Kate of Forest Planting

Kate of Forest Planting

Should Be Speeded Up

A speeded-up reforestation program in Virginia to put idle acres back into production is being advised by J. W. O’Byrne, Extension forester at VPI.

O’Byrne says the area in Virginia in need of reforestation is variously estimated between 300,000 and 1,000,000 acreA The smaller figure probably represents l%pd that will not reseed naturally to anything. The larger figure is used to represent land that will not reseed naturally to a profitable stand of trees.

At the present rate cf planting, it will take between 50 to 200 years to accomplish the needed reforestation, O'Byrne says.

He reports that Virginia landowners planted 5,474,0001 forest trees in the 1949-50 planting season. This added to the 27,000,000 planted in former years, makes a total of almost 33,000,000 trees that have been planted since systematic forestry work was started in the State in the early 1330’s. At the usual rate of 1,000 trees per acre, the total area planted to forest trees is 82,912 acres.*Of * those, 85 p&J> eeT!i are'classed -as successful plantations. The' other 15 per cent either lad poor survival, or were destroyed by fire, browsing livestock, or other . means. *

Farmers rank as the top group in owning forest land. They own some 13,746 acres, of which 88 per cent are classed as successful. “Other private” owners rank next, with 10,694 acres, of which 89 per cent are “successful.”

rendered with such beauty and musicianship as to win the approval of lovers of music, both lay* and professional. Modern compositions by contemporary composers, madrigals, the works of the old masters such as Bach, Brahms, Palestrina; compositions from the Russian liturgical school, and orig. inal compositions of the conductor, Robert A. Henry, are listed In the