HARDWOOD RECORD 



i? 



A Farmer Forester and His Forest. 



In 1851 the father of George B. Horton, 

 "the farmer forester of Michigan," bought 

 eleven thousand acres of ' ' half cleared ' ' 

 farm lands in Lenawee county, Michigan, five 

 miles from the Ohio line. The elder Mr. Hor 

 ton was a great lover of trees and woods. 

 and in the usual sturdy American fashion he 

 turned this sentiment to practical benefit to 

 himself and his posterity. He early demon- 

 strated that a reasonable proportionate acre 

 age of a farm given to woodland would ac- 

 tually pay in dollars and cents, besides the 

 inestimable pleasure it would be to those 

 who watched its growth. 



In 1871 George B. Horton inherited these 

 lands from his father, who evidently be- 

 queathed his son something more valuable 

 yet — a real love of nature and a sure under- 

 standing of her rewards to her devotees. Mr. 

 Horton followed his father's plan of keeping 

 all live stock out of the three remaining wood 

 lots of thirty, forty and sixty acres respec- 

 tively, which were his forest reserves, and al- 

 lowing no timber to be cut from them unless 

 it showed positive signs of full maturity. 



Timber buyers from time to time have 

 tried to convince Mr. Horton of the folly of 

 his theories, but he has been able to silence 

 them by actually showing that the timber 

 will now sell for more than he could have 

 produced had the land been cleared, putting 

 aside the fuel and lumber that is taken out 

 annually. 



Mr. Horton is a farmer both by birth and 

 inclination. He was born on a farm in Me- 

 dina county, Ohio, and says he never had a 

 desire for any other life than that which 

 brings one ' ' close to nature 's heart. ' ' He 

 received the common school education which 

 is the gift of Uncle Sam to most of his 

 proteges. He says of himself: "I try to 

 look at all things from a practical stand- 

 point, although I am forced to admit that 

 some sentiment tenus to round out and make 

 life more worth living." His farm and for- 

 est are not mere theoretical ideals. Besides 

 his eleven thousand acres he has eleven large 

 cheese factories which turn out nearly two 

 million pounds of cheese annually. He aug- 

 ments his dairy farming with rotation in 

 crops of corn, oats, wheat and grass. Cows 

 and hogs consume the products of the culti- 

 vated fields and in turn bring in revenue 

 enough to make the land investment net, 

 on an average, six per cent. 



From his forest reserves he gets annually 

 several hundred cords of wood, sells some 

 trees, besides drawing and sawing large quan- 

 tities of building and repair material, fence 

 posts, etc. 



Mr. Horton says: "In my estimation no 

 farm is complete without a woodlot and an 

 orchard. Both, with proper care, can be made 

 to pay well, besides the charm they give to 

 country life. 



"A man gets far away from the general 

 iordidness of everyday life when 



"A grove born with himself he sees 

 Am. I loves his old contemporary 



"If some power could have been exercised 

 in an early day to the end that one-tent 



Bection of land were left covered with 

 natural forest it would be difficult to estimate 

 the pleasure and profit it would be to the 

 people of the state. It is useless to remind 

 ourselves of that now, however. We must do 

 the next best thing and adopt a rational 

 method in save the remnants, and more 

 wisely plan tor the future. 



"Forestry is one of the most important 

 questions in the economy of the state, and 

 that particular part known as farm foi 

 is of greatest importance because it gets right 

 down to the hearts and homes of the people in 

 their wide distribution over the whole coun- 

 try." 



The pictures on the opposite page are in 

 tensely interesting, as they give ocular proof 

 of the value of forestry and reforestation. 

 Number one is taken from the stump of a 

 large oak which in falling and through the 

 process of working the top into wood has 

 cleared a considerable space. 



Number two shows one of the cleared spaces 

 at the close of the first season in a tremendous 

 effort to reforest itself. Had the farm stock 

 been permitted to go over this woods all this 



young growth would have I n browsed off 



and the place left barren. 



Number three represents one of the many 

 monarchs of these small forest reserves. This 

 tree still seems healthy although it is proba- 

 bly one thousand years old. The romancer 

 might without much Btretch of imagination 

 make that tree the custodian of atmospheri- 

 cal secrets which would be of untold value 

 to the mere man who approaches it as its 

 master and holds in his hand its warrant of 

 life or death. 



Number four shows a range of thrifty 

 medium sized oaks. It will be noticed that 

 the young growth has been held down in the 

 oundL 



Number five represents one of the places 

 "here large trees have been taken down and 

 where nature has been at work for eight 

 years. The thick mulch of leaves will force 

 prolific growth in years to come. 



Number six is a good object lesson of sun 

 and light effects in nature 's processes. 



From the farm forestry point of view 

 these pictures are invaluable as they show 

 that iu this case the work is far beyond the 

 i i mental stage. 



Mr. Horton is a man of broad mind, inter- 

 ested iu all the varied movements which work 

 for the real betterment of mankind as well 

 as the farmer. He assisted in the grange move- 

 ments of the early seventies, and was master 

 of his home subordinate grange for twenty 

 consecutive years; master of his county 

 grange for five years; served on the executive 

 board of the state grange six years, and was 

 elected master of that body in 1890, where he 

 is now serving his sixth term of two years 

 in thai capacity. Mr. Horton has served on 

 the State Board of Agriculture and in the 

 State Senate, has been president of the 

 Lenawee county fair for twenty-eight consecu- 

 tive yean. His name was. prominently men- 

 tioned for governor of Michigan, and at the 

 state conventions of 1902 and 1904 he received 

 a very complimentary vote for that high 

 office. He is a member of the executive board 

 of the State Forestry Association, the State 

 Good Koads Association and the State Agri- 

 cultural Society. 



All of these offices show that Mr. Horton 

 is a man of calibre and affairs, but of most 

 interest to lumbermen is his practical dem- 

 onstration of the commercial value of refor- 

 estation. Mr. Horton has one of the most 

 complete farm homes in the country, and he 

 can say with the poet, 



"Each morning when my waking eyes first see. 

 Through the wreathed lattice, golden d»y ap 



There sits the robin on the old elm tree. 

 And with such stirring music fills my ear 

 I might forget that lite held pain or fear, 



And feel again as I was wont to do 



w Inn hope «:i- young and joy and life Itself 



WJIS II. w." 



Points to Be Considered by a T>i 

 mension Association. 



There are a numbi t of interesting buI 



two especially important ones, that 

 might be taken up and handled by an 



m of dimension w Istock manufac 



turers, aside from the question of putting the 

 on a better commercial basis, which 

 lurse is the point at 

 is the establish! spec- 



ions for certain classes of small dii 

 sion other is I 



osion 

 in oak as compared to regular lumber. 

 It is useless to hoi F i tui- 



nate the special stock ai 

 ness from the manufactui 



in hardwood dimension, but there are certain 

 168 of stock on which the sizes and speci- 

 fications might be made uniform by a little 

 concerted effort. Take the wagon wood 

 busim •• ■!! known that 



prominent their 



own special dill It all will 



agree that much of this individuality is un- 



ersaJ sizes 



for the • ln a " 



would ob- 

 is of the 

 ideas 



of thi 



