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394 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



From the careful statistics of the German gfovernment and from 

 the records of private forests, we know that the annual growth of 

 wood per acre and year does not average more than 55 cubic feet, 

 thoug'h, under favorable conditions, it inay rise to double that 

 amovint with some species. In this yield are included branches and 

 smaller dimensions down to three inches diameter, wliich are not ' 

 used in this country. If we refer only to the production of such 

 sizes as are used in this countrj^ our timber at the age of 125 years 

 would be found to have grown, at best, not more than 35 cubic feet 

 per year per acre. Our present acreage, therefore, even if it were 

 well stocked and well managed, could not produce our annual con- 

 sumption. But we do know that much of it is badly stocked, occu- 

 pied with poor timber and not cared for. We are, therefore, consum- 

 ing much more than the area reproduces, probably double this 

 amount, and with everj' year the disproportion grows. Were we to 

 assviine that 10,0(X) feet, board measure, is now standing on every 

 acre of the whole forest area — an extravagant estimate, even with 

 the enormous stumpage of the Pacific coast forests — our area could 

 not supply our need for much over one hundred j'ears, the time it 

 takes to produce a good sized saw-log. Most of the timber we are 

 now cutting is over 200 years old. The probabilities are that the end 

 will be visible much sooner. For the white pine, the end — relatively, 

 not absolutely — is now in sight, and the same is true of walnut, yel- 

 low poplar and ash. Hence the need of attention to secure careful 

 and more thorough utilization of our timber products, and, espec- 

 ially, the prevention of unnecessary waste, is indicated, even from 

 considerations which relate solely to the pecuniary interests of the 

 lumberman. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY. 



LYCURGUS K. MOVER, MONTEVIDEO. 



A forest is a tract of country covered with trees— generally of con- 

 siderable extent. There are no forests in western Minnesota. We 

 have no evidence that there have been any forests there for thou- 

 sands of 3^ears. There are no indications now that there will ever be 

 any forests there. 



Forestry is the art of caring for forests. Where there are no for- 

 ests there can be no forestry. 



The probable reason for the fact that no forests exist in western 

 Minnesota is that the climate is not adapted to forest growth. Some 

 have imagined that the climate of a country depends on the pres- 

 ence or absence of trees. More careful study has shown that the 

 reverse of the proposition is true. It is the climate that produces 

 the trees, and not the trees the climate. That is the general prin- 

 ciple. The climatic modifications produced bj- trees are extremely 

 local. No person who has been overtaken by a storm in an open 

 countr}^ and who has found shelter on the leeward side of a fine 

 grove, can have failed to notice the local climatic modifications pro- 

 duced by the trees; but the storm itself is unaffected. It merely 

 rises over the trees and keeps on its course with unabated speed. 



