i he a. d Se CR 
FORESTRY. 183 
Our taxes will increase because a larger part of our area will be lying 
non-productive, and because we will not have the lumbering and manu- 
- facturing plants to share the burden with us. 
Our merchants will no longer have those remarkably long bills to fill 
out by the car load and the sled load, and to foot up with such satisfac- 
tion 
Our hotel keepers and ranchmen will sell out to squaw-men, while in- - 
stead of troops of woodmen passing up and down our rivers and roads, 
hunters, berry pickers, and squaws will follow the desolate old route and 
ford at the old crossings, as the bridges rot away. 
Farms that paid well when the lumbermen were at hand to buy oats, 
vegetables, cattle and hay, are now growing up to brush, the roofs of the 
stables have fallen in, the walls are foul with frogs and mice, and the 
porcupines may be heard gnawing in the deserted houses day and night. 
Such was the condition of all the borders of the Adriondack woods in 
1884, after being lightly culled of spruce, and pine, and hemlock, and 
ravaged by fire. ; 
The clearings made by the fire were tempting spots to the poor farmer, 
and many were lured to attempt the impossible, and were forced to 
abandon their cheap farms, that would have been profitable if the lumber 
industry had been left active to furnish a market for the hay, oats, vege- 
tables and cattle; but the tracts of such land being far apart, and far 
from market, the expense of maintaining roads great, and taxes high on 
account of a sparse population, these settlers were driven almost by 
necessity to timber stealing, hunting, and berry picking to eke out a 
living, and finally gave up hope and moved away. 
In very many respects the Minnesota woods resemble the Adirondacks; 
and, in so far as itis possible, we should take advantage of experience 
there. ; 
In the beginning, and above all, the people of Minnesota should place 
the matter in the hands of men who can be trusted to do not only what 
seems right to them, but who are well informed on the subject; men who 
know at least the principles of forestry as most successfully practiced in 
Europe, and who are especially endowed with American sense and 
are capable of taking thoughtfully and wisely the few simple steps that are 
necessary. 
The enormous expense and complications attending the work in the 
Adirondacks should be avoided by timely action, and to this end the 
following suggestions are offered to Minnesota: 
1. To prevent forest fires. 
2. 'To begin before the land passes into private ownership. 
3. To avoid the cry of the enthusiastic but ignorant city people for 
‘ta park for recreation.” 
4. To seek the greatest good of the greatest number of people of the 
whole state. 
5. 'To avoid injuring any established industry. 
6. To promote and increase every possible industry making use of 
forests products. 
- To encourage the settlement of all the land that would be more 
profitable as farm than as timber land. 
To prevent misconceptions of aims and methods. 
9. To prevent entry of land for timber only. 
10. ‘To provide at once an efficient management of the reserves. 
