THE MINNESOTA FOREST EXPERIMENT STATION 657 



to be no possibility that the fire would escape. In some cases such apparently 

 trifling things as a failure to leave enough supplies for the men left to guard 

 an old fire has been responsible for its breaking out a second time. 



Manuals of directions for fighting fire are being prepared, and when they 

 are completed will be helpful in increasing the efficiency of the work. 



The question of fire protection is now being studied more intensively in 

 the Forest Service than ever before, and as a result greater progress is being 

 made. Investigations, some of which have already been indicated, are being 

 conducted along many important lines. The completion of fire plans for all 

 the forests with provisions for their improvement in the light of experience 

 and the results obtained through investigation, insures continued progress 

 in the future. 



THE MINNESOTA FOREST EXPERIMENT STATION 



By DILLON P. TIERNEY 



— I^'N THE development of the resources of a timber region there are many 

 I problems which come within the province of the forester to solve. The 

 ^"^ fundamental principle is that the soil should be put to the use for 

 which it is best suited. In addition to land whose worthlessness for farming 

 purposes is self-evident, there are lands, which it is possible to cultivate, but 

 which are so poor that their most profitable use is forestry and not agriculture. 

 Agriculturists are usually unwilling to admit or specify that certain classes 

 of soils are unprofitable from their point of view. In order that the forester 

 may not be forced to confine his activities to reforesting bare rocks and 

 mountain peaks, he must show the agricultural propagandist what are forest 

 lands and how they can be used. Since the northern part of Minnesota is 

 blessed with a fair proportion of purely forest land, it behooves the state to 

 see to it that it is kept in the most profitable timber growth, just as it is 

 now working to get the good agricultural lands under cultivation. 



The importance of securing accurate data from forestry experiments 

 conducted under favorable conditions and competent direction was realized by 

 a number of public-spirited men of the state, and it was through their efforts 

 that Minnesota established the first forest experiment station. By an act 

 of the legislature, approved March 31, 1909, the state received title by gift and 

 purchase to approximately 2,700 acres of forest land near Cloquet. This tract 

 is to be under the direction of the university board of regents, "to be used as 

 a practice ground, demonstration forest and experiment station for the 

 students of the forestry department of the University of Minnesota." 



Most students of forestry have undoubtedly been confronted with the 

 problem of getting owners of large tracts of forest lands to follow certain 

 forestry metJiods. Several reasons for these difficulties may exist. One of the 

 chief reasons is a lack of knowledge as to just how any particular silvicultural 

 method will work out under local conditions. Exact knowledge is necessary. 

 It is not enough to assume as a basis for calculation the results that are 

 obtained with foreign forests or with forests of some other part of the United 

 States, although this may be very satisfying to the forester. If, for example, 

 the forester argues that it is best to improve a heavy stand of middle-aged 

 Norway pine by making two cuttings separated by fifteen to twenty years, the 



