64 



CONSERVATION 



more to build up the Department of 

 Agriculture than any Secretary who 

 has ever held the portfolio. The 

 chairman spoke feelingly of the long 

 association of President Wilson with 

 The American Forestry Association 

 and voiced the sentiments of every in- 



dividual member when he said that the 

 determination of President Wilson to 

 sever his official connection with the 

 Association was deeply to be regretted, 

 even if absolutely necessary. The 

 chairman then introduced Mr. Wilson, 

 whose address follows. 



ADDRESS OF HON, JAMES WILSON 



Retiring President of The American Forestry Association 



THERE are one or two thoughts in my 

 mind that I want you people to take 

 up and look over with regard to for- 

 estry. We are using our woods faster than 

 they are growing. It is necessary that we 

 should grow more woods. There are 

 mountain ranges in our country, that are 

 not fit for agriculture, that should be grow- 

 ing wood. There is much land that we can- 

 not spare in the corn and blue grass belt 

 of the West, along the upper Mississippi, 

 and the prairie country. That land is 

 needed to furnish bread and beef for the 

 people. But in every other part of the 

 country there is much land lying idle that 

 might be growing wood. 



I remember being in the foot-hills of Mount 

 Rainier a couple of years ago. I counted 

 on what might have been an acre, twenty 

 of those great firs, that would each cut 

 15,000 feet of lumber. Twenty of 

 those firs, and in addition to them a 

 great many cedars and other trees of less 

 value. I looked over what might have been 

 an acre, as I went past, and became satis- 

 fied that if you uprooted and took away 

 every tree, one of those acres would not 

 support a single sheep. You could step all 

 over that acre from one rock to anotfier. 

 However, that is the home of the tree. The 

 roots go deep down to get nutriment for 

 the tree. We have much of that kind all 

 through the mountain ranges of the country. 



We have been wanting Congress to take 

 hold of the Appalachian and White 

 Mountain ranges, but Congress does not 

 see its way clear to do so and does not do 

 it. The American people can do a great 

 many things without Congress; a very 

 great many things. I think it will be wise 

 to have the States of the Union, as units, 

 take hold of these mountain ranges within 

 their borders, and plan to grow woods upon 

 them. It will be impossible for every cor- 

 poration in the country that uses wood to 

 get hold of these cheap lands. The cheapest 

 lands in America now are those 

 that still grow woods and will 

 not succeed very well in grow- 

 ing grass, because the grass roots do 

 not go away down to the water table to get 

 moisture, while the tree roots do. We have 

 some plants like alfalfa that do go down 



great distances. They are not at home 

 everywhere in those mountains that will 

 grow wood. The corporations that are 

 going to need wood should get hold of 

 these cheap lands and plant and grow wood 

 — that is what they should do. The farmers 

 .should take their lands under consideration 

 in these countries, in these parts of the 

 United States that are not designed to grow 

 grain, or produce meats, and put such parts 

 of their land into wood as will be most 

 profitable in woods. You do not produce 

 as fast from land growing wood but it comes 

 finally. If it does not come in your life- 

 time it will come in the lifetime of the 

 next generation. 



You will remember Sir Walter Scott's 

 shrewd observation, telling of the man who 

 when he came to die, called his son to him 

 to hear his last words. It is quite inter- 

 esting to know what his last will and testa- . 

 ment was to Jock, his son. He said, "Jock, 

 never put out your hand farther than you 

 can bring it in again. Jock, do not drink 

 brandy in the morning; it fires the 

 stomach ;" and finally the crowning advice 

 that he gave to the coming generation : 

 "Jock, in planting a tree, remember that it 

 will grow while you are sleeping." 



Now, every man looks to the future. He 

 looks to the welfare of his family. He wants 

 to leave something behind him. Why not 

 leave growing trees behind him? Let us 

 not sit down and make faces at Congress, 

 because they will not buy these Appalachian 

 and White Mountain ranges. They arc not 

 going to do it this winter — of course, I am 

 merely guessing — and I do not know 

 whether they will ever do it; but that does 

 not prevent the States from taking hold of 

 the matter. It does not prevent associa- 

 tions of men from taking hold and planting 

 trees. It does not prevent the farmer from 

 providing a legacy for the next generation 

 by planting trees on the land that will not 

 grow grasses or grains but will grow trees. 

 The foot-hills of Mount Ranier grow the 

 finest trees I ever saw, growing the most 

 wood on an acre of soil, where you could 

 not graze a single sheep if you took the 

 trees oflf. 



Let us be practical, each of us in our own 

 locality, and let us get our own people to 



