556 BOARD OF AGRTCULTUBE. 



and damaged trees, they are letting nothing go to waste, they are pro- 

 tecting them against fires and in every community are forests from which 

 stock of every liind is excluded by the owner, that the area may restock 

 itself with new trees for the future. Areas that have been cut over 

 and have grown up in dense thickets are being cultivated to form a 

 future forest. All the weed trees of every sort are cut out and the 

 right trees trimmed up to give them the best impetus of growth. Thickets 

 in the nooks of fields that have in former years been viewed only as 

 rendezvous for rabbits and quail are receiving forestry attention by 

 many, and only a few years of waiting will reveal the wisdom of such 

 conduct. 



Another feature in which the people are showing their appreciation 

 of the forestry movement is in the post and tie timber plantings so 

 universally being conducted. In almost every community with which I 

 am familiar farmers and land owners are planting black locust, catalpa, 

 chestnut and similar trees for fencing posts and railroad ties for the 

 future uses. I can not begin to estimate the extent of such plantings, 

 but I am sure from the reports of nurserymen from this and adjoining 

 states that millions of such trees have been planted in Indiana during 

 the few years just passed. 



The progress of forestry by the people as indicated by these features 

 just discussed does not excel the progress in ornamental and protective 

 tree planting. The Arbor Day planting for shade, ornament and protec- 

 tion upon the lawns of both public and private grounds and around the 

 farm premises has been made the subject of personal attention every- 

 where. 



The one form of forestry that has not received the attention which it 

 should is the planting of areas to the hardwoods as commercial invest- 

 ments. There have been scarcely any notable tracts of the best hardwood 

 trees used in our general manufacture planted to form the supply of 

 those needed timbers Avhen the present limited supply is exhausted. It 

 seems to me that this feature of forestry should be promoted speedily 

 by the State's making legal conditions for its advancement. I am inclined 

 to think that the failure along this line is due to two causes, the best 

 of which is the lack of definite knowledge of the time it takes for 

 such plantings to mature to profit and also the degree of profit to the 

 planter, and secondly the selfish disposition of most people to not do 

 anytliing which they themselves might not reap the benefits from. They 

 do not possess any very great altruistic tendencies. In these elements 

 of hindrance there exists mistaken opinions which I hope will be soon 

 displaced by experiments that will no longer leave chance for retarding 

 this most essential work. More upon this phase will be brought out 

 in a following discussion. 



The needs of forestry in Indiana are not mythical. By some it Is 

 viewed as a fad, a cranky hallucination originated by an enthusiast for 



