STATE WORK 



The Louisiana Forest Law 



Unless unexpected delays occur, by the 

 time this issue of the Journal reaches its 

 readers, Louisiana will have placed itself upon 

 record as having enacted into law the first 

 up-to-date forestry bill to be passed in any 

 of the southern states. The bill would have 

 been introduced several weeks ago, had not 

 some of the larger lumber interests of the 

 state asked for additional time to examine it. 



The bill as it seems certain to pass is es- 

 sentially a fire protection measure. The tax 

 imposed for fire protection will be three 

 quarters of a cent per i,ooo feet on pine, 

 and the same amount on hardwoods. The 

 constitutionality of this tax on lumber has 

 been questioned, and may ultimately be tested 

 in the courts. 



The sentiment of the lumbermen seems to 

 be that, inasmuch as the passage of such 

 a bill is demanded at this time, the provi- 

 sions of the billj as introduced by Repre- 

 sentative Henry Hardtner, representing the 

 Conservation Commission, are as mild as can 

 be expected, and most of the lumbermen seem 

 inclined to accept this bill in lieu of other and 

 more radical measures which might be forced 

 through. — Lumber Trade Journal. 



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Forestry for Profit 



M. W. Wentworth, steward of the sani- 

 tarium ot Battle Creek, has embarked in an 

 extensive experiment in forestry, according 

 to Michigan Roads and Forests. He has 

 bought the sanitarium farm of 200 acres at 

 the south end of Lake Goguac, formerly 

 known as the Gregory homestead, and will 

 plant 10,000 trees. The varieties that will be 

 planted are the black locust, the catalpa, and 

 the spruce. 



The spruce will be grown for Christmas 

 trees and the locust for fence posts and rail- 

 road ties. The catalpa and locust will be 

 grown on the marsh land, of which there is 

 quite an extensive area adjacent to the lake. 

 This will utilize land that has hitherto been 

 useless for cultivation. Mr. Wentworth is 

 the second person in that section of Michigan 

 to make the experiment. 



The first person to make an experiment 

 in this line was Clayton Strait, of the town- 

 ,ship of Kmmctt, Calhoun county, who three 

 years ago set out 300 sweet chestnut trees on 

 a piece of land on the shores of Beadle Lake. 

 The trees were obtained from the Michigan 

 Agricultural College and at that time were 



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only a few inches in height. They have 

 nearly all lived and are now from five to six 

 feet in height. So far Mr. Strait's experi- 

 ment has been a success. 



The experiment of Mr. Wentworth will 

 be watched with much interest, as it is on a 

 much larger scale than Mr. Strait's. If the 

 black locust and catalpa will grow in marsh 

 land there are thousands of acres in Michigan, 

 that can be devoted to tree growing. 



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New Hampshire 



Two nurseries, intended largely for the 

 production of white pine seedlings, have re- 

 cently been .started in the state. The mem- 

 bers of the New Hampshire Forestry Com- 

 mission, not having succeeded in obtaining 

 state legislation to establish a nursery, have 

 undertaken to start one themselves as an 

 object lesson, and this has been established 

 in Pembroke. It is the hope of the pro- 

 moters of this enterprise that at no distant 

 day the state will maintain a nursery from 

 which New Hampshire land owners can ob- 

 tain stock at cost price for reforesting the 

 lands of the state. The forestry commis- 

 sioners conceived the idea of establishing this 

 nursery because, for a number of years past, 

 they have received annually a great many in- 

 quiries from residents of the state as to the 

 best method of procuring seedlings and the 

 nearest place from which they could be ob- 

 tained. It was felt that those who made 

 these requests should not have to be sent 

 outside the state, and after a tour of the 

 state to determine the most desirable site, ar- 

 rangements were made for establishing the 

 nursery on the farm* in Pembroke. Already 

 about '80,000 seedlings had been successfully 

 raised on the farm, and these were taken 

 over as a nucleus for the new work. The 

 members of the commission personally meet 

 the expenses of the enterprise. There is no 

 intention of making this a commercially prof- 

 itable enterprise. The object is to furnish 

 seedling trees to residents of New Hampshire 

 at the actual cost of product-ion. The nursery 

 contains at present between sixty and sixty- 

 five thousand trees, and it is the plan to 

 largelv increase its production. 



In the town of Hinsdale, the Keene For- 

 estry Association has about fifteen acres un- 

 der cultivation and is growing 400,000 year- 

 ling pine trees, while about 170,000 trees two 

 years old were sold this year. There are also 

 .several acres of trees of this year's seeding 



