764 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



entire forest, and intends to begin the 

 improvement of the tract as soon as 

 practicable. The open areas will be re- 

 forested next spring, and improvement 

 cutting made as soon as a good market 

 can be developed for the weed trees. 



One of the points of interest in this 

 forest is a very beautiful water fall, 

 one of the finest in the State, especially 

 in early spring. The acquisition of this 

 tract makes the total area of State for- 

 ests about 8,000 acres. 



M. J. Nagel, of Santa Fe, N. M., 

 was recently in Washington to give to 

 Senators from his State his views re- 

 garding the replanting of denuded forest 

 lands and the gathering of forest seeds. 

 He secured the publication of some 

 vigorously worded statements in the 

 Congressional Record. He says he can 

 teach and will take the contract to re- 

 forest every acre of denuded land, 

 abandoned farms and fields in the 

 United States for less than $5 an acre 

 and guarantees that all the planted area 

 will grow. He calculates that his 

 method will save fifty million dollars 

 in replanting seven and a half million 

 acres. Mr. Nagel says he is eager for 

 a chance to prove his statements, but 

 has not yet found the opportunity to 

 do so on a broad scale. 



Residents of Lake Forest, 111., stirred 

 by the fact that the shade trees on the 

 streets of their attractive town are not 

 getting the proper care, recently held 

 a mass meeting and presented to the 

 City Council some resolutions demand- 

 ing vigorous action. They mean to see 

 that the City Council does not neglect 

 their request and will do all they can 

 to beautify their streets and gardens 

 by planting appropriate trees and shrub- 

 bery and seeing that those already 

 planted receive proper care. 



The resolutions quote the fact that 

 the care of trees and shrubbery against 

 ravages of insects and disease is being 

 weakened by ill-advised planting of 

 trees not suitable for the ground and 

 climate and asking the City Council to 

 appoint a permanent commission to 

 safeguard the trees of the city, this 



commission to be empowered to super- 

 intend such conservation and forestry 

 work as is deemed advisable, to insist 

 on co-operation from private owners, 

 and if possible join with other towns 

 in the vicinity in engaging a competent 

 forester to oversee all advisable work. 



Many are the methods prescribed 

 for estimating the value of a shade 

 tree and one of the most recent is that 

 of asking real estate men : "How much, 

 in your judgment, do full-grown shade 

 trees along the street improve the 

 value of the adjoining land for house 

 lots?" This question was asked by 

 the Massachusetts State Forestry As- 

 sociation. The majority of answers 

 ranged from 10 to 50 per cent., while 

 some went so far as to state that a 

 house lot would be worth 100 per cent, 

 more if full-grown shade trees were 

 standing in front of it. A fair average 

 of these answers falls between 25 and 

 40 per cent. Expert tree appraisers say 

 that a shade tree in good condition and 

 well placed is worth $1 per square inch 

 of cross section measured at breast 

 height. At that rate a tree one foot i 



m 



diameter is worth $113, while a tree 

 two feet in diameter is worth $452. For 

 the sake of illustration, suppose that 

 we take a good-sized house lot, 50x100 

 feet, or 5,000 square feet, worth 25 

 cents a foot. The land value is $1,250. 

 If the trees are spaced 50 feet apart 

 on the street there would be one tree in 

 front of the property. The tree is two 

 feet in diameter and worth $452, which 

 would increase the value of the lot 36 

 per cent. 



Donald Matthews, a graduate of the 

 University of Michigan in the class of 

 1909, has recently accepted an import- 

 ant position with the British North 

 Borneo Company. Although Mr. Mat- 

 thews is a young man, he has made a 

 record during the last five years in the 

 Philippine Forest Service. He will or- 

 ganize an expedition into the interior of 

 North Borneo and after examining the 

 timber resources of that section, will 

 determine what sort of a forestry de- 

 partment should be organized there. 



