The Rural Voice, 2000-11, Page 42GREY BRUCE
FORESTRY SERVICE
TREE MARKING
Benefits of
MARKING your
woodiot for
THINNING:
Optimal Tree Growth
Wildlife Habitat
*
Species Diversity
Health and Quality of
the Woodlot
....plantations or
hardwood stands
Ask us about our complete
forest management program.
Call now for more information!
A Co-operative Program Between:
Grey Sauble
Conservation
Authority
R.R. #4, Owen Sound N4K 5N6
(519) 376-3076 * gsca@bmts.com
CONSERVATIO
R.R. #1, Hanover N4N 3B8
(519) 364-1255 * forestry svca.com
38 THE RURAL VOICE
Andrew Grindlay
course, but they are possible since
prices for hardwood logs have never
been higher.
Paul Robertson, owner of Paris -
based Trees Unlimited, is reported to
have told farmers at this year's
Outdoor Farm Show in Woodstock
that, "Once assessed as non-
productive land and viewed by
farmers as simply a source of
firewood, the woodlot these days,
with careful management, can be the
most productive land on the farm."
Even if you do not have a
woodiot, if you have a piece of land
that is not suitable for cultivation,
such as beside a stream or drainage
ditch or a former pasture that is
overgrown with hawthorns, you have
an opportunity to give the child
something of permanent value that
will provide endless pleasure and
learning opportunities. The child can
be taught how to select the best
species of tree for a particular piece
of land, how to plant the seedlings,
how to protect them from grass and
weeds without chemicals, how to
repel mice and deer without poisons
and how to prune the trees as they
grow into saplings.
Considerable experimentation is
going on with inter -cropping. For
many years the Ministry of Natural
Resources recommended planting a
mixture of white pine and black
walnut, expecting the pine to mature
in about 60 years and the walnut in
80 years. More recently the agro-
forestry scientists at the University of
Guelph have been interplanting
several species of trees with
agricultural crops. Their latest results
indicate that the most economical
mixture is with poplar, with the
poplars planted in rows 15 metres
apart and three metres within the
rows. The scientists found that with
that spacing the trees grow rapidly
and if they are pruned to a height of
three metres, there is a market for the
lumber when the trees mature in
about 20 years. The big gain,
however, comes from the nitrogen
added by the poplar leaves to the soil,
reducing the amount of fertilizer that
must be added for the agricultural
crops.
Whether you start with an existing
woodlot or with bare land, there is
probably no better legacy you can
leave to a child than a woodlot.
Remember, you do not own the
woodlot; it is yours to keep for the
next generation.0
- Andrew Grindlay farms 100 acres
of trees in Huron County.
o\1NG FARC
Wheat, Barley,
Corn & Beans
Elevator
519-366-2749 519-366-2666
Norvartis
OM* Seed Dealer
Les Young Jr. David Young
519-366-2486 519-366-2709
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