ARBORICULTURE 



21 



FORESTRY AT MICHIGAN AGRICUL- 

 TURAL COLLEGE. 



The opportunities for the study of forestry 

 are exceptionally good at Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College. Facilities are at hand for the 

 instruction and demonstration that should be 

 included in an undergraduate course. The 

 study of languages, mathematics, soils, botany 

 and other branches of science is carried on in 

 departments well equipped for their work. The 

 students in forestry Join the classes in other 

 departments for their general instruction. The 

 freshmen and sophomore years are the same as 

 for agricultural students. In these years the 

 student receiACS instruction in determining tree 

 species ; the proper trees to grow in different 

 localities ; propagation of trees from seed, cut- 

 tings and coppice; the proper management of 

 timber land; how to determine the height of 

 standing trees by several methods ; the use of 

 log rules ; how to determine the amount of 

 timber on a given area, large or small ; how to 

 determine the aniomit of timlier a given area is 

 building up each year, and, therefore, whether 

 the timber is held at a profit or loss ; the kind 

 of land that should be kept in timber; the 

 adaptability of certain kinds of wood for cer- 

 tain purposes, and other subjects that go to 

 make up an elementary course in forestry. 

 With the beginning of the junior year the two 

 courses diverge and the forestry student takes 

 up more advanced work in the principles of 

 forestry, forest botany, forest tree propagation, 

 wood technology, silviculture, forest mensura- 

 tion, economics of forestry, protection and reg- 

 ulation, diseases of trees, forest \'ahiation, and 

 some line of original investigation. These are 

 the technical subjects that occupy his time dur- 

 ing the rest of his course. It is expected that 

 at some time during his course the student will 

 visit wood-working factories, pulp mills, alcohol 

 plants, and forested, deforested and reforested 

 areas in the State. 



Three acres of land near the campus have 

 been set aside for use as a forest nursery. 

 Planting was begun in the nursery in the spring 

 of 1903. This nursery now furnishes nearly all 

 the planting stock required by the department. 



There are two hundred acres of the college 

 farm under the management of the forestry de- 

 partment. This area consists of old pastures, 

 pastured woods, culled timber, burned-over 



land, and plantations of deciduous and ever- 

 green trees, so that many different phases of 

 forestry are demonstrated right at home. The 

 campus contains over six hundred species and 

 varieties of trees and shrubs. Many of thein 

 are of the primeval forest that stood here when 

 the College was established in 1857. One piece 

 of woods containing 55.5 acres is designed for 

 an arboretum. Planting with this object in 

 view has already begun. 



Write to President J. L. Snyder, Agricultural 

 College (P. O.), Michigan. 



RECLAIMINCx EVERGLADES. 



Pi^ELiMiNARY Surveys Show It Is- 

 Feasibi^e — W'lhi, Be Great Thing. 



Fort Pierce, Fla., Sept. 20. — The addi- 

 tion to the cultivable area of the State 

 of Florida in a region almost tropical, 

 almost equal in extent to the kingdom of 

 Holland, and larger by several hundred 

 square miles than that part of Holland 

 reclaimed from the sea, will be an 

 achievement that can not fail to have an 

 itnmense infltience on the fruit and truck- 

 ing interests of the State. 



Surveyor J. O. Fries, a veteran ex- 

 plorer of South Florida, is resting from 

 a prolonged trip through the Everglades 

 to Lake Okeechobee. Mr. Fries made 

 a preliminary survey of the country un- 

 der instruction from the Commissioners 

 of the Internal Improvement Fund, of 

 which Governor Broward is the chair- 

 man. The survey was the first step 

 taken under authority of the State toward 

 the reclamation of this vast and fertile 

 territory. The survey has demonstrated 

 the feasibility of reclaiming the lands by 

 means of drainage canals. When ac- 

 complished it will become the most pro- 

 ductive section of Florida in the grow- 

 ing of sub-tropical fruits and early vege- 

 tables. — Friiii and Produce Nezus. 



