MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



Government Land to Be 



Sold At True Value. 



The set of new resolutions providing for 

 the sale of government lands under the timber 

 and stone law, which have been received at 

 the land office at Marquette, Mich., are radic- 

 ally different in some respects from the 

 method of procedure formerly in force. The 

 chief point of difference in the new regula- 

 tions is that all lands applied for under this 

 act must be appraised by a government em- 

 ploye, and not sold for less than the appraisal 

 price. Formerly lands were sold for the uni- 

 form price of $2.50 per acre, irrespective of 

 their value. 



The regulations stipulate that lands shall be 

 appraised at their reasonable value, consider- 

 ing the quality and quantity of timber or stone 

 and the accessibility of the property, but in 

 no case shall the land be appraised for less 

 than $2.50 per acre. The appraising of lands 

 under this act is under the direction of the 

 chief of the field division, who may appoint 

 any person in the employ of the government 

 to make an appraisement. 



All persons who filed applications under the 

 timber and stone act before December 1 will 

 be allowed to prove up their claims under 

 the regulations then in force, but all applica- 

 tions filed since that time must be proceeded 

 with under the new law. The appraisement 

 is ordered made after the filing of an applica- 

 tion, and the applicant does not know what 

 he may have to pay for his claim when he files 

 his application. In case an applicant is dis- 

 satisfied with an appraisement, he may file a 

 protest, corroborated by two competent, cred- 

 ible and disinterested witnesses specifically 

 stating his objections, at the land office where 

 he made his application. This protest is then 

 sent to the chief of the field division (for this 

 district located in Duluth) and a second ap- 

 praisement will be ordered made by another 

 person. The person making the protest must 

 pay the expense of the reappraisement. 



Applicant Must Estimate Value. 



Under the new regulations, every applicant 

 under the timber and stone law must make in 

 his first application an estimate of the timber, 

 based on examination, and his valuation of 

 the land and timber thereon, by separate items. 

 Each applicant must, at the time he makes 

 his application and sworn statement, deposit 

 with the receiver a filing fee of $10. The en- 

 tire purchase money must be deposited with 

 the register of the land office before the ar- 

 rangements or advertising of the offering of 

 final proof are made. 



In the new regulations, timber is defined 

 as trees of such kind and quantity, regardless 

 of size, as may be used in constructing build- 

 ings, irrigation works, railroads, telegraph and 

 telephone lines, tramways, canals, or fences, 

 or in timbering shafts and tunnels or in manu- 

 facturing, but does not include trees suitable 

 for fuel only. 



Lands valuable chiefly for timber, but unfit 

 for cultivation are lands which are more favor- 

 able for timber than they are for cultivation 

 in the condition which they exist at the date 

 of the application to purchase, and therefore 

 include lands which could be made more valu- 

 able for cultivation by cutting and clearing 

 them of timber. The relative values for timber 

 or cultivation must be determined from condi- 

 tions of the land existing at the date of the 

 application to purchase. 



Any qualified person may obtain title under 

 the timber and stone law by performing the 

 following acts: (a) Personally examining the 

 land desired; (b) presenting an application and 

 sworn statement, accompanied by a filing fee 

 of $10; (c) depositing with the receiver the 

 appraised price of the land; (d) publishing no- 



tice of his application and proof; (e) making 

 final proof. 



Examination of the land must be made by 

 the applicant in person not more than thirty 

 days before the date of his application, in order 

 that he may knowingly swear to its character 

 and condition. 



How Lands Are Appraised. 



The government employe appointed to make 

 any appraisement must personally visit the 

 lands to be appraised, and thoroughly examine 

 every legal subdivision thereof, and the timber 

 thereof, and appraise separately the several 

 kinds of timber at their stumpage value, and 

 the land independent of the timber at its value 

 at the time of appraisement, but the total ap- 

 praisement of both land and timber must not 

 be less than $2.50 per acre. He must, in mak- 

 ing his report, consider the quantity, quality, 

 accessibility, and any other elements of the 

 value of the land and the timber thereon. The 

 appraisement must be made by smallest legal 

 subdivisions, or the report must show that the 

 valuation of the land and the estimate of the 

 timber apply to each and every subdivision 

 appraised. 



The completed appraisement must be mailed 

 or delivered personally to the chief of field 

 division' under whose supervision it was made, 

 and not t'o the applicant. Each appraisement 

 upon which an entry is to be allowed must be 

 approved respectively or cojointly as provided 

 in these regulations, by the chief of field divi- 

 sion under whose supervision it was made, by 

 the register and receiver who allow the entry, 

 or by the commissioner of the general land 

 office. 



Unless the land department shall appraise 

 any lands applied for under these regulations 

 within nine months from the date of such 

 application, the applicant may, without notice, 

 within thirty days thereafter, deposit the 

 amount, not less than $2.50 per acre, specified 

 in his application as the reasonable value of 

 the land and the timber thereon, with the re- 

 ceiver, and thereupon will be ,allowed to pro- 

 ceed with his application to purchase as though 

 the appraisement had been regularly made. 

 The failure of the applicant to make the re- 

 quired deposit within thirty days after ^the ex- 

 piration of the nine months' appraisement 

 period will terminate his rights without notice. 



Lands appraised or reappraised hereuncler, 

 but not sold, may, upon the final disallowance 

 of the application, be entered by any qualified 

 person, under the provisions of the timber and 

 stone laws at its appraised or reappraised 

 value, if subject thereto. 



The commissioner of the general land office 

 may at any time direct the reappraisement of 

 any tract or tracts of public lands, when, in 

 his opinion, the conditions warrant such 

 action. 



The new regulations have doubtless been 

 put in force to prevent valuable timber lands 

 in the west being taken up under the timber 

 and stone law at the nominal price of $2.50 

 per acre, when they are worth much more. 

 If they accomplish this result, the new regula- 

 tions will be welcimed by all honest citizens, 

 although they will undoubtedly reduce the 

 number of applicants for claims under the act. 



NEW REFORESTATION BILL. 



A measure of state wide importance to come 

 up during the present session of the legislature 

 will be a bill providing for the utilization of 

 tax lands for state forest reserves, for private 

 timber reserves and for settlement. A draft of 

 the bill has been submitted to Governor War- 

 ner in the report of the commission of inquiry. 



One member of this commission is Carl E. 

 Schmidt, of Detroit. He has brought the mat- 

 ter to the attention of the Detroit Board of 

 Commerce and at a recent meeting of the 

 directors it was voted that every effort should 

 be made to secure the enactment of laws that 

 would bring about better forestry conditions in 

 the state. To obtain concerted action on the 



question the Board of Commerce has asked 

 the co-operation of civic organizations in 

 Grand Rapids, Lansing, Port Huron, Alpena, 

 Marquette, and half a dozen of the other larger 

 cities in the state. 



PRACTICAL REFORESTATION. 



It is conceded that among the best shade 

 trees in Clare are those along Fifth street 

 C. W. Perry, Miss Ewing, C. H. Sutherland 

 and W. H. Elden from twenty to twenty-five 

 years ago had young maples set out, and the 

 street at these points now has splendid shade, 

 greatly adding to the pleasure of the home 

 surroundings. 



For so young a city Clare is well supplied 

 with shade, but if more had followed the ex- 

 ample of these residents the shady walks would 

 be still more obvious to the visitor and more 

 comfortable for those of us who call Clare 

 home. It is now up to us to do the work 

 left undone by the early pioneers. A maple 

 will in ten or fifteen years become a valuable 

 ornament and welcome blessing through the 

 summer months. We can begin with the 

 spring days to set out maples. Line the walks 

 and drives. Fill the yards and make the shade 

 for future generations abundant. Begin plan- 

 ning now to set out one or more maples when 

 spring opens. Once an old man with hoary 

 head and bent form was observed planting 

 apple seeds. "Why are you doing that?" ob- 

 served a passerby; "you will never live to 

 pluck fruit coming from those seeds." "I 

 know it," replied the old man, "but years ago, 

 before I was born, some one planted seeds 

 that I might enjoy the fruit in later years, 

 and I am only doing for somebody else what 

 has been done for me." The matter of tree 

 planting should not stop at the city or village, 

 but should be carried into the country. There 

 is probably not a farm in Clare and Isabella 

 counties that could not furnish all the young 

 trees needful to line the yard and roadway. 

 Plant a few trees every year. It will add com- 

 fort and beauty and assist in the preservation 

 and regulation of the rainfall. We cannot re- 

 forest the farm, but we can reforest the high- 

 ways and dooryards. Resolve to plant a few 

 trees next spring. 



Many of Clare's trees were set a rod apart 

 and now are so crowded as to spoil the beauty 

 effect. From twenty to thirty feet apart is the 

 correct distance for good maple shade trees, 

 and if so arranged at a good distance inside 

 and outside the sidewalk the effect is to make 

 the street much more beautiful than if only 

 a single row is planted. Along the country 

 roads a single row of trees on each side of the 

 road greatly beautifies the country. This part 

 of Michigan in summer looks sere and brown 

 in comparison with south Michigan for the 

 very lack of such trees. We have the rich 

 country, but for the sake of the future let's 

 plan now to beautify it with shade trees. 

 Clare Sentinel. 



LUMBERMEN ARE LAX. 



It is reported from Wisconsin that the large 

 lumber interests are not supporting the pro- 

 posed bill providing for the protection of the 

 forests from fire by burning the slashings and 

 waste wood each. year. A meeting was held 

 in Milwaukee, preliminary to the meeting of 

 the Northwestern Hemlock Association and 

 about one hundred lumber dealers were pres- 

 ent. State Forester E. W. Griffith was also 

 in attendance. It is expected that the other 

 conferences will be held before the bill is re- 

 ported out by the legislative committee. 



It is said that sentiment among the lumber- 

 men is largely against the proposed law, the 

 reason given being that the firing of slashings 

 would endanger other timber, and that they 

 have a better remedy for protecting the for- 

 ests, though they do not state what it is. 

 Among the prominent men present at the con- 

 ference were a number of the largest lumber 

 dealers in the state. A similar bill is to be 

 presented to the Minnesota legislature at its 

 present session, but up to this time no strong 

 opposition to it has developed. 



