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 of 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. 



Ed. Roads and Forests: 



Sir I have 20 acres of sand land worth 

 en the market $30 per acre, will it pay me to 

 plant it to spruces for Christmas trees? If 

 so, how shall I do it? What facts have you 

 from anybody's experience concerning the 

 growing of Christmas trees fcr market? I 

 can sell good symmetical spruces, 24 to eight 

 feet hi"h at holiday time for 75c to $1 each 

 by the hundred. Is there probability that this 

 price will grow less or greater with the years. 

 Kindly give me facts and advice on the mat- 

 ter. D. B. G. 

 Kent count)-. Michigan. 



The raising of Christmas trees has not been 

 carried on extensively anywhere in the U. S. 

 In Europe, tco. it is usually a matter inci- 

 dental in forestry. There are offered every 

 year, here and there, spruce trees raised in 

 most cases, for other purposes, and they al- 

 ways bring a good price. A dealer in Christ- 

 mas trees here offered 20 cents in large lots 

 and assured the writer that he would prefer 

 them to the native, usually bog-grown, spruces. 

 A Mr. Clark of Lockpcrt. X. Y.. father of one 

 of our foresters in the U. S. forests, used to 

 raise quite a lot in his nursery, and there are 

 many owners of small nurseries who sell their 

 "left over" stock of 4-10 foot trees to the 

 Christmas trade. 



There is little doubt but what it will pay 

 to raise them. The land should not be too 

 sandy and poor. Buy 3-year seedlings: plant 

 in transplant beds. 8 feet apart, and leave two 

 years: then set cut, space about '6 feet; culti- 

 vate first year only. 



It will take 6-10 years to produce good 

 trees. The seedlings cost $3 and $5 per M. 

 The soil needs no special care; by plowing and 

 harrowing and marking places with corn- 

 marker you save time and labor. 



MARYLAND STATE BOARD OF FOR- 

 ESTRY. 



A neat little Bulletin, contains the regular 

 report with recommendations especially as to 

 fire protection, and also leaflets Xo. 7-9, which 

 are special reports on forest conditions of 

 various counties. This report is a credit to 

 State Fcrester Besley and clearly proves that 

 Maryland does not propose to be left behind. 

 From this report we learn that Maryland has 

 still about 2 million acres of woods, or 35 per 

 cent of its entire land area, and that even now 

 the stumpage value of this forest is ever eight 

 million on the most conservative estimate. 

 The States Forester well points out that ne- 

 glect of such a property is poor economy. 



FOREST PRODUCTS IN CANADA. 



Bulletin 7 of the Dominicn Branch of For- 

 estrv brings a report on the production of 

 lumber,etc., in Canada, from which it appears 

 that over three billion feet of lumber: nearly 

 14 million railway ties and about half a million 

 cords of pulpwocd were cut in 1908 in the en- 

 tire realm. These products have a value of 

 over 67 million dollars or about $12 per capita. 

 Xot to be despised, and certainly not to be 

 neglected. 



WOOD PRESERVATION. 



Xumerous persons nowadays are interested 

 in this subject and it wll interest many, there- 

 fore to know of Bulletin 78, of the U. S. Forest 



Service in which this matter is well discussed 

 and illustrated. . The different processes, their 

 value and cost, the location of treating plants, 

 etc., are all fully stated. It is estimated that 

 over 7 billion feet of timber is destroyed by- 

 decay (largely in railway ties), and that a 

 saving of over 71 million dollars cculd be 

 made by the use of preservative treatment. 

 Are we still too rich to want to save this 

 sum? 



THE CHESTNUT TREE BLIGHT. 

 This disease is described and illustrated in 

 a recent bulletin of the Department of Forestry 

 of Pennsylvania. This dread disease is more 

 a calamity than most persons especially in 

 our district can realize. There is evidently no 

 abatement as yet, and the danger of anihila- 

 tion of this valuable tree over large areas, is 

 much to be feared. 



HAIL INJURY ON FOREST TREES. 

 This interesting subject is treated by Prof. 

 Frank J. Phillips cf the University of X'ebras- 

 ka, and it will surprise many to see how much 

 the hail is able to do to our forest trees, es- 

 pecially where they are exposed in open stands. 



ANNUAL REPORT OF STATE FORES- 

 TER OF NEW YORK. 



Another one of the beautifully illustrated 

 and carefully prepared reports in which espe- 

 cially matters of nursery work, raising of 

 seedlings and transplants, the result of exten- 

 sive tree planting and also fire protection are 

 fully set forth. Xew York stands out fore- 

 most in this State Forestry work and especial- 

 ly in matters of reforestation by planting. 

 State Forester Petlis, easily the best man in 

 this reforestation work in the country, is prac- 

 ticing on quite a large scale the European 

 method of transplanting 1-year seedlings and 

 his illustrations clearly show the value of this 

 method. 



FIRE-LINES ALONG RAILWAYS IN 



NEW JERSEY. 



In his report for 1908-'09 the State Forester 

 of Xew Jersey, Mr. A. Gaskill, fully describes 

 and illustrates a system of fire lines along rail- 

 ways, for some time recommended used in 

 Germany and now required by law in Xew 

 Jersey. A fire line 10 feet wide is cleared and 

 plowed at a distance of 100 feet from the 

 track, one on each side of track. We have 

 then track in center, an open piece of woods 

 100 feet wide on each side and a fire line on 

 each side beyond this 100 foot strip of woods. 

 That this will stop the trouble and pay rail- 

 way people alike, there is no question. 



REFORESTATION IN MASSACHUSETTS 



By Langdell and Annual Report of the State 

 Forester of Massachusetts are two excellent 

 bulletins. Every step in the matter of re- 

 forestation is fully described and well illus- 

 trated. 



A RIGHTEOUS APPEAL. 



The following is part of cne of the regular 

 appeals made to the Conservation Association 

 and ought to interest everyone. 



The Senate Committee on Commerce has 

 recommended for passage Senator Stone's Bill 

 (S. 574) granting a license to dam the James 

 river, in Missouri, and divert the water to 



generate electric power (Report Xo. 585, 61st 

 Congress, 2d Session). 



This is the bill which President Roosevelt 

 vetoed on January 15, 1909, on the ground that 

 "the bill gives the grantee^a valuable privil- 

 ege which by its very nature is monopolistic, 

 and does not contain the conditions essential 

 to protect the public interest." 



The bill was reintroduced in the Senate 

 about two months after President Roosevelt 

 vetoed it. The Committee on Commerce now 

 proposes to overrule the veto and abandon 

 the conservation policy for the public control 

 of water power in navigable rivers. The bill 

 is now on the senate calendar for passage. 



A report by the Chief of the Bureau of 

 Corporations which accompanied the veto mes- 

 sage showed from official estimates that a 

 small group of thirteen companies, or inter- 

 ests, has secured control of water powers 

 equivalent to about thirty-three per cent of the 

 total developed water power in the United 

 States: and the report added, "furthermore, 

 this percentage by no means tells the whole 

 truth." 



This report stated that "an estimate of the 

 water power, developed and potential, now 

 controlled by the General Electric interests, 

 admitted or sufficiently proven, is about 252,000 

 horsepower; by the Westinghouse interests, 

 similarly known, about 180,000 horsepower, 

 and by other large power companies, 875,000 

 horsepower. This makes a total of 1,307,000 

 horsepower. Adding the horsepowers of the 

 third class (c), those whose connection wth 

 these two great interests is at least probable, 

 to wit, 520,000 horsepower, we have a small 

 group of thirteen selected companies or in- 

 terests controlling a total of 1,827,000 horse- 

 power." 



In his veto message, President Roosevelt 

 said, in substance, that no grant of water 

 power safeguards the public interest, which 

 lacks any of the following provisions: The 

 requirement of reasonably prompt develop- 

 ment on pain of forfeiture; payment of fair 

 compensation percdically readjusted; the lim- 

 itation of the grant to fifty years; the right 

 of the Government to make reasonaBle regu- 

 lations as to rates of service; and provision 

 for inspection and publicity of records and 

 accounts. The James River Bill does not 

 contain one of the provisions outlined by 

 President Roosevelt." Will our Representa- 

 tives from Michigan stand on the side of the 

 people? 



A SALUTARY LESSON. 

 State Game and Forest Warden Charles 

 Pierce has received notice that Emil Hen- 

 drickson, of Houghton, has been convicted 

 and fined $20 for setting forest fires. War- 

 rants will be issued for others according to 

 Pierce, in cases where his deputies have suf- 

 ficient evidence to convict. Several of the 

 firs which have caused considerable less to 

 property holders in the northern portion of 

 the state are said to have originated from 

 sheer carelessness on the part of woodsmen, 

 and Pierce has issued orders to his deputies 

 to arrest all persons where sufficient evidence 

 can be obtained to secure a conviction. 



