70 State Horticultural Society. 



FORESTRY WORK. 

 (By Prof. H. C. Irish of St. Louis, Mo.) 



Ill discussing this question, we will ask what is Forestry? One of 

 the questions of today is how shall we manage our woods? Now this 

 means £P great deal more than we think at first. It means the planting 

 and management of trees. Something must be done along this line. The 

 management and tending of trees is something that will effect every 

 community in a few years. It has its influence on the physical world. 

 It is important to us from two points. First, the effect upon the physi- 

 cal world, and second, is the timber question. 



It is not as it used to be a long time ago with this forestry ques- 

 tion, we used to take no thought of our trees. But what was right and 

 proper then need not be proper now in this day. We do not realize to 

 what extent this destruction is going on. One of the most destructive 

 agents we have is fire. The census report of 1880 tells that there were 

 about 8 million of acres destroyed that year. Only a few years remain 

 when our country will be bereft of its forests. But I want to dwell more 

 l^articularly on the management of forests and to consider them from 

 about three points. First, we want to plead for the protection of our 

 forests, then the management, and third, that new ones be planted. 



Our Government has reserved several million of acres in the North- 

 western states and is trving to protect them as best it can from fires 

 and other things. Some states own forests, too, but most of them are 

 owned by private men. The state of New York has several million of 

 acres in forests. Pennsylvania has some, I don't remember just how 

 much, but not quite as much as New York. They are trying to enact 

 national forest laws, and have these forests conducted on strictly forest 

 principles. Now, what are these principles? I can tell you of some of 

 them. In North Carolina, Mr. Vanderbilt has thousands of acres, and 

 keeps adding to the tract. He is managing his forests on a paying basis 

 of marketing the trees that are large and protecting the small ones and 

 tending to them so they will, in a few years, be ready to remove and 

 make room again for the next smaller ones. He also plants new trees 

 in this way of managing he keeps almost a constant supply of timber 

 on hand. He sells enough timber of course to pay all expenses and at 

 the same time is carrying on quite a number of other experiments in 

 connection. It is a profitable investment. New York is beginning to 

 work along this line. And it seems to me that this principal should be 



