I was trained as a forester and having worked at the profession for nearly thirty years, my first thought of trees is for their utility in building or in cabinet work. In school we were taught that the fruit of forest trees was a by-product. Its economic importance was not emphasized nor was the possibility of establishing stands of some species specifically for the production of their fruit.
Through the years the value of the nut crop from some species has increased so that the fruit is now the primary crop and any wood materials that may be derived are the by-product. This production of valuable food and necessary materials of high quality for the building of quality furniture and interior finish is a combination that will work well together.
Black walnut, the most highly utilized of any of our native timber for furniture, veneer, and cabinet work is becoming increasingly more difficult for the mills to obtain in larger sized logs. Native chestnut, almost completely destroyed in our timbered areas by the chestnut blight, is in demand for interior finish. Pecan, which has had only a limited use in the past, is now enjoying a market for the manufacture of flooring.
The production of nuts from plantations or orchards of these three species will no doubt produce greater economic returns for many years after the initial planting than could be derived from the sale of the trees for the wood they contain. There will come a time in the life of any tree when it is no longer a profitable producer and should be replaced by a younger, more thrifty tree. When that time comes, the tree to be removed will have no economic value unless it contains products that industry can use. With the thought in mind that the wood from the tree is to have some future economic value the trunk of the tree should be kept free of all limbs to a height of about nine feet above the ground. The development of a large spreading top above that point will be desirable for nut production. The space below that top will give ample head room for maintenance work in the orchard and that clear length of trunk will produce a high quality log eight feet long. That is the minimum standard length normally used by the lumber industry. Some shorter lengths are utilized by the veneer industry but those lengths usually command a lower unit price.
The production of figured walnut could be combined with the production of one log per tree but it would take several more years to bring the trees to nut producing age. Mr. Wilkinson has successfully demonstrated that the figure of the Lamb Walnut does carry over through a graft or bud.
A double budding operation should not be difficult to perform. It would simply consist of budding the figured stock on the root at as low a point as possible, then when the figured growth has reached sufficient height, of budding again to the desired variety for nut production. This procedure would no doubt require a few additional years before the first crop of fruit would be harvested but it would produce an extremely valuable log when the tree is finally cut.
I would be remiss in my present job if I did not bring the revegetation program of the Indiana coal stripping industry into the discussion. That industry produces over fifty percent of the coal mined in Indiana today and is recovering coal that could not be mined by any other means.
In driving to Rockport many of you no doubt passed by areas of newly mined land, rough, barren desolate looking areas with no vegetation. They have the appearance of complete desolation and give the impression that those lands are forever lost. In that same vicinity you no doubt passed plantations of pine, or mixture of pine or Locust with our native deciduous species. Those too were mined areas that a few short years ago were just as desolate in appearance as the bare areas you saw. These plantations are the direct result of a reclamation program started by the members of the Indiana Coal Producers Association, a program that has attracted national attention.
The first record of an attempt at the reclamation of coal mine spoil is here in Indiana. In 1918, the Rowland Power Company, now owned by the Maumee Collieries Company, planted peach, apple and pear trees on mined land in Owen county. The records show that for a period of years the trees thrived and were good producers. Then, because the topography was rough and no spraying was done, disease and insects took their toll of the peaches and apples. Seedlings of the original apple and peach tree still grow on the area. The original Kieffer pear trees still stand and produce large crops of fruit.
In 1926, the larger, more far sighted companies began a definite program of reforestation of their mined lands under the direction of Ralph Wilcox, at that time assistant State Forester and fortunately our State Forester today. That voluntary program was carried on until 1941 when the Indiana Coal Producers Association, the Association of the mining companies, sat down with representatives of the Indiana Department of Conservation, representing the state, and the Indiana Farm Bureau, representing the people, and drafted a bill which was enacted into law. This law required each company to obtain a permit from the state to operate and required that each company revegetate an area each year equal to 101% of the area they had mined. To insure compliance, a bond was required. This law remained in effect for ten years. In 1951, representatives of those same groups again sat down together and drafted several amendments to the original act. Some grading is now required where areas lie adjacent to public roads. Access roads must be provided and areas to be devoted to pasture must be graded so that they can be traversed with agricultural machinery.