28 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



lous advance In agriculluie under tlie home- 

 stead laws and laws encouraging farming ! For 

 forestry, the sister of agriculture, absolutely 

 nothing has been done. The proposition of for- 

 estry would appeal to you much better if it 



.\I).\M 



i;j:i:.\\'ii.i.i:. tk.\.\. 



were somewhat safer from fires and squatters 

 on the one hand and from taxes on the other. 

 By those two means our nation can encourage 

 or kill forestry, and so far by not adopting any 

 means the very life veins of forestry possibili- 

 ties have been drained. 



It is in this sense that I would speak of the 

 possibilities of a second growth. I spoke lirst 

 on the possibilities of the primeval growth 

 which seemed to me tine : the possibilities of a 

 second growth seem to me mighty poor. In- 

 vestments In first growths in hardwood I con- 

 sider hi'sr : investments in second growths. I 

 coUBlder poor, because, mind you, you have to 

 protect your second growth from fire and squat 

 ters for any number of years before .vou can 

 get any money out of it. You have to pay taxes 

 for a number of years, and at compound inter- 

 est this grows very fast. Second growth fores 

 try is not an enticing thing to iiut money in 

 and there cannot be sliown a man in this coun- 

 try who has made money by planting second 

 growth. The time may come thirty or forty 

 or fift.v or sixty years from now when such a 

 man may exist among .vour own progeny, but 

 the business ohan'ces are not as good as the 

 business chances on tirst growths. 



We are doing at liiltmore a little planting, 

 as everybody knows, but I don't do it in the 

 woods. I do it on the barren fields close to 

 AshevlUe where I can sell anything. We Diant 

 white pine. oak. walnut, on a scale of about 

 one hundred to two hundred acres per annum, 

 but this is an investment I would not make 

 anywhere else In the United States, and espe- 

 cially in the backwf»pds where such an invest 

 mcnt would not be safe from tires. It Is iti 

 the early days of seiMjnd growth that the danger 

 of fires is greatest. If it docs not run through 

 this year It may next, and li.en the while pines 

 are gone and walnut is badly damaged. If we 

 are to liave second growths It can only be by 

 the government adopting laws which will make 

 It wise for us to raise second growth. As it 

 is now. I would not plant on any tract which 

 Is contlnuallv injured by fires. The forestry 

 problem In this case Is Identical with the forest 

 Hre. 



Now, nnotlier type of forestry education. You 

 know there has sprung up a large number of 

 forestry schools, most of them connected with 

 universities, and It Is there thai the old Arabian 

 saying is again exemplified, "There Is nothing 

 new under the sun." The same methods of edu- 

 cation prevail there that prevailed one hundred 

 and twenty years ago in my country. There the 

 chemist taught forestry, the botanist taught 

 forestry, the lawver taught forestry. Do you 

 think it advanced forestry? Not a bit. They 

 were not practical or technical men. What we 

 need In this country Is leilinlcal forestry, tech- 

 nical men who are above all lumbermen, inas- 

 much as forestry consists very largely In the 

 utilization of the lumber. It seems to me we 

 should require forestry scliools which give tech- 

 nical training In lumbering above all. Such a 

 school scarcely exists. In the school at Bllt- 

 more of which I am director I try to have such 

 a school. I try to keep the boys continually 

 within the sound of the mill. I try to keep my 

 boys with loads of lumber passing before them 



so that they will get into the swing of the 

 business. Of course, the raising of a tree Is 

 something too. but my boys must be lumbermen 

 and I hope they will all be Itetlcr lumbermen 

 than I am, for I did not have the privilege to 

 be born in this glorious country. I have only 

 been in this country eleven years, and I spent 

 the fii'st nine years in trying to get ri(l oi 

 erroneous inipressious formed on the otlier side. 

 It seems to me that among the schools in 

 this country, not speaking of mine, the Yale 

 school stands foremost, having the best endow- 

 ment, but Yale sutlers very much from the same 

 drawback of which 1 have already spoken — 

 there is not a man on iter staff that ever had 

 charge of any logging proposition : not a man 

 who ever had money invested in a logging 

 proposition : not a man who ever had any 

 money in stumpage. So they naturally deal 

 with forestry from the standpoint of a car- 

 window observer. They have not been in II. 

 and that seems to me a great drawback. 1 

 learn that yesterday something like Ify.OOO was 

 raised foi- Ihc benefit of Yale with the view 

 r>f establishini; at Yale a chair of technical for- 

 estry. (;o4)(l indeed. Iiciause wilhciil tliat yml 

 won't be able to use any of the Yale bo.vs in 

 vour woods. I have just returned from Utter- 

 bark, where we had a big meeting, attended 

 by all the practical lumbermen of Canada. You 

 never see at a forestry meeting in the United 

 States a single lumberman. Today they are 

 liavin;; a loi-i'stry meeting in Washington, and 

 I will licl my best silk hat that there is not a 

 Itfiiciical lumberman there. You will find a 

 l:irL;cd niimtier of blue stuckin<j;e(i. kid gIo\-e<i la 

 dies and gentlemen with their "Oli. 1-luve-that- 



i:il. MAI'llKT, K.NO.XVII.I.K. I'K.N.X. 



elm-tree-in-front-of-my-house" — you will find 

 that class of foresters, but no actual lumber- 

 men. In Canada it is just the opposite. There 

 the big lumbermen attend the forestry meetings 

 trying to make for Canada a policy which is 

 patriotic and at the same time subsoryes the 

 interests ot (he lumber business. I wish I 

 could persuade not <ui.ly you here, but every 

 member of your association to beconu' mem 

 hers of the American Forestry Association, be- 

 cause, by joining tliat association and becoming 

 active members, you could do much for forestry 

 by ridding It of the \i1oplan ideas held by the 

 majority vf the present membership, who see 

 merely In the lumberman the enemy of forestry, 

 whereas we know that the converse Is true. 

 What Is the use of raising trees If you cannot 

 make money out of them? 



Now, I want to speak of one real lumberman. 

 Senator Kdwards of Maine, lie believes that a 

 forestry school should have a large tract of 

 forest with jMiIp mills, iiiniilc add mills neai-by 

 and all kinds ot limber manufacturing going 

 on wllbin that trad, so that the buys while 

 attending school get object lessons. When you 

 are sick do you send for a doduE- who has just 

 come from ,Iohns Hopkins but who has not had 

 .•iny [iradlcal experience? .Never! When yon 

 engage in mining ilo you engage a sclent 111c 

 mining englneei? No! Vr)u want the practical 

 man. Senator Kdwards bad. I think, llfty-two 

 Idlers wrilti-u to lilm by Vale graduates iisking 

 for Jobs, and the answer In each case was : 

 "I am sorry, but you cannot help me. You 

 don't know my business." 



That seems to be the conillllon that prevails 

 everywhere In oni- counlry. Wi- are raising syl- 

 vlcultiirlstM. but they have no e.<perleii<e, be- 



cause there are no object lessons to be seen in 

 our universities. I think we should not only 

 raise money enough for the chair of lumber, 

 but that we ought to give Yale a forest, he- 

 cause otherwise her graduales will be like 

 the student of medicine who has never seen 

 hospital work or done any practical work while 

 he attended school. I hope Indeed that this 

 lund will be raised, because I am deeply inter- 

 ested, as you know. In the advancement of 

 American forestry. That is my life work, my 

 delight, and I want to put it on a sound foot- 

 ing. I do not ask you to raise money for a 

 Chair of Forestry at Biltmore. because I hold 

 that chair ; Init if yoti want to do something 

 that would delight me much more than endow- 

 ing such a chair send me your boys, and 1 will 

 promise that I will make good lumbermen out 

 of them. 



On motion of John B. Ransom a vote of 

 thanks was tendered the lumbermen of Louis- 

 ville and New Albany for their proffered en- 

 tertainment. 



Reports of Secreta'-y and Treasurer 

 Approved. 



Assistant Seerot.-iry Hurcliettr tlii'ii read the 

 report of the finance committee approving the 

 reports of the secretary and of the treasurer. 

 This report ■n-as accepted and adopted. 



Ou motion of F, C Fischer several motions 

 advocating the proposed changes in grading 

 rules were referred back to the rules com- 

 mittee, of which E, H, Vansaut is chairman, 

 with the request that the committee at its 

 convenience take up suggestions made and 

 that further suggestions from all members 

 on this subject be solicited and then submitted 

 for approval on whatever changes may be 

 deemed important, Mr. Fischer 's motion pre- 

 vailed. 



Report of Cominittee on Poplar and 

 Basswood. 



The report of the committee ou poplar and 



basswood, printed below, was read and tip- 



proved : 



To the Hardwood Manufacturers' -Vssociatlun 

 ni the I'nited States, (jcntlemcu ; Vour com 

 inittee on prices of poplar and basswood have 

 carefully considered the present business condi- 

 tions of tlie country, as well as the supply of 

 lumber now in the yards of manufacturers and 

 dealers and logs in sight that will be available 

 in the near future. 



ili:<i. i:. W. I.I'KIIKMANN. ST. I. Ill 



We believe that conservative action on the 

 part of this association will best serve the In- 

 lerests of all engaged In the manufacture or 

 sale of Itimber. 



We therefore recommend that a price of $-45 



