ii6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



spirited citizens to establish a national reservation in Minnesota, at the 

 head of the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, however, the latter effort 

 is at present checked by the lumber interests of the region, although 

 these interests would profit in the long run by the establishment of 

 the reservation. 



Forest reservations are not entirely national affairs. Stae reserva- 

 tions are already an established fact in a few States and the indications 

 are that they will be formed in many others during the next decade. 

 The State forests in the Adirondack Mountains in the State of New 

 York are splendid examples of such reservations. These lands 

 were purchased at State expense that they might remain forever in 

 forest, a great heritage for both pleasure and profit for all time. 



Similar reservations have been established during the past few years 

 in Pennsylvania, and others are likely to be set aside in Michigan 

 before the close of the present year. 



Going hand in hand with the making of the State and National 

 reservations, there has been a rapid development in public sentiment as 

 to the importance of practical forestry and its application to the man- 

 agement of the wooded areas of the country, both public and private. 



This change in public sentiment is well illustrated in the volume 

 and character of the investigations in forestry by the Government, 

 when compared with what they were a few years ago. In the Division of 

 Forestry of the Department of Agriculture alone, the appropriations 

 have increased more than six-fold in three years, thus making it 

 possible to extend the study of important problems in American 

 forestry to many of the varied sections of the country. It is well 

 illustrated in the rapidly increasing facilities for instruction in 

 technical forestry in our recently established forest schools and 

 the courses in forestry offered in many of our colleges and 

 universities. It is shown in the fact that owners of private woodlands 

 are in some instances employing trained foresters to superintend their 

 lumbering operations, so that their methods of cutting will not in- 

 terfere with the perpetuation of the forest. It is shown in the yearly 

 increasing appropriations for forestry investigations by the legislatures 

 of the several States, but most of all it is shown in the rapidly increas- 

 ing number of applications coming to the trained foresters of the 

 Government from the owners of private woodlands for assistance and 

 advice in the management of their forests and in establishing plan- 

 tations of forest trees. 



I desire to make clear that this changing sentiment regarding our 

 forests is most fortunate for our future welfare. American prosperity 

 has been largely due to the productiveness of American soil, i. e., 

 to her agricultural and forest products, the value of the latter ap- 

 proximating $1,000,000,000 per year at the present time. The effect 



