STATE FORESTEY CONYETsTTIOE" AT GRAlsTD 

 RAPIDS, JANUARY 26-27. 



In pursuance of the scheme of purposes as outlined by the commission 

 soon after its organization, and in acceptance of a cordial invitation extended 

 by the Grand Rapids Board of Trade, a Forestry convention was held in the 

 city of Grand Rapids on the 26th and 27th of January, 1888. This meeting 

 was convened with the objects in view of comparing opinions, gathering 

 facts, and recording current thoughts in our state upon questions that 

 would naturally present themselves to the commission in pursuance of the 

 work indicated by the law creating it. 



Hon. N. A. Beecher, of Genesee county, recited to the convention the 

 reasons why a bill was drawn and the law enacted which provided for the 

 Forestry Commission in Michigan. He found a number of leading thought- 

 ful men in the state who were discussing the best means of staying the great 

 waste of timber in the state by fire and careless cutting, and how best to 

 conserve the forest wealth of the northern part of the state so that it could 

 be most wisely utilized, and how, by encouraging new plantations in the 

 southern part of the state, to restore the conditions needful to the most suc- 

 cessful agriculture, which had been swept away with the thoughtless 

 destruction of nearly all the forest growth. 



He stated as an admitted fact that where one-fourth to one-third of the 

 total area of timber is allowed to grow, we can raise more products of all 

 kinds than where the country is denuded of the same. The humidity of the 

 atmosphere, six per cent greater in forest than in field, assists in producing 

 rain and is more healthful. 



The annual waste or consumption of forest timber in one year in the 

 United States is, according to the last census, estimated at $700,000,000, 

 more than double the amount of the National Bank currency. 



There are 1,000 mills engaged in manufacturing lumber and shingles in 

 Michigan, with an invested capital of $48,000,000, and the value of the 

 annual product approximates 160,000,000. The owners of these mills employ 

 35,000 persons, who receive annually an aggregate of over $7,000,000. The 

 total product of Michigan for 1886 is almost 3,000,000,000 feet; shingles 

 283,838,000. 



Mr. Beecher quoted Geo. S. Frost, an extensive dealer in Michigan pine 

 lands, as saying : " The whole timbered area of Michigan is 'cornered' and 

 will not last more than fifteen years," 



The amount of timber used by railways in operation in this state for the 

 year 1885 was 3,750,000 ties; allowing thirty-five feet to each tie, gives 131,- 

 250,000 feet. Then comes piling, bridge timbers, etc., which equal one-third 



