14 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



A LESSON FROM GRAND RAPIDS. 



A great deal is being written and spoken 

 nowadays regarding forestry. Men of science 

 demonstrate by incontrovertible facts that the 

 disastrous floods which every year deluge 

 great sections of the country are principally 

 due to the denudation of trees in the territory 

 which feeds the streams, and that the flood 

 danger will increase until the mountain slopes 

 and hillsides are' replanted with the trees, 

 which naturally conserve and regulate the 

 water flow following the winter snows. Econ- 

 omists have demonstrated the financial value 

 of trees, and the steady revenue to be derived 

 from the intelligent practice of forestry. Resi- 

 dents of cities realize that the crowning glory 

 of any residential street is a double line of 

 noble trees, things of beauty all the year 

 round, breaking the force of winter gales and 

 moderating the summer's heat. In nearly all 

 the states governors appoint "arbor days," 

 which good citizens are suposed to observe by 

 tree planting, and which, sad to relate, are 

 generally more honored in the breach than in 

 the observance. 



But at Grand Rapids, Michigan, individual 

 initiative has hit upon a plan which not only 

 seems to insure systematic tree planting on a 

 considerable scale, but also tends to inculcate 

 the love of trees which is at the beginning of 

 scientific forestry. Charles W. Garfield, a tree 

 lover and a man of broad view and under- 

 standing of fundamental problems, at the head 

 of a sub-committee of the board of trade, pro- 

 poses that hereafter Arbor Day shall be some- 

 thing more than a governor's proclamation in 

 Grand Rapids. 



Ten thousand elm trees of two and three 

 years' growth have been imported from 

 France; these trees will be sold to school chil- 

 dren and such 'others as may desire them, for 

 one cent .each, about the cost of their distribu- 

 tion. Each tree-planter will be provided with 

 printed directions regarding tree-planting and 

 tree-culture. It is the plan of the board of 

 trade to create an interest in tree-culture 

 among the school children which will insure 

 rational forestry in future years. 



The plan seems to be admirable. Not many 

 years since trees were looked upon as enemies 

 to husbandry, which had to be destroyed to 

 make room for "crops." They were girdled, 

 cut down, piled in heaps and burned in the 

 clearings when there was neither time nor op- 

 portunity for converting them into eordwood. 

 But the process was continued too far. It is 

 now beginning to be understood a most valu- 

 able farm crop may be gathered year after 

 year from the wood-lot, with annual increase 

 of value, by removing the mature trees and 

 leaving the others. And with such systematic 

 planting of elms as Grand Rapids proposes, 

 that city will be noted far and wide in twenty 

 years, as much for .its noble elms as for its 

 libraries, parks and schools. It is planting in 

 a double sense planting trees and planting 

 ideas which will govern long after the men 

 who originated the movement will have passed 

 away. They could leave no nobler monument. 

 A shaft of granite is a senseless memorial in 

 comparison with a whole city with streets 

 shaded and made gratefully pleasant for all 

 men for all time. 



Jackson is proud of its beautiful shaded 

 streets, and in this regard it is' ahead of many 

 sister cities. But more could be done. There 

 is not a street which could not be improved in 

 this regard, beautiful as the best of them are. 



There is a suggestion here, which might well 

 be acted upon in Jackson. Nothing would 

 more conduce to the "city beautiful" which is 

 the hope of all loyal Jacksonians. Jackson 

 Patriot. 



RAILROADS SHOULD GROW FORESTS. 



C. H. Goetz, forester for the H. M. Loud 

 Lumber Company of Au Sable, suggests that 

 the railroads could utilize. a great deal of the 

 land on their rights of way for the propaga- 

 tion of trees, which in 25 or 30 years would 



produce enough wood annually for the needs 

 of the companies for ties, posts and poles. He 

 estimates that there are in the United States 

 200,000 miles of track outside of the cities and 

 villages, along which trees could be grown. If 

 100,000 miles of right of way were used to 

 plant two rows of trees six feet apart on either 

 side of the tracks the roads could raise be- 

 tween 350,000,000 and 400,000,000 trees, and 

 in 25 years could cut 16,000,000 trees a year for 

 ties or poles, or 32,000,000 ties and 16,000,000 

 posts, half of their present demands. 



In addition, most of the large railway com- 

 panies own enough land, which, if given in 

 charge of competent foresters, could be made 

 to produce for them, ties, poles and posts 

 enough for their use in 25 to 40 years. Severa! 

 of the companies realize that they can nol 

 make a wiser investment than to take the land 

 they hold and the land they can get cheap, and 

 plant the same to timber, suitable for their 

 own use, and they have begun the experiment. 



If all the great railway companies would 

 follow suit it would mean that they must have 

 men who understand the raising and handling 

 of forest crops of trees, nurseries, etc. Men 

 who could do some surveying and mapping, 

 who could analyze the soil, who understand 

 silviculture, lumbering, in fact, men who are 

 all-round trained foresterrs. 



To supply these men, our forestry school 

 will have to get busy grinding them out, for 

 the demand for good foresters by the United 

 States government alone already exceeds the 

 supply. 



The following railroads have already made 

 a beginning in forestry: 



The Pennsylvania Railroad Co., mileage, 

 5.705; the Santa Fe Railroad Co., 7,800; the 

 Southern Pacific Railroad Co., 5,019. 



The following could very profitably follow 

 suit: 



Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, mileage. 4,338; 

 Atlantic Coast Line, 5,466; Central Georgia 

 Railroad, 1,500; Canadian Pacific Railroad, 8,- 

 646; Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, 1,700; Chi- 

 cago & Northwestern Railroad, 5,891; Burling- 

 ton Route, 8,123; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 

 Paul Railroad, 6,604; Cleveland, Cincinnati & 

 Ohio Railroad, 2,628.; Wabash Railroad, 2.430; 

 Union Pacific Railroad, 5,710; Southern Rail- 

 way, 6,710; Seaboard Air Line, 2,600; St. Louis 

 & San Francisco Railroad, 3,414; New York 

 Central Lines, 3,319; Missouri & Pacific Rail- 

 road, 5,613;. Missouri,. Kansas & Texas Rail- 

 road, 2,800; Louisville & Nashville Railroad, 

 3,326; Illinois Central Railroad, 4,276; Great 

 Northern Railroad, 5,247. 



In fact, every railroad owning over 1,000 

 miles of railway ought to have a forester, and 

 raise its own ties, poles, posts, and construc- 

 tion timbers. 



CHINESE TO SAVE FORESTS. 



The Chinese are saving their forests. The 

 almost worldwide movement to protect and 

 establish forests has reached the Celestial Em- 

 pire, and the first Chinese school of forestry 

 shortly will be opened in Mukden. 



The Chinese realm sometimes is pointed out 

 as the worst example among modern nations 

 of forest destruction. The floods which peri- 

 odically are poured down from the denuded 

 mountains are destructive beyond comparison 

 with those of any other country, and the want 

 of forests is assigned as the chief cause. 



Wood is scarcer in China than in almost 

 any other inhabited region of the world, al- 

 though the country is well adapted to the 

 growing of trees. In the establishment of a 

 forest school the Chinese government gives 

 evidence that it realizes the need of beginning 

 its reforestation in a scientific manner. 



IMPORTING PINE AT ALPENA. 



The Michigan Alkali Company has contract- 

 ed with the Richardson Lumber Company, of 

 Alpena, for a considerable quantity of long 

 leaf yellow pine to be used this summer in the 

 construction in Alpena of the elevated railroad 



track to be built from the crushing plant to 

 the dock. The amount of lumber required will 

 be about one million feet. This will be cut at 

 southern mills and will be shipped as needed. 

 This is the first consignment of any particular 

 proportions of this kind of pine that has ever 

 been purchased for use in Alpena, and is one 

 of the largest in the state. When it is consid- 

 ered that this amount of pine is being brought 

 from the south into a section 'of a state that 

 has been one of the biggest producers of man- 

 ufactured pine in the whole country, it em- 

 phasizes how Michigan's pine has been cleaned 

 up. 



The placing of this order with an Alpena 

 firm by the Michigan Alkali Company is a con- 

 tinuation of its policy of placing its contract 

 work, buying its supplies in Alpena and em- 

 ploying Alpena labor, whenever it is possible 

 to do so. The same thing is true of the Huron 

 Portland Cement Co., and the policy of both 

 companies means the betterment and improve- 

 ment of Alpena to a very large extent. 



SAWDUST SCARCE ARTICLE. 



With the passing of the pine, butchers in vari- 

 ous portions of Upper Michigan are complaining 

 of the increasing difficulty of procuring sawdust 

 for use as a covering for the floors of their meat 

 markets. Formerly it was an easy and inex- 

 pensive matter to get any quantity of the material, 

 for as refuse it was to be had for the asking at 

 the sawmills. Now with fewer sawmills in com- 

 mission it is often necessary to import the 

 product, while the sources of supply continue 

 steadily to decrease. Much cedar and hemlock 

 sawdust is available in various lumbering towns, 

 but it is much less satisfactory to many butchers. 

 Besides there is a growing disposition at the 

 mills to use the sawdust in aiding in the gener- 

 ation of steam. Mixed with coal it makes a very 

 satisfactory fuel. 



CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING. 

 Advertising in the classified col- 

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 cents per agate line. 



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YOUNG MAN, good habits and scholar, position 

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 W. J. Burton Co., 164 Lamed st. west, Detroit. 



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