MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



MICHIGAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



The Michigan Forestry Association was organized in Grand Rapids August 30, 1905, having for its object the promotion of a ra- 

 tional system of forestry in Michigan. The society is managed by the following roster bf officers: President, Hon. Chas. W. Garfield, of Grand 

 Rapids; Vice-President, John H. Bissell, of Detroit; Secretary, Filibert Roth, of Ann Arbor; Assistant Secretary, Henry G. Stevens, Detroit; 

 Treasurer, W. B. Mershon, Saginaw, W. S. Board of Directors Hon. J. E. Beal, Ann Arbor; J. J. Hubbell, Manistee; Mrs. Lena E. Mautner, 

 Saginaw; Prof. James Satterlee, Lansing; Fremont E. Skeels, Cadillac; W. E. Williams, Pittsford; Dr. Lucius L. Hubbard, Houghton; Mrs. 

 John C. Sharp, Jackson. 



THE SECRETARY'S CORNER. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR FOREST PLANTING 

 IN THE NORTHWESTERN AND 



LAKE STATES. 



This circular, Xo. 100, of the L'nited States 

 Forest Service, presents in ten pages a great 

 many very helpful suggestions, all of which are 

 applicable to our conditions in Michigan. Any- 

 one interested in forest planting can well afford 

 to send for this circular. 



WESTERN YELLOW PINE. 

 . Some of our friends who are trying the West- 

 ern Yellow Pine here in Michigan'by planting 

 some of the trees distributed by the Forest Com- 

 mission, will be inteersted in Circular Xo. 174 

 of the United States Forest Service giving a 

 good deal of information about this tree and 

 especially of its behavior and reproduction in the 

 dry Southwest, where it makes fully 90% of the 

 useful forests of Arizona and New Mexico. 



PUBLIC DOMAIN COMMISSION. 



Hon. J. E. Beal. regent of the University and 

 chairman of the Committee on Forestry in the 

 Public Domain Commission, delivered an address 

 recently before the University Scientific club. It 

 was a most interesting recital of the work which 

 the new commission has accomplished and was 

 illustrated by tables and by a large series of plat- 

 maps showing the exact location of the State 

 lands, tax lands, forest reserves and also the 

 lands still belonging to the United States. 



It was clear from Mr. Beals' statement that 

 the new commission has not only begun its work 

 with interest and determination but that the en- 

 thusiasm of good public service has been "catch- 

 ing" and has taken possession of the entire com- 

 mission. 



To the friends of forestry this address marks 

 an important point in the development of for- 

 estry and in the history of the State. Right 

 ideals, right policies, proper conception of the 

 right use of lands and of true political economy 

 and a notion of constructive statesmanship are 

 in evidence and inspire hope. That the universi- 

 ty, the agricultural college and the school of 

 mines, should join the state administration in 

 this noble work should be a satisfaction to every- 

 one and a guarantee of good work. 



To some of our people who have chafed for 

 years while the State was being "done" through 

 the Higgins Lake lot business and similar enter- 

 prizes, it will be quite a satisfaction to learn that 

 the new commission has "fixed" 4,000 of these 

 lots at one clip by placing them in the forest re- 

 serve. It is also gratifying to see the forest 

 reserves growing, that their total area, as at 

 present planned, covers nearly 300,000 acres. 

 This is a good beginning, let all friends of for- 

 estry and good government rejoice and render a 

 vote of thanks to the new commission. 



learned the damages of insects in the forests, 

 excepting the saw fly pest in our tamarack 

 swamps, and we are hardly in position to appre- 

 ciate the seriousness of such a calamity as the 

 New England people are now fighting. 



FORESTRY WORK IN THE PHILIP- 

 PINES. 



Most of our readers are aware that the Phil- 

 ippine Islands have a regular forest service 

 headed by Major George B. Ahren and manned 

 partly by Americans (largely Cornell and Michi- 

 gan University men) and partly by natives, 

 these latter thus far filling subordinate positions 

 All unoccupied forest lands are State forest and 

 are cared for by 'this service. Thus far the 

 greater part of the work has consisted in pros- 

 pecting the rivers, in surveys, estimates, conduct- 

 ing timber sales, etc. But in addition the service 

 has been busily at work studying the great varie- 

 ty of tree growth, the character of the trees, the 

 best way of propagating them and also the char- 

 acter and value of the wood. In one of the lat- 

 est of contributions published in "The Philippine 

 Journal of Science," Fred W. Foxworthy de- 

 scribes the structure and character and proper- 

 ties of the native woods. The article, a regular 

 book of nearly 200 pages, is certainly a most 

 creditable piece of work, and reminds us very 

 forcibly that we here in the United States are 

 not exactly in the lead, along many lines of very 

 useful work. 



IMPROVEMENT THINNINGS. 



This pamphlet of 21 pages, well illustrated, is 

 issued by the State Forester of Massachusetts. 

 It is an excellent little treatise, telling why. 

 when and how to thin in wood lots. While it is 

 intended primarily for the use of Xew England 

 people and their conditions, it is of value to 

 everyone interested in the proper care of a 

 wood lot. 



Particularly interesting is the fact that thin- 

 ning in Massachusetts wood lots is recommended 

 as one means of facilitating the fight against the 

 Gypsy moth. We here in Michigan have not yet 



INSECT DEPREDATIONS IN NORTH 



AMERICAN FORESTS. 

 This excellent bulletin, Xo. 58. Part V, of the 

 Bureau of Entomology, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, gives a condensed statement 

 of this important subject of forest insects, to- 

 gether with a list of the books, etc., of special im- 

 portance to the people of our country. Coming 

 as it does, from the pen of Dr. Hopkins, the best 

 informed on this subject, the bulletin is not only 

 interesting but accurate and comprehensive, and 

 should be read by everyone interested in our 

 woods. It is especially well suited for schools, 

 etc.. where a broad survey of the subject is de- 

 sired. It will prove a surprise to many to learn 

 the extent of these insect injuries in our wild 

 woods, the enormous- losses in money which 

 these "little people" cause the nation every year. 



SURFACE CONDITIONS AND STREAM 

 FLOW. 



Under this title comes Circular 176 of the 

 United States Forest Service, a most interesting 

 and instructive little pamphlet. It is clearly 

 shown that the run-off, the conditions of flood 

 and low water and of erosion have materially 

 changed for the worse in different parts of the 

 Appalachian mountains since the destruction of 

 the forests has started on a large scale. But the 

 most interesting part of the pamphlet, in that it 

 is quite new in this line of study, are the results 

 of observations made on the watershed of the 

 Red River. This river does not head in a moun- 

 tain or forest country, but is strictly a prairie 

 river in its upper run. Formerly the hard prairie 

 soil allowed the water to run off easily and rap- 

 idly and thus prevented any storage of water in 

 the ground. The river was a mud torrent during 

 rain and almost a dry branch in dry weather. 

 But since the opening of the Indian lands and 

 consequent tillage of a large part of the water- 

 shed, conditions have changed and are changing 

 right along. The water has a chance to soak into 

 the plowed land, there is more storage, less 

 flood and river water during dry weather. That 



this will continue to increase is just as certain as 

 can be and is no more than might have been 

 expected. In this connection it is interesting 

 that in the older irrigated districts. Colorado, 

 Utah, etc., irrigation has already led to similar 

 water storage, which in some cases has passed 

 the useful or desirable condition and has chang- 

 ed considerable areas of land from an arid into 

 a swampy condition, requiring artificial drain- 

 age with the possibility of using the same waters 

 for the second time for purposes of irrigation. 



It should also be mentioned here that this ex- 

 cellent circular (Xo. 176) has been withdrawn 

 from general distribution, i. e., it has been sup- 

 pressed, claimedly at the request of Willis 

 Moore, the chief of the Weather Bureau, whose 

 paper or reports is discovered elsewhere in this 

 number. This substitution of political clap trap 

 tor scientific record is a sad coming down for 

 the department. 



METHODS OF INCREASING FOREST 

 PRODUCTIVITY. 



This interesting circular Xo. 172 of the United 

 States Forest Service points out clearly the great 

 opportunity of increasing the growth in our for- 

 ests and in this way counteracting the rapid re- 

 duction of our supplies and the possibility of re- 

 establishing a satisfactory condition of supply 

 and demand for the future. Mr. Carter sums up 

 as follows : 



"There are 225,000.000 acres of producing for- 

 est in the country. On this area the stand is so 

 open that all the trees could be grown on 145,- 

 000,000 acres, which would be producing at the 

 rate of 70 cubic feet per acre annually. By 

 growing only the best species this growth can be 

 increased to SO cubic feet an increase of 1,450,- 

 000,000 cubic feet. 



"There is an unutilized area of 80,000,000.000 

 acres within our present producing forest. There 

 are 135,000,000 acres of absolute forest land with- 

 in our virgin or mature forests now unproduct- 

 ive. There are 90,000,000 acres of waste lands 

 which can be made productive by planting or fire 

 protection. All of these areas can be made to 

 produce annually an average of 80 cubic feet per 

 acre, or a total of 24.400,000,000 cubic feet. 



"The total increase possible in the productive- 

 ness of our forests is, therefore, 25,850,000,000 

 cubic feet. 



"Only 25 per cent of the yield of our present 

 producing forest is saw timber. It can be made 

 from 50 per cent to 75 per cent saw timber 

 through the concentration of growth on the best 

 trees by thinnings, and the holding of the crop 

 till it reaches good size. This would mean an 

 increase, if all our forest land were productive, 

 from 27,000,000,000 board feet to between 54,- 

 000,000,000 and 72,000,000,000 board feet per an- 

 num." 



A big job well worth trying. 



FORESTRY INSTRUCTION IN QUEBEC. 

 "When you can't write a good book translate 

 a masterpiece," was evidently the thought of 

 some of our forestry friends in Quebec, who 

 translated into French a series of lectures of Dr. 

 Dr. B. E. Fernow, director of the Forestry 

 School at Toronto University. In a 150-page 

 book, well illustrated, the French speaking peo- 

 ple of Quebec are given instruction in the great 

 lesson of their province. With over one hundred 

 million acres of forest reserves and with the 

 timber as the main support of 75 per cent of its 

 people, this book appears most timely. 



