FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 69 



their continuous even flow to seasons of freshets and drying up. The 

 air currents, no longer checked by the woodlands, cause the moisture to 

 evaporate from the constant fanning, often producing droughts. The 

 purifying effect of the woods upon the atmosphere, their simple beauty, 

 and their commercial value all tend to make the subject one of interest. 

 The average resident of the southern portion of the lower peninsula 

 seldom realizes the facts as they actually exist in more northern Mich- 

 igan. 



THE PRESENT CONDITION OF FOREST AREAS 



is not as we might wish it to be in order to produce good results in a 

 short space of time. We find that less than ten per cent of the timbered 

 lands in the lower peninsula is the property of the State, and that the 

 remaining ninety per cent of this class of land is owned by men who care 

 only for the merchantable value the timber may be made to produce, and 

 these areas might be entirely denuded in the next year if these proprietors 

 so willed. 



The timber of southern Michigan was cut under entirely different cir- 

 cumstances from that in the north. Here in the south it was cut to pre- 

 pare the land for the plow, and nearly every settler left a wood lot from 

 which the over-ripe timber is removed from year to year for fuel or lum- 

 ber. As a result we find small bunches of timber scattered all over the 

 counties in and south of the Saginaw and Grand River valleys. Land 

 was not cleared for agricultural purposes in the north, but the timber 

 was removed by the square mile and solely for the value of the timber 

 itself. A large quantity, unfit for the mill was left standing or lying on 

 the ground, to be licked up by the first forest fire, unless convenient to 

 railroad by which it could be carried to the distant city as fuel, or to the 

 coal kiln where it was made into charcoal or wood alcohol. Most of 

 the tracts were too far away to allow the refuse timber to be handled at 

 a profit, and blackened trunks, logs, and stumps are the only remaining 

 traces of the once thrifty forest. 



The remaining timber lands in the State are fast becoming the prop- 

 erty of the manufacturers in wood, and the only bits of original wood- 

 land that we can hope to save are the little parcels left by the farmers 

 for fuel or sugar orchards, unless, indeed, some of the larger timber 

 owners see fit to present the State with some timbered lands to be held 

 as forest preserves. The present condition of the forests in Michigan we 

 find not very flattering. 



WHAT OF THE PROSPECTS? 



For an answer we must look to those great areas that, black and dreary, 

 stretch away mile upon mile, in nearly every county north of a line drawn 

 westwardly from Saginaw Bay. This great scope of country was once 

 covered with the finest original forest that ever pleased the sight of man. 

 Most of it was then the property of the State, and in order to extend im- 

 provements and make room for an ever increasing population, these im- 

 mense tracts were given out to railroads and other corporations, or sold 

 at a low figure to acquire capital for the support of the great educational 

 institutions of the State. In the development that was to follow the 

 timber must be removed. 



