Let's Visit A Tree Farm (1967)

[Music] wow [Music] [Music] do johnny and kathy have been spending their vacation on uncle jim's farm when uncle jim finds time he tells them about the many activities on his farm he's a farmer who grows food crops like corn and wheat but on some of his farmland which is too hilly for food crops he grows trees so he's a tree farmer too tree farmers grow different kinds of trees uncle jim and mr jackson the forester are showing kathy and johnny some pine trees pine trees are also called soft woods and grow quite fast these pines grow about two or three feet a year pine trees have sharp needle-like leaves which cling to the tree throughout the winter so these trees are always green and often called evergreens other tree farmers grow different kinds of trees called hard woods they have broad flat leaves most hardwood trees drop their leaves in winter uncle jim's trees are used for lumber paper and many other products a forester like mr jackson can help uncle jim foresters are men who know a lot about trees a forester knows when a tree is big enough to be cut or harvested or when it should be left to grow larger tall straight trees make the best lumber mr jackson makes a mark with paint on the trees that are to be cut later the marked trees are cut down with a power saw for harvesting uncle jim has the help of some men called loggers there is no special time for harvesting trees most often they are cut down when there is a buyer for them a logger can cut a tree so that it will fall just where he wants it to without falling on other trees the tree will fall on the side where the notch is cut with a power saw he can cut through the tree very quickly down it goes the logger has cut the tree close to the ground leaving a very short stump so that most of the valuable wood is harvested when the branches are cut from the fallen tree it is called a log [Music] mr jackson pulls or skids the log over to a clearing or open space now the log is cut into shorter lengths and now the trucks are ready to take the logs to a sawmill the load is fastened down the truck will soon be on its way to the mill now uncle jim is thinking about a new tree crop growing new trees is as important as harvesting the older ones he tells the logger about his plans for planting seedlings very small trees uncle jim gets his seedlings for the new tree crop from a nursery such as this one in the nursery seedlings are grown from tree seeds here the seeds are being planted by hand these seedlings are just eight weeks old the nurseryman is pulling weeds from around the seedlings so that they can grow better spraying with a chemical protects the seedlings from damage by insects and diseases when the seedlings are about two to four years old they are large enough to be dug up and sent to tree farms the seedlings are delivered to uncle jim's farm packed in bales before the young trees are planted in a day or two they need to be kept out of the sun kathy is watering them so they won't dry out this morning johnny and kathy are watching the seedlings being planted by uncle jim and his helper uncle jim decided that the soil in this field is not too good for food crops but is all right for trees let's see how the planting is done the seedlings can be planted by hand but using machinery is faster uncle jim's tractor pulls a mechanical planter first the planter digs a trench for the seedlings then uncle jim's helper places the seedlings in the trench the rear wheels of the planter close the trench and pack down the soil around the seedlings in another part of the tree farm some older trees are being cared for one job is pruning that is cutting off the lower branches doing this helps to grow stronger better trees that produce good lumber this road is another way of caring for the trees the road is kept clear and is called a fire break it would help keep a fire from spreading fire cannot easily cross an open space like this on very large tree farms like those in the far west towers are helpful in locating fires fire watchers scan the skies looking for smoke from the lookout tower we can see hundreds of acres of trees on these large tree farms helicopters are often used to plant new trees thousands of tree seeds are loaded into the helicopter the tree seeds have been treated so that animals will not eat them from the air the seeds are scattered over the land where the old trees have been harvested so the seeds are dropped from the helicopter onto the ground all of them will not take root but many will grow into seedlings caring for trees includes spraying to control insects a helicopter is used to spray trees on large tree farms very large trees are usually cut on these western tree farms good highways help speed the truck from the farm to the sawmill next to some of the sawmills are ponds the logs are dropped into the pond and kept there until they are ready to go to the mill in the water the logs are easy to handle and are also protected from fire the logs are pushed to a chute where a moving chain pulls them up into the sawmill the bark is removed from the logs by powerful streams of water this makes more of the log usable for lumber and other purposes now the logs are ready to be cut into boards here is a very large log being cut so we've seen what happens to the logs in the sawmill of a large tree farm on uncle jim's farm kathy and johnny's vacation is almost over uncle jim has a surprise he has bought each of them a seedling they're the kind that can be planted in a backyard now they have their own trees to remind them about the many things that happen on a tree farm how the trees are planted how they are cared for and how they are [Music] harvested