382 STATE EOAKD OF AGKICULTURE. 



cliestnut for cabinet vraro. It becomes a large tree on rich low laud in most 

 jjarts of the southern peninsula. It has long l^oen used for barrel hoops and 

 bottoming chairs and making baskets. It grows rapidly. 



• This is not intended as a complete work on forestry. For a fuller account 

 see a valuable work called "Forest Trees for Shelter, Ornament and Profit," 

 by Arthur Bryant, Sr. 



GEEAT WASTE. 



To the best of my knowledge, lumbering has always been overdone in this 

 State. It is in most places very slovenly and wastef ully done. Labor is so high 

 and lumber so cheap that the best is culled here and there, a fev/ trees. The 

 tops and refuse are left on the ground. They are very likely to burn in a year 

 or two and destroy the rest of the standing timber. The fire does not stop here, 

 but runs in and destroys the adjacent timber which has been left for future use. 

 It is a great pity that this fearful destruction by fire is not or cannot in some 

 way be prevented. 



HIGH TREES. 



The exact height of our tallest trees in most cases is not known. They are to 

 be found in some congenial spots where the ground is favorable for a thick 

 growth, in a slight sag in the ground. At Clam Lake an old lumberman 

 informed me that he could furnish sj^ars of pine 175 feet long and not over two 

 feet through at the butt. He had cut them 200 feet long. 



LARGE TREES. 



Within my recollection a large part of Southern Michigan, which is now in 

 the form of arable laud, has been cleared of timber. Our grandfathers, at 

 great labor and expense, cut down, rolled into heaps, and burned the timber 

 from thousands of acres in New York, because they must have room for corn 

 and wheat and meadov/. Oar fathers did and are still doing the same thing for 

 Michigan. Educated in this way, brought up in the woods, where timber is too 

 plenty, as a people, we have been taught to undervalue timber. There are now 

 living, men who can see no beauty in a tree, except for the cords of wood or 

 loads of lumber, or the hundreds of rails it vrill make. The lovely elm, with all 

 its grace and beauty, well styled the queen of American trees, shades the border 

 of his meadow, and is a nuisance. He cuts it down. Our large, grand old trees 

 have not been saved, partially because of this lack of love for them. In many 

 l)laces it would be impossible to save them. They would not stand the storms 

 alone when their fellow trees were cut away. In 100 or 200 years it is likely our 

 successors will have and care for large samples of trees which have groAvn more 

 stocky in exposed places. One of the interesting things now to do is to save 

 what we can and make a record of the size and position of any large trees in 

 Michigan. 



We have no written history recording the size and peculiarities of our forest 

 trees. Below I have arranged in a table the name of the tree, the diameter, the 

 locality of the tree, the name of the person giving the information. It is not 

 nearly so full nor so accurate as I should like to make it. 



The first part consists of our native trees, arranged with tne common names 

 in alphabetical order. 



