90 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



are bronglit face to face with one of the most important problems of agricul- 

 ture and prosperous statehood, viz: How can we best protect and preserve 

 our remaining timber? Already our climatic changes have been mainly for 

 the worse, summers hotter, winters colder, drouths and floods more frequent 

 and destructive. Today the remaining pine timber of the state is mainly in 

 the hands of capitalists, who will, in the next twelve or fifteen years, use up 

 about all the valuable pine, at least in the southern peninsula. In 1900, sixty- 

 five years of statehood, will be stripped from ]\Iichigan almost entirely her 

 great pine forests, and about another quarter of a jentury thereafter her hard- 

 wood timber will likewise be used up. This estimate is upon the present 

 basis of consumption, which is likely to continue. 



As a people, we shrink from and abhor too much government, hence we 

 will be slow to adopt (if indeed we ever do) the European system of forestry. 

 There the government owns large tracts of timber lands and have reduced 

 forestry to a fixed and well defined science. In some of those countries even 

 private timber claims are placed under governmental control, and tlius instead 

 of waste, depletion and destruction of timber for immediate gain, their for- 

 ests are made to yield them a perpetual ri^venue, which is yearly becoming 

 more valuable. Instead of using up the principal, the interest is accumulat- 

 ing new principal. 



In this country, without a radical change in our national and state laws, in 

 our system of groAvth and culture, little can be hoped for in the future. 

 Sooner or later our national and state governments, will, by force of circum- 

 stances, be compelled to adopt a ra'lical system of forestry. For the present, 

 our timber preserves and culture will be mainly in the hands of individual 

 owners of the soil. Singly we can do but little, collectively we can do much. 

 Landed proprietors will soon learn that growing timber can be made as profit- 

 able as growing grain and fruit; an'l when they once plainly see the everlast- 

 ing dollar the problem will be solved. 



As a people we invest millions sometimes in rotten life insurance compa- 

 nies for the benefit of our families when we are laid away. This shows a dis- 

 position on our part to leave that portion of mankind in better circumstances 

 for our going. If we would pursue a like policy in timber culture we might 

 not only leave our families in better circumstances but make the world more 

 prosperous and happy, and the earth more beautiful and homelike. 



But men must sow today and reap tomorrow, and the idea of deferred profits 

 for one, two, three, or more generations is a stumbling block to too many. 

 On this point we do not act like wise, rational beings. lie who lives for the 

 present alone, without regard to the welfare of the future, is at enmity to 

 the best interests of mankind. But we overlook the fact that timber culture 

 can be made a sure and safe investment in a much shorter period of time 

 than is usually reckoned upon. Many varieties of forest timber grow rapidly 

 and in one or two decades are available for various purposes. While grow- 

 ing they make windbreaks, shelter crops and stock, equalize moisture, and 

 beautify the earth. For the best interests of agriculture and every interest 

 dependent upon that, about one-fourth of the land should remain perma- 

 nently in timber. 



Every man or woman who owns a country homestead should see to it that 

 a part of said homestead be well stocked with valuable timber. Among the 

 trees should be a liberal supply of nut- bearing trees. The walnut will grow on. 

 any soil that will produce good corn and even on soil that will not grow good. 



