MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



lands abandoned after having been stripped THE NEXT STEP OF have a wide distribution of bamboo in this 



if their forests should be reforested. The PPOPPF^Q IM FOPFQTPV countrv > and nothing can take the place of 



unwisdom of the past has left to the present f K\J\*I\iLjj 1IN I" UK.tO 1 K. 1 trees here but more trees. So we shall have 



a lesson and a legacy. Lands that the farm- to encourage and teach tree culture to all the 



ers do not rightly own and utilize have been Hon. Chase S. Osborn, Regent of the Univer- people. We shall not have great solid forests, 



turned over to the jobber and the speculator sity of Michigan. but we may have graves and orchard-s and nut- 



for denudation and abandonment. Now the ,, , ,, , bearing trees and wood lots and tree-lined 



duty of the state to remedy the evils of tTTe The next step in forestry should be to trans- dg % oyer Michjgan an( , the emire 



past, so far as possible, is apparent. fer the problem from fields of sentiment an'l country. In order to do this we must help 



Unfortunately we have always recognized theory to the practical. In a broad sense the and even require all of our farmers to have 



the right of the individual to do whatsoever p ub ]j c mind has been interested up to -the wood lots, to grow trees along fence lines, 



he pleased with his own even to the extent t ti b ' th artistic hase of forest r y , and the . re should b at least a double line of 



of rendering unproductive and uninhabitable * trees along every public road in Michigan. 



and he did not create. ancl > although the general government and Tree surge ry, the necessity for removing 



The land surface of the earth is a deter- some states have wisely set aside forest reser- cymes and adventitious buds, the importance 

 mtnate quantity. It is computable in square v;l tions the people as a whole are net familiar of pruning and of spraying, and everything 

 miks sections and acres. Man cannot add to . h h tica , side o{ the moveme nt. If *&&& to arboreal culture should be taught, 

 it. He can improve or injure it, render it . . As it is now, trees are pruned with no common 

 more or less productive. Already he has made we can preserve existing forests, c replace regard for tne best methods; leaders are ruth- 

 some of the originally fairest portions sterile them as fast as destroyed, the problem will lessly butchered and amputations are made 

 and uninhabitable. Now the best that can have been solved. The economical side of with no reference to the shoulder of the limb, 

 be done is to save this western continent from the American mind is so acutely and abnor- In the few places where tree surgery is prac- 

 a similar fate. Forestry is one of the means. . , ticed the painting of exposed parts is care- 

 The lessons of experience and of history are % developed that this can only be done less , y done> and the fi ,, ing whh cement or 



valuable. We must save and restore the by proving that forest preservation pays. To plastic slate is so poorly executed that rain 



forests. this end, those splendid pioneers in the general water penetrates and more harm than good 



Under our ' institutions this is largely an conservation move ment and all recruits may results Not long ago I walked through a 

 individual matter. The state can do much. c- i small forest maintained in connection with a 

 Michigan has a fine opportunity. The nation address themselves with much hope. Simple , ding school of forestry . The gene ral con- 

 can do more. The right to dismember the economical facts may be emphasized through d i t ion of the trees was bad enough to make 

 country with swords is denied; the right to forestry publications and the press in general, a tree-dweller blush and to convince anyone 

 destroy it with axes has been regarded as Already our forestry schools are teaching for- tn at the school in question was long in theory 

 inalienable. None the less, the government and in books and on paper, but very short in 

 ought, for the general welfare, to spend more estry economy with good effect, but ! practical methods . 



for forests and less for war more for preser- lessons must reach a wider public. Profitable There should be a general law prohibiting 



vation and less for destruction. forestry cannot be accomplished fully under the cutting of a tree under six inches, and 



The theme is a fruitful one. It touches the present conditions. Laws should be passed our regulations should reduce the fire risk 



welfare of the people, even in the near future, to a minimum. Large forests are difficult to 



more closely and intimately than any of us that would stimulate and encourage the con- handle under most fa * orable conditions . There 



have yet conceived. servation of existing forests, which, once done, seerns to be a multiplication of tree pests and 



An American poet said: "The groves were would minify the importance and uncertainty a widespread reduction of tree vitality and 



God's first temples." The Hebrew Psalmist Q f immediate renewal work. It is reported resistance. Within a decade nearly every 



declared: "The trees of the Lord are full of . .. v^tv, r-,rr,i;,i thp tamarack in America has succumbed to a pest 



sap, the cedars of Lebanon which he hath from Biltmore, in North Carolina, that ^ nQw & &} ^^ . g fa made P by 



planted." Vanderbilt forest estate of 130,000 acres annu- pests upon the whke pinc> the white bjrch 



Mr. President and members of the Michi- ally produces four million feet of lumber, and the alder. This menace is not confined 

 gan Forestry Association, whose labor in be- QQQ cords o { wood for fuel and by-products, to trees surrounded by modern encroachments, 

 half of the welfare of our state and its people ' , , , , , several hundred : traveled on foot this year through over a 

 is born of love and duty, untainted with selfish- l > hundred miles of forest along the Height of 

 ness and greed, permit me, in conclusion, to cords of pulpwood, all : Land ; n Canada, in a region where no lumber- 

 add a still warmer word of welcome than the or defective trees, the cutting of which im- ; n g has been done and no mining; where man 

 first one spoken, and to express the hope that proves the forest and really increases its value, has not yet trespassed; and I was shocked 

 a broader and wiser forestry policy may be w fa f d fofe jn and grieved to see the effect of predatory 

 pursued in the future than has been a possible . pests upon forest trees there, and especially 

 result of the almost thankless efforts of the the same place, and if a choice has to be made upon the pines> birches and a ] ders Are they 

 past. it will generally be in favor of the farm. For- going the way of the tamarack? 



est preservation will be most successful where Trees more evenly distributed, where men 



VERMONT BUYS STATE FOREST. there ig thg , east cornpet ition with agricultural a " personally interested in their welfare and 



..... .... ... , where they may be reached and cared for, 



The state board of agriculture and forestry possibility, and will be most satisfactory where may be preserved aga j nst a n t h e enemies of 



of Vermont has just completed the purchase there is no competition, as in rocky and moun- the arboreal world, the chiefs of which are 



of Vermont's first state forest. It is in Plain- tainous districts. In Michigan we shall have insects and fire. Why not give that farmer 



field. The plot consists of 450 acres partly f f he lon t time in such reg i ons who raises trees a reduction of his taxes? 



covered with second growth spruce and some . We bonus manufacturing by protective tariffs 



old growth hardwoods. A central location as those of the Porcupine and Huron moun- and direc( . gjfts and rdief from pubHc charges 



has been selected in order to better demon- tains in the upper peninsula. In the lower l^ W ould seem to be even wiser to encourage 



strate methods of forestry. peninsula we shall eventually have to be con- the tree grower in like manner. 



Later similar tracts will be bought in ether wj h such forests as be eserved The present work should be to teach every 



parts of the state. The newly purchased tract human being to love trees, to make them feel 



is particularly well adapted for the use of nly because it pays to keep them up trom a ag near]y ^ possib]e tha j a tree cries out in 



State Forester Hawes because it offers a vari- direct money standpoint. dying agony every time it is assaulted need- 



ety of problems in culture and conservation. Perhaps we too often think of forests and lessly; that trees are man's best friends; that 



The open lands will be planted in seedlings f t j connection with big wild woody their care is necessary and profitable; that 



at once and the second growth thinned out r the plain individual is even more interested 



properly. A lot of nursery stock from the tracts. I he thought should be, in my opinion, than the forest magnate; that it is as serious 



experiment station at Burlington will be set more of tree conservation, and a tree may be to lose a tree as it is a pig or a calf or a 



out in the spring. . regarded as valuable, both for lumber and sheep, and so on. Enlist the farmers and all 



fruit. A fruit tree is as valuable as a lumber the common people. Make them to believe 



FAMOUS TREE DESTROYED. tree for its physical influence upon the climate the truth, which is that it is their fight and 



Many will be interested to learn that the and rainfall. .If we can have a wide distribu- not the rich man's; that they are to be bene- 



tree pleaded for in the poet Campbell's tion, over Michigan and the entire country, fited most. What becomes the fight of the 



"Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree," of any kind of trees, we shall have accom- many must win. Up to the present forest 



was blown over in a gale a few nights ago. plished the general object of the forest con- conservation call it tree preservation has 



It stood near the front of the mansion of Mr. servation movement. How can this be brought only appealed to the few. The way to interest 



McCulloch, Ardwall House, Kirkcudbright, about? That is the question. It is not im- a n is through channels of practical education 



J. Nisbet, who sends the news to a contempo- possible to look forward to a time in this a nd application and economical encourage- 



rary, says it is quite hopeless to think of be- country when we shall need every acre that rnent. 



ing able to prop it up again and give it a can be tilled in order to sustain our population, Trees are so scarce in China that they are 



new lease of life. He suggests that whatever as is the case in China today. China has lived sac red. Lot us have them sacred here before 



seed can still be collected from it should be at least seventy centuries. When Marco Polo they are gone, 

 gathered now and sown next spring, so that wrote of that country the trees were gone 



a new generation may be raised from the old and had been spent probably for a long period. The Reed City high school has added an 



tree round which so many associations linger. Bamboo had taken their place. We cannot elementary course in forestry. 



