12 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



and within five or six inches I came to 

 moisture. And I turned to my friend and 

 said, "This desert can be made to bloom." 

 And there was the demonstration. So that 

 who will say this land is and that is not agri- 

 cultural. Even that. What are the conditions 

 that made it otherwise than agricultural land? 

 There is one third factor that ought not 

 to be forgotten, the person the farmer. He 

 has a great deal to do with whether it is 

 agricultural land or not. 1 know one man, 

 a farmer in Oregon. Two thrifty Germans are 

 fruit farming where there was before a sand 

 desert; they shoveled off the sand, and they 

 made a great success in that very country. 



Ontario's Problem. 



We have a problem in the province of On- 

 tario, as you might imagine, with 90,000 square 

 miles almost unsettled today. At the present 

 time there are 0,000,000 acres out of 90,000,000 

 acres; 6,000,000 of them have been declared 

 agricultural soils. I believe there will be very 

 much Idore. If the settler wants to take up 

 land he can get 160 acres for nothing, and 

 then he can buy another 160 acres for a dollar 

 an acre. He makes application to the depart- 

 ment for the location. If it can be shown 

 that 75 per cent of the land that he calls 

 for is agricultural, he is able to get it with- 

 out any further trouble. If he can only report 

 50 per cent agricultural from his point of 

 view, then investigation is made. If it is 

 within the timber limits, in the report it is 

 called a reservation; and if the settler doesn't 

 say anything more, that settles the case. If 

 he is persistent he will get it. 



The question before us is to say when it 

 is desirable to give up to settlement the real 

 forest as it is now; and the value is still in 

 the future. But I have come to the concep- 

 tion that a certain percentage in the town- 

 ship should be given up. to settlement; and 

 the question to be determined is whether this 

 country should or should not be opened to 

 settlement, the basis of the settlement to be 

 a conception as to what could support a real 

 municipality how much farming country. I 

 admit it would be difficult to figure it out 

 mathematical!}', even from the standpoint of 

 mere physical conditions of soil and timber. 

 We will have to do as we have done with 

 the taxes. Let expediency first have a hand 

 in it, and then afterward find out the principle. 



Clover Takes to Sandy Soil. 



Professor Smith: I want to add just one 

 word. Upon the sandiest of sandy soils 1 

 saw clover growing waist high in 1894. I 

 assume that the roots extended in the ground 

 the same distance. An examination of these 

 roots showed an addition to the soil evidently 

 as great as would be given by ten or twelve 

 loads of barnyard manure to the acre. On 

 the sandiest of sandy soils I saw apple orch- 

 ards growing, with good clean fruit in profit- 

 able quantity. 



Let us make the forestry reserve of the 

 state just as small as we can, but let us make 

 it, small by putting into the hands of intelli- 

 gent farmers, who own farms, information in 

 regard to agricultural soils, and put just as 

 much in woodland as we can make them take 

 care of, and then the state has got all it can 

 do. That is my idea. 



Professor Smith was asked if he had made 

 any tests on the fertility of muscate swamps, 

 and in reply he said that there were swamps 

 right south of Bangor, at McDonald, which 

 had been drained, and showed singular fer- 

 tility for a few years, and then the soil formed 

 itself into little black pellets, about the size 

 of finger-nails, which would not produce well. 

 That another swamp, right west of Holden, 

 of apparently the same character, but finer 

 grade of soil, produces any quantity of hay. 



Wisconsin Is Interested. 



Professor Griffith: That is a question which 

 interests us very much over in Wisconsin 

 what Mr. Smith and others have been speak- 

 ing of. The first proposition, as to what 



is agricultural land, comes up to us all the 

 time. If a man will pay over his hard cash 

 it shows some good faith in the land itself. 

 We have large areas of forest land there now 

 which arc practically solid; at the same time 

 we do not want in any way to retard the 

 growth of northern Wisconsin. If we have 

 any good land in Wisconsin, we want it settled. 

 We are going to find men whose interests are 

 our interests; but at the same time it is a 

 very fine question as to whether that land 

 is agricultural which is and which is not. 

 And so, when a man applies to us, and says 

 he wants to buy a certain description, we say, 

 "All right, provided you will pay the cost 

 of examination and the cost of advertising, 

 and will agree in your application not to pay 

 less than the appraised value." He does so, 

 and we have the examination made. If we 

 find it is agricultural land, it is then offered 

 for sale at public auction, after being adver- 

 tised for six months in the local papers, and 

 sold for not less than the appraised value. 

 If the man means business he bids the land 

 in, and we deduct from the amount of his 

 bid what he has paid for cost of examination 

 and advertising. We take that course to make 

 him show his good faith. 



The fertility of swamps is a question that 

 my board has very carefully considered. That 

 comes right in line with our reservoir proposi- 

 tion. Many of these swamps are saturated 

 with water. They are tremendous sponges 

 established by nature, and the waters are held 

 up to be carried off into the streams. 



Another point which we have to take into 

 consideration is our paper industry, which has 

 grown to be one of our greatest industries. 

 There is only one of the companies which 

 owns any timber land. Certain of the papei 

 mill men use peat for their paper mills. When 

 the supply of peat in these swamps comes 

 to be more valuable for the paper mills they 

 will possibly be drained 'Out for agricultural 

 lands. 



Professor Smith: There is still another use 

 for those swamps. It has been found that 

 the dried peat from them contains two per 

 cent nitrogen, and it is being sold in Chicago 

 for fertilizer. 



Growth of Pine. 



W. B. Mershon next exhibited a section of 

 a sugar pine tree, the short leaf Mississippi 

 pine, which was twenty-eight inches in diame- 

 ter and had a growth of thirty years. 



It was suggested that the growth of the 

 _pine would be greater in that locality where 

 the season was shorter. 



Mr. Chandler was called upon for his ex- 

 perience and observation in that connection, 

 and said that his observations on the growtn 

 of pine show that when the timber is small 

 it does not seem to increase very much in 

 size, because there is not much size to it to 

 increase. As it is larger it will show a greater 

 increase. He said that he had observed that 

 a tree over twenty-five years old will increase 

 faster and will add more wood, up to one 

 hundred years of age, than during any other 

 period of its growth. As it nears maturity 

 it does not grow as rapidly. Then it will 

 stand at nearly the same size for a great many 

 years. A pine tree will grow to nearly its 

 size in about one hundred and fifty years. 

 After that there will be very little increase. 



Dr. Fernow stated that the laws of growth 

 are pretty well established for all particular 

 species, more or less. Usually the rapid in- 

 crease in size comes after the maximum height 

 is reached, about fifty or sixty years. Up to 

 that time the heighth is grown; after that 

 time they increase largely in diameter. 



Mr. Chandler stated that he was speaking 

 only of pine timber. 



Dr. Fernow then stated that his only interest 

 in it was that it leaves the impression that 

 forests can be grown in a short time. Some- 

 times trees grow rapidly for eight or ten years 

 and then grow slowly. 



The association then resumed consideration 

 of the report of the Committee on Resolutions. 



It had been previously voted to consider each 

 section by itself, and the following were 

 adopted as read, or as amended: 

 Preamble: 



Whereas, The Michigan Forestry Associa- 

 tion, with serious alarm, recognizes the fol- 

 lowing undesirable conditions to militate 

 against the common good of this state: 



1. Building timber has reached famine 

 prices, and its scarcity seriously interferes with 

 a hearty development of the state. 



2. Enormous sums are sent out of the state 

 each year to import all of our better grades 

 of timber. 



3. Large areas of land are idle waste, and 

 thus a loss of millions of dollars to the state 

 is suffered. 



4. The growth of timber on these lands, 

 the only safe and rational use, is prevented 

 by fires, which destroy, unhindered, millions 

 of trees every year, and renew the waste con- 

 ditions over several hundred thousand acres 

 yearly. 



4a. The flow of many or most of our rivers 

 has suffered in regularity and usefulness. 



5. The state has thus far taken no steps 

 to remedy these serious conditions or in any 

 way prepare for an approaching calamity of 

 the most serious nature. 



6. The state has even now but the most 

 inadequate means of preventing these wasteful 

 fires, and in no way furnishes protection for 

 forest property. 



7. The state has wasted, and is wasting 

 now, its own lands, which are suited for the 

 most part for fprest growth. 



8. The state has sold during the last five 

 years over eight hundred thousand acres of 

 land at the pittance of about one dollar per 

 acre, and most of this land was stocked with 

 young growth and enough timber to induce 

 the buyer to purchase. 



9. It is notorious that the present method 

 o'f dealing with these lands has done, and is 

 now doing, incalculable harm, by causing these 

 lands to be "skinned" of the little wood ma- 

 terial, and is subsequently delivered over to 

 the ever recurring fires, and thus the state's 

 policy leads to forest destruction instead of 

 forest protection. 



10. This method of dealing with these lands 

 has not led to their settlement, and they are 

 merely returned as tax lands, and are a burden 

 to the state. 



lOa. This burden, in the ten years ending 

 1905, amounted to $1,500,000. 



11. The present attitude of the state pre- 

 vents the owners of timber lands from adopt- 

 ing forestry, and prevents every effort at re- 

 forestation, and it has even led to the clearing 

 of the much-needed woodlot; thus the state's 

 policy forcibly prevents a branch of agricul- 

 ture the development of which at present is 

 more important than that of any other. 



12. Unreasonable and unrestricted taxation 

 to the point of simply confiscation is going 

 on in our northern counties, where the forests 

 and wood working industries are most needed. 



13. Entire lack of all protection of forest 

 lands is aggravating this difficulty and thus 

 discouraging capital from undertaking the only 

 safe and paying use of millions of acres of 

 our state. 



Therefore, it is resolved by the Michigan 

 Forestry Association: 



1. That the legislature enact suitable legis- 

 lation making it not only possible but attrac- 

 tive for private owners of land to engage in 

 forestry. 



2. That the present method of taxation of 

 forest and wild lands be modified to encourage 

 forestry and to discourage land speculation 

 and monopoly. 



3. That the forests and wild lands of this 

 state be protected against fire, that an efficient 

 and competent organization be provided for 



