MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



M. A. C. SUMMER FOREST SCHOOL. 



The summer school in forestry at the Mich- 

 igan Agricultural College, was a threat success 

 tins year. Twenty juniors and seniors in the 

 forestry school at the college, remained the 

 month after their regular work was finished 

 and availed themselves of a good opportunity 

 to get some very practical work in forest 

 mensuration and surveying. Fully ( .)0 per cent 

 of the term was spun in the field and the 

 larger proportion of the work was of the most 

 practical nature, as little classroc.ni w.irk being 

 given as possible. The first two week.s Were 

 given over exclusively to surveying. 



The last two weeks were given over to 

 practical \\\*,rk in forest mensuration or all 

 that deals with the measuring of standing tim- 

 ber. This work was under the direct supervi- 

 sion of Prof. Fred Baker, head of the forestry 

 department at the college. Nine hours a day 

 were spent in the college woodlot. the students 

 being given work such as a forester needs in 

 finding the volumes of stands of timber. The 

 students were shown how to get the volume 

 of an acre of standing timber without cutting 

 down a tree, how to get its probable volume 

 10 years ago and how to ascertain its probable 

 volume 10 years in the future. 



Next year, it is hoped that the school may 

 be held on the college forest reserve in the 

 region of losco county, and if it is a possible 

 thing, this will be done. It is planned there to 

 establish a camp in the woods and make the 

 course as practical as possible and of great 

 value to future students in forestry. 



Most of the students are at work in lumber 

 camps, forest nurseries or sawmills for the re- 

 mainder of the summer, and will endeavor to 

 get all the practical experience in the various 

 phases of forest methods that they can. Prac- 

 tically all of the students who graduated this 

 year have secured lucrative positions with the 

 United States forest service. 



GOATS AND FOREST SERVICE. 



The experiment of the forest service in using 

 Angora goats in constructing fire breaks 

 through the chaparral in the Lassen National 

 Forest has met with such success that the 

 government officials believe with careful hand- 

 ling the area grazed over by the animals can 

 be entirely denuded of its present growth of 

 brush. 



Two bands of goats were sent into the ex- 

 perimental area early in July. One was com- 

 posed of ewes and lambs, but owing to defec- 

 tive handling not as much was accomplished 

 by them as by the other band, which was 

 more ably handled. 



The goats took to their new duties with a 

 relish and the way in which they devoured the 

 brush along the trails which had be constructed 

 for them was a striking demonstration that 

 their task met with their approval. 



Another valuable disclosure of the experi- 

 ment is the propensity of the animals to nibble 

 at the bark of the manzanita trees, the destruc- 

 tion of which results in the death of the tree. 

 The experiment of the forest service will be 

 fully carried out and it is expected that the 

 thinning out of the heavy brush growth and 

 the destruction of the crooked manzanita will 

 result in the safeguarding of the Lassen Na- 

 tional Forest from destructive fires. 



LOTS OF WpRK AHEAD. 



"Representative business and professional 

 men from forty states and territories, sitting as 

 delegates in the Spokane convention, expressed 

 themselves heartily in favor of the plan I ad- 

 vocated for the appointment of a presidential 

 commission to combine and utilize the existing 

 agencies in the several government depart- 

 ments as a preliminary step toward a solution 

 of the conservation and reclamation problems 

 presented in this country," said George Eames 

 Rarstow, of Texas, president of the seven- 

 teenth sessions of the National Irrigation Con- 

 gress, in the course of an interview dealing 

 with a continent-wide scheme to save the for- 



The Influence of Prevailing Winds 



ests, store the floods, reclaim the deserts and 

 make homes on the land. He added: 



"We have reasons to believe that the nation 

 at large is in full sympathy with the progress 

 that has been made since the organization of 

 this congress, sixteen years ago, but there is 

 much more work to be done. In fact, I may 

 say that the work of reclamation and conserva- 

 tion is yet in its infancy. This becomes ap- 

 parent when we realize that more than 80,000,- 

 000 acres of overflowed and swamp lands may 

 be reclaimed with proper drainage, also that 

 there are 40,000,000 acres capable of reclama- 

 tion by irrigation. 



"The improvement of our canals, rivers, 

 lakes and harbors would be of untold benefit 

 to the nation in increased transportation facili- 

 ties, while good roads and national highways, 

 for the lack of which the loss to the farm area 

 alone is more than 500,000,000 a year, would 

 add millions to our wealth. Another vital ques- 

 tion 1 is the protection, restoration and conserv- 

 ation of our forest lands, which, under proper 

 care, could be made to yield wood and lumber 

 supplies indefinitely. We have a great work 

 before us and now is the time to begin in 

 earnest." 



.sumption. This is the standard wood, from 

 which other varieties are measured. The orig- 

 inal lumbermen picked out all the big white 

 logs and considered the forest logged. Along 

 with this white pine grew the red or norway 

 pine, a harder, heavier wood, which later was 

 logged and sawed with the others. The orig- 

 inal stand of these two pines is reckoned at 

 ;{50,000,000,000 feet, of which less than 50,000,- 

 000,000 feet are now standing. Conifers, even 

 15 or 20 years ago quite despised, are jiow 

 commonly sold for white pine and no ques- 

 tions are asked. 



FIFTY YEARS OF FORESTS LEFT. 



The best estimators in the national forest 

 service reckon the present standing merchant- 

 able timber at about 2,000,000,000,000 feet. Of 

 this amount 400,000,000,000 feet are hardwood, 

 the rest conifers. 



Of the total timber standing the northern 

 states are credited with 500.000,000,000 feet and 

 the western states with 800,000,000,000 feet and 

 the southern states 70,000,000,000 feet. These 

 figures, of course, mean little except for pur- 

 poses of comparison, but they give real inform- 

 ation as to our supply when it is known that 

 the annual cut reaches 4,000,000,000. 



At this rate it is apparent that American 

 forests will last only 50 years. 



White pine, the cream of the conifers, was 

 the first of the original woods to go into con- 



$5,000,000 A YEAR FROM STATE 

 FORESTS. 



From her state forests France derives an -an- 

 nual income of approximately $5,000,000, or 

 $1.75 per acre. Eighteen per cent of the entire 

 area of the country, or 23,500,000 acres, is for- 

 est land. Approximately 6,000,000 acres are 

 managed by the state, the annual cost of man- 

 agement being 95 cents per acre. The great 

 achievement of France in forestry has been 

 the establishment of protective forests where 

 much destruction has been caused by floods. 

 Toward the close of the eighteenth century 

 about 2,500,000 acres comprised in the Depart- 

 ment of Lands were little more than shifting 

 sand dunes and disease-breeding marshes. This 

 section is now one of the richest, most produc- 

 tive and healthful in France. 



This marvelous change has been brought 

 about by the intelligent cultivation of pine for- 

 ests. Immense forests now cover the country, 

 the sand dunes and marshes have long since 

 disappeared, and the wood, charcoal, turpen- 

 tine, rosin, and kindred industries have brought 

 wonderful prosperity to the entire department, 

 which was formerly the most barren and mias- 

 matic in France. The climate is now mild and 

 balmy, the great change being wrought by the 

 forests. The thin layer of clay beneath the 

 sandy surface, formerly impervious to water, 

 has been so pierced by the roots of the pine 

 that there is now thorough drainage to the 

 spongy earth below. 



