AN ACCOUNT OF THE ANNUAL MEETING. 21 



Professor Coulter dealt with the subject in his inimitable style, infusing 

 much of his own personality into the discourse. Dandeno. 



GENERAL SESSIONS. 



■ In the forestry program the Hon. Chas. W. Garfield, President of the 

 State Forestry Commission, pointed out the need of introducing the 

 teaching- of the principles of forestry into our common schools to awaken 

 a proper sentiment and an appreciation of the aims and methods of for- 

 estry. Mr. John H. Bissel of Detroit told of the former vast timber re- 

 sources of .Michigan, giving statistics of the mill productions of Flint, 

 Saginaw, Muskegon, and other places, and ending with a plea for the re- 

 foresting of the pine barrens. Professor Roth of the University reviewed 

 the land and forest policy of the State, and made evident the immediate 

 need of ending the great waste of our asset, the land. The State shoTild 

 sell its agricultural lands for a higher price, and cease selling to ignorant 

 settlers and unscrupulous syndicates the non-agricultural lands. Dr. J. F. 

 Clark of the U. S. Bureau of Forestry told of the work being done by the 

 government in aiding the farmers of Michigan in managing their wood- 

 lots more profitably. Professors Beal and Bogue of the Agricultural Col- 

 lege by means of charts and lantern views shoAved the results of numerous 

 tree-plantings made in Michigan during the past 10 to 20 years. The 

 views were instructive in shoAving the species of trees best adapted to 

 planting, the rate of groAvth, and the effect of close and open planting. 

 Mr. Chas. A. Davis of the University discussed the farmer's Avoodlot, 

 showing its mismanagement, and the possibility of making it yield an in- 

 come five times as great as at i)resent. 



In the program on the fish and game interests of Michigan, the first 

 paper was read by Mr. F. N. Clark. Superintendent of the U. S. Fish 

 Hatchery at Northville. Mr. Clark produced statistics of the annual 

 catches of fish in the Great Lakes for the past 20 years, and showed that 

 the increase manifest in recent years corresponds to the amount of Avork 

 done in the artificial hatching of the eggs and ])]anting of the fry. Deputy 

 Game Warden Brewster followed Mr. Clark, claiming that the artificial 

 Avork in ])ropagating fish Avas not an improvement on nature's methods, 

 Mr. F. B. Dickerson of Detroit, member of the State Fish Commission, 

 told of the work of the Commission in stocking the streams and inland 

 lakes with fish. He had reliable data to shoAv that the State reaps annu- 

 ally an income of .f:^.000.000 to .f.^.OOO.OOO from those coming from other 

 states to fish. State Game \A'arden Chapman gave the concluding paper, 

 entitled ''Game Aninmls." He said that last year there Avere 20.000 deer 

 killed in Michigan, and that at such a rate the deer Avould soon become 

 as rare as the elk and moose. 



Newcombe. 



