The Growth of Conifers on Prairie Soil

In an effort to provide timber products, forest plantations were widely established on the prairie soils of Illinois during the second half of the 19th century. These included a few conifer plantations which were not very successful. The authors show that, over a period of 70 years, the growth of four planted species has not lived up to expectations based on their early development; and that standard site indexes may not give a reliable basis for predicting tree growth in such plantations.