 98 cubic feet. This made
1,828 pounds of dry woodpulp. The spruce worked nicely on the
paper machine, arid under the same conditions as our regular
spruce, gave us a higher test for strength and a brighter shade,
with the same amount of color."

22

With all these facts we hope our farmers and woodland owners
will be impressed with the profit they can derive from planting
their idle land.

This Commission is just as much interested in the forests or
wood lots of any private owner as it is in the great forests of the
Adirondacks or Catskills, which are under our jurisdiction, and we
will at all times be glad to render any land owner assistance so far
as circumstances will permit.

THIS BOOK

THIS BOOK ^^pED B&OW t to a toe of

. $1.00 per " renewed. ** __=======:

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY