IX. FORESTRY. FORESTRY FOR FARMERS. By Dr. B. E. FERNOW, Director of the New York State College of There has been much talk about forestry in the U. S., but there has been little application of the teachings of that science. This is easily explained in so far as the lumbermen are concerned, who are in the business of making money by cutting the virgin woods, similar to the mining of ore, but it is less intelligible with the farmer who is presumed to be in the business of making money by the production and harvesting of crops, which he grows on the soil of his farm. That his wood-lot could and should by him be also treated as a crop seems rarely to have entered his mind. Whether he starts out, as in the prairie portions of the State, by planting a grove, or whether he cuts his wood from the virgin growth which he left after clearing enough for field and meadow, in either case he should fully realize that he is dealing with a valuable crop, which requires and will pay for the attention and application of knowledge in its management, such as a true husbandman would give to it. The Wisconsin farmer, just as his neighbor in Minnesota, living in a State largely covered with timber of great value, has special reason to practise the principles of forestry in order to get the most out of this part of the property both for the present and the future. And those who are located in the prairie portions have no less need of maintaining a forest growth on some part of their farm as a matter of proper management of their resources. The first thing, as with every other crop, that will have to be decided is on what portions of the farm this wood-crop is best propagated. In deciding about the location of the wood-lot the farmer must keep in mind: 1. That wood will grow on almost any soil, which is unfit for agricultural use; that, although it grows best on the best sites, it is to be mainly considered and used as a “stopgap" to make useful those parts which would otherwise be waste. 2. That a forest growth, besides furnishing useful material, is a condition of soil-cover which affects other conditions, namely, of climate and water-flow, and hence its location should be such as to secure the most favorable influence on these. 3. That the wood-crop does not live on the soil, but on the air, enriching the soil in nutritive elements by its decaying foliage rather than exhausting it, and hence that no manuring and no rotation of crops is necessary as in field crops; in other words, the location of the wood-crop can be made permanent. A wood growth should therefore be maintained on the farm: a. Wherever the ground is too wet or too dry, too thin or too rocky or too steep, for comfortable ploughing and for farm crops to do well, or for pasturage to last long, or, in general, where the ground is unfit for field and meadow. b. On the highest portions of the farm, the tops of hills and also in belts along the hillsides, so as to interrupt continuous slopes, which might give rise to such a rush of surface-waters as to gully the ground and make it unfit for field crops or pasture; the gentler slopes which are liable to washing should at least be kept in grass or terraced for crops to prevent the rush of surface-waters. c. Along watercourses, where narrower or wider belts of timber should be maintained to prevent undermining of banks and washing of soil into the streams if ploughed too close to the border; the shade of a forest growth would also check rapid evaporation of smaller watercourses. d. Wherever the protection by a wind-break against cold or hot winds is desirable, for which purpose the timber belt is of more far-reaching effect than the wind-break of a single row of trees; the reduced evaporation from the fields due to this protection has been known to increase the yield of field crops by as much as 25 per cent. e. On all unsightly places, which impair the general aspect of the farm-and there are few farms without these -a few trees, a small grove, will add to the thrifty appearance of the farm, make useful the otherwise waste spots, and serve as shelter to grazing cattle, etc. Altogether, the farmer should realize that husbandry of soil and water is the secret of future success, and that successful water management is best attained by the maintenance of properly located and well-managed forest areas. There is much extravagant talk about the influence of forests on climate and on rainfall especially. We have but little definite knowledge on these subjects, but it takes no expert, only a little observation, to appreciate the effects of a wind-breaking timber belt on one's own feeling, and it takes but little reasoning to appreciate that the field crop in the shelter of the timber belt participates in this feeling. The dry winds are the great bane of field crops in the West, because they dissipate the moisture; a timber belt breaks their force and reduces thereby their evaporating power. Just so it takes no great philosopher to see that when rain falls on naked ground it compacts that ground and by and by prevents itself from penetrating; the water is forced to drain off superficially and rapidly, instead of sinking into the ground and remaining there for the use of field crops. And that the washing and gullying of the soil is also a result of this rushing off of surface-waters, due to the clearing away of its plant-cover, requires no wise man to point out; every farmer experiences it more or less every year. That any one farmer's neglect or the devastation of any small part of the forest growth should have an influence on the rainfall or climate of the whole country nobody should claim; but the conditions surrounding each particular farm, its local climate, soil, and water conditions, are changed, and finally the aggregate changes make themselves felt over the whole state. Now as to the management of the wood-lot a few hints may be acceptable. The farmer may not necessarily employ the finer methods of managing the wood-crop, but by the mere application of common sense and a little knowledge of tree-life he may do better than he does at present. He should at least observe the following rules: I. Fire should be carefully kept out of the wood-lot, for it has in no way a beneficial effect. It kills not only the undergrowth, which is desirable because it helps to shade the soil, and injures, if it does not kill, the young tree growth, which is to take the place of the older growth, but the worst effect is that it consumes the vegetable mould which has accumulated by the fall and decay of leaves, twigs, and other vegetation, and which forms the manure, the fertility, of the soil. Fire is to be used only when through bad management or otherwise a dense undesirable undergrowth has come in, which it is too expensive to remove in other ways when the time for natural reproduction has come or planting is to be done. It must then be used with caution in early spring or late fall, before the brush is too dry, when the fire will smoulder rather than burn fiercely and can be kept within bounds. 2. Cattle must be kept out where young forest growth is to be fostered. Sheep and goats especially are of no benefit to wood-crops, but horses and cattle may be allowed to browse through the wood-lot where the young growth has passed out of their reach. Pigs are a benefit by working over the ground and thereby burying seeds, especially acorns; but after the seed is so brought under ground where a young crop is expected to be reared next year they must be kept out. Altogether, the cattle and farm animals should be kept where you want them, and not where you do not want them. Sometimes, however, the roaming of cattle may be beneficial by keeping down too dense impenetrable underbrush in young sapling growth. It is better to so cut and manage the old timber that a desirable new growth will spring up than to cut clean and replant. Planting should be done only where there is no desirable natural tree growth. Hence where there is a wellestablished wood-lot, the whole management of the crop consists in proper cutting. How this is best done cannot be described readily within the short space of this article, but every farmer who is interested in learning the principles of using the axe to advantage in reproducing a wood crop or how to establish a wood-lot can obtain from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, free of charge, a pamphlet entitled “Forestry for Farmers," in which in plain language is discussed in detail how trees and forests grow, how to start a wood-crop, and how to manage the wood-lot. It does not exhaust the subject, but merely teaches the first steps, and the thinking farmer will find his way of stepping farther. NUMBER OF TREES ON AN ACRE. (Egleston.) The number of trees needed to plant an acre of ground, at various distances apart, is as follows: 2 ft. apart each way 10,890 | 12 ft. apart each way... 302 Rows six feet apart, and trees one foot apart in the row, 7260 trees per acre. Rows eight feet apart, and one foot apart in the row, 5445 trees per acre. Rows ten feet apart, and one foot apart in the row, 4356 trees per acre. One mile of wind-breaks or shelter-belt requires 5280 trees, or cuttings for a single row one foot apart in the row. |