established on raw spoil will
produce merchantable timber has been proven. In 1951, an area was clear
cut at the Enos mine in Pike county. The pines on this tract were
planted in 1933-34. The products from that cutting, peeled posts and
poles, were sold to the Indiana Wood Preserving Company at the rate of
$335.59 per acre. An increase in value of $16.48 per acre per year.

Pasture, forests and fishing are not the only products. Game of all
varieties is abundant in the worked out areas. One of the largest herds
of white tailed deer in the state, now referred to as the strip mine
herd, is located in northern Warrick and southern Pike counties. In the
Indiana deer season of 1951, the first open season since 1893, the
second largest recorded kill came from the strip mine herd. The
Pitman-Robertson report of the Division of Fish and Game carries the
following comment on deer from that area. "The superiority of the
diversified range of the strip mine herd was reflected in above average
weights and measurements in most age classes."

From the evidence at hand, there is every reason to believe that most of
the mined area will again be highly productive forest land. It has
completed the entire cycle of land use. Originally it supported
magnificent stands of hardwood timber. This timber was cut and the lands
devoted to farming. Poor management and erosion soon depleted the supply
of top soil and many areas were abandoned to broom sedge, blackberries
and gullies. Because it was close enough to the surface the coal has
been removed and the areas replanted to many of the same species of
trees.

With this reestablishment of the forest cover and the creation of the
lakes in the final cuts, we can again have our forest resource combined
with fishing, hunting and other forms of outdoor recreation, some areas
of pasture and, I believe, others that can be profitably devoted to the
production of nut crops and the by-product of quality logs for the
veneer and lumber industry.

PRESIDENT MacDANIELS: If you ever think you are going to sell your logs
for veneer or lumber, don't nail hammocks or other things on the trees.
The metal is very soon buried and causes no end of difficulty. We will
go to the next paper, which is, "Colchicine as a Tool in Nut Breeding,"
Mr. O. J. Eigsti, Funk Brothers Seed Co., Bloomington, Illinois.

MR. EIGSTI: Three years ago this project was conceived in a discussion
between Mr. Best and myself. Then during