Excerpt from The Forest Nursery: Collection of Tree Seeds and Propagation of Seedlings
The art of raising forest-tree seedlings and planting trees is but little known among farmers, for whom it has very great economic interest.
For the farmer of the Eastern wooded country, the study Of how to grow trees has not yet reached, nor is it likely to reach, the same degree Of importance as for the Western farmer. The Eastern farmer has often to consider only what trees shall be allowed to grow up and what shall be introduced, while the Western farmer has to consider what may be grown and how. The greater interest centers about the Western planter because Of his greater need for wood material, and also because the growth of trees under his conditions is most difficult.
The importance of establishing wood lots or shelter belts on farms that lack them is no less Obvious than the necessity of raising the staple crops. The provident farmer can not afford to buy firewood, fence posts, or building timber any more than he can afford to buy corn and wheat. A part, if not all, of the wood material used on the farm can and should be grown there. The profit on this timber growth rightly belongs to the farmer, and it is therefore one which economic agricultu’re can not neglect.
The relative value of wood lots in the prairie region and the wooded East is, of course, different. To the prairie farmer the possession Of a wood lot affording posts, rails, poles, and firewood is of very great importance, since, being in a treeless reglon and distant from the sources Of wood supply, he would otherwise be compelled to pay high prices for such material. The Eastern farmer is less dependent, even though his wood lot has been cut Off, for he lives in a wooded country, where posts, fuel, and lumber are comparatively cheap.
The scope of the farmer’s tree planting will necessarily be small. In order to be entirely successful, smaller tree-planting operations should give useful results within one man’s lifetime. To accomplish this the farmer tree planter must confine his attention chiefly to quick growing trees.
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