TWO FEATURES OF FORESTRY 



The part that Colleges and Experiment Stations may play in its Development 



From a Paper Eead by F. W. RANE, Massachusetts State Forester^ Before 

 THE Association of Colleges and Experiment Stations at Columbus^ Ohio 



XTAKE it for granted at the outset that forestry is alreay acknowledged 

 to be a subject worthy for consideration by our colleges and universities 

 and well adapted for a place in their curriculum; also that experiment 

 station officials feel that were they able to enlarge their staff by the addition 

 of a forester, results could be expected in this line of agricultural development 

 in their respective states. 



Forestry is nothing other than an agricultural crop which demands 

 modern methods of culture and management, as other plants, for both 

 economic and aesthetic results. The forest crop or forestry at once calls to 

 mind a large class or group of plants of the vegetable kingdom whose funda- 

 mental importance to a State or nation is necessarily closely related with 

 its success and progress. Wood or lumber finds innumerable uses. 



When our forefathers came to these shores, they found magnificent pri- 

 meval forests in all their glory — a vast field of grain waving before the wind 

 as it were. Individual specimens of white pine in New England, Michigan, 

 Wisconsin and Minnesota; Black Walnut in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Vir- 

 ginia, Kentucky; Black Cherry throughout the eastern United States; Chest- 

 nut, Massachusetts to Georgia; Tulip Tree, throughout the Appalachian Range; 

 all these and many more species could be found that would cut upwards 

 from three to six thousand feet board measure from a single tree. What has 

 become of these Monarchs of the forest? Today we point ;with pride to the 

 forests of the great west and northwest which still remain, but how long will 

 these forests continue to stand judging from the wasteful methods of the 

 past? Because the East wasted its birthright, npw the West claims similar 

 privileges. 



We have possessed a nation flowing with milk and honey, figuratively 

 speaking, streams teeming with fish, precious minerals, coal, oil and natural 

 gas in abundance, wild animals and game of a large variety, forests nearly 

 everywhere excepting on the rich prairies, soils adaptable for most any kind 

 of crops, etc., and what have we accomplished with this heritage thus far? 

 We have built and established a nation great among the nations of the 

 world. This we Americans are proud of and we have every reason to be, as our 

 record shows. It was but yesterday our ancestors arrived here and today, 

 we are a world power — in point of time but a brief minute compared with 

 the lives of nations. 



123 



