MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



13 



FINE OLD TREES 



WERE PRESERVED 



Shading the streets of old towns in the 

 east and south are many trees which owe 

 their existence to the interest and enthusiasm 

 of those who, in their love for forestry, have 

 reduced the art of tree preservation to a science. 

 These enthusiasts have earned a double bless- 

 ing; for not only have they helped to mark 

 historic events occurring near or under these 

 trees, but they have also increased the beauty 

 of the country in a way of which we are too 

 often neglectful. 



Modern conditions in cities make the grow- 

 ing of healthy trees in streets a more difficult 

 matter each year. Concrete sidewalks and 

 asphalted boulevards may be indicative of pro- 

 gress and conducive to speed, but they are 

 fatal to tree growing. A large number of 

 persons may be wholly indifferent, and some 

 may prefer speed and the motor car to shade 

 and a stately tree, but there nre those who 

 deem it worth while to spend time and money 

 in adding to the years of one of the graceful 

 trees planted by their ancestors. 



It is naturally to be supposed that women, 

 born with an instinctive love for beauty, would 

 be foremost in a good work of this kind. It 

 was with something akin to disgust, there- 

 fore, that one lover of trees discovered the 

 indifference of some of her sex to the whole 

 subject. Indeed, the indifference in this in- 

 stance approached active opposition. The tree- 

 lover had journeyed to a town near her own 

 home to talk to the woman's club there of 

 some phases of the work of village improve- 

 ment. Her hostess, a prominent club member, 

 drove the visitor to her home, an old-fash- 

 ioned white frame, green-shuttered house, on 

 a street shaded by splendid horse-chestnuts, 

 then in luxuriant bloom. Everything about 

 the place was eloquent of a housekeeping that 

 was thorough-going, but only a chance remark 

 of the speaker for the afternoon revealed the 

 fact that her hostess was "pizen neat." 



"What wonderful horse-chestnuts those are. 

 They look like big Christmas trees with wax 

 tapers. How fortunate you are to have them." 



Unappreciated Horse-Chestnut. 



"Fortunate!" answered the lady of the 

 house. "Well, I don't agree. I'm sure I can't 

 see whv my grandfather ever brought them 

 here. He planted these first, and now the 

 town is full of them. I think I'll have them 

 cut down next spring and some Carolina pop- 

 lars planted instead." 



"Cut down!" gasped the horrified listener. 

 "Cut down the trees that your grandfather 

 planted nearly a hundred venrs aero, and such 

 beautiful trees, too! What do you mean?" 



"Well. I guess if you had to contend with 

 the falling blossoms in the spring-, and. the 

 miM and boys pelting the trees in the autumn, 

 you'd know what I mean. Then, the leaves 

 drop early, and. taking everything together. 

 I can't keep a clean sidewalk more than half 

 the time." 



The one who heard said nothing more. 

 What was there to say in the free of such 

 invincible logic? But "that afternoon, in tin- 

 i>en meeting of the club, she did say things, 

 'things so to the point that in less than a 

 year the town had voted to place the care 

 "i all trees in the hands of a specially ap- 

 pointed committee. .At last accounts the 

 plumed horse-chestnuts still waved regally in 

 the spring, while the village bovs gathered 

 their yearly harvest of sitin-smooth. red- 

 brown nuts, but the excellent housekeeper 

 and the club visitor are no longer on speak- 

 ing terms. 



held at Saginaw, Tuesday and Wednesday, 

 Nov. 12 and 13. The Michigan Forestry com- 

 mission will also hold its meeting in Saginaw 

 on the same dates and it is the purpose' to 

 invite the forestry commissions of Minnesota 

 and Wisconsin and of the Province of Ontario 

 t > meet at this time for mutual conference. 

 Also the new Commission of Inquiry, recently 

 appointed by the governor, consisting of twelve 

 members, will be invited to be present and un- 

 doubtedly will. 



The program for the Forestry Association 

 meeting has not yet been prepared, but it 

 vill be the most interesting session yet held. 

 There will be some splendid addresses on for- 

 estry subjects, and it is proposed to have some 

 pertinent discussions of forestry conditions in 

 Michigan. The farm woodlot wi^l come in 

 for a generous share of the discussion. 



Among the topics to be discussed will be 

 "Modern Economics in Lumbering," "What 

 Forestry Can Do for Woodworking Indus- 

 tries," and "Insect Depredations." 



ESTABLISHING FOREST RESERVES. 



In these days when the axe is laid close to 

 f he base of the tree it is somewhat refreshing 

 to learn of the attempt which is being made by 

 some prominent capitalists to establish a for- 

 "st reserve within a very short distance of 

 Oaylord. For a considerable time there has 

 been an effort on the part of one of the large 

 Saginaw concerns to establish a reserve along 

 f he Ausable river. This concern, Mershon & 

 Company, of Saginaw, has during the last 

 year purchased a large tract of land compris- 

 ing several hundred acres which it has decided 

 to convert into a preserve and they contem- 

 plate in a very near future erecting a large 

 club house and other appropriate buildings to 

 riake the preserve as complete as possible. 

 The property is one of the very best sections 

 of the valley. 



Another important transaction in the same 

 locality was that of the purchase some months 

 ago by Boutelle & Co., of Saginaw. of the 

 property from the ranch of Dam Four, in- 

 cluding all except the Douglas property. This 

 purchase is in some respects the more impor- 

 tant of the two as the purchasers contem- 

 nlate extensive improvements which will make 

 it one of the most attractive preserves in the 

 state. 



11 is stated that both of these concerns to- 

 gether at present control about fourteen miles 

 of forest line along the river. Otsego County 

 Herald. 



would require the services of two men four 

 days. Then it would have to go through the 

 process of grinding and leaching which would 

 take another week to bring it to the condition 

 where it would be useful for the actual pur- 

 poses of tanning. The extract as we get it is 

 ready for immediate use and thus all of the 

 time difference between the unloading the 

 bark and the extract together with the grind- 

 ing and leaching process is so much gain to 

 the tanner. 



"It is quite safe to say that the use of extract 

 has come to stay and that the more it is used 

 the more it appeals to the tanner." 



FORESTRY CONVENTION. 



The directors of the Michigan Forestry As- 

 sociation have decided the date of the next; 

 annual convention. At the earnest solicitation ' 

 of Hon. W. B. Mershon the convention will be 



HEMLOCK BARK NOT NEEDED. 



Charles F. Young, manager of the Tanners 

 Supply Company, of Grand Rapids, has n 

 turned from a business" trip in the south afte 

 an absence of three weeks 'during which tini- 

 he placed orders for $900.000 wortli of tli 

 chestnut extract for the tanneries which ar 

 embraced in the association represented by tli 

 supply company. This makes a total of $; 

 200.000 which has been invested by this com 

 pany in tanning extract since May of last yea- 



"Tanners aje no longer dependent upo 

 hemlock bark for the operation of their bus-' 

 ness." says Mr. Young. "Today we coul 

 move along just as well if the entire hemloe 

 bark supply was cut off. that is, if the suppl 

 of extract continued. As to the falling off o 

 the latter it is a possibility which is entirel 

 too remote to consider when vou realize th 

 various materials which can be utilized fo 

 this purpose. 



"Since we began using fhe extract our nee 

 for hemlock bark has fallen off fully 65 pe j 

 cent. The material benefits in the substitutio 

 of the extracts for the bark, aside from th 

 ample supplies of the former and the deen-a- 

 in'? production of the latter, lie in the expe' t: 

 tion of handling which is a very noticeabl' 

 economy. In ninety minutes we can union 

 a tank car of the extract automatically intr 

 the storage vats. The amount of extract give- 

 is equivalent to 150 cords of bark or twelv 

 carloads. To unload this amount of bark 



LOG LIFTING ON MANISTIQUE. 



Hugh Shay, a lumberman of Germfask, 

 Mich., is preparing to embark in the sub-ma- 

 rine logging business. He has purchased a 

 hoisting plant and a marine boiler and engine, 

 and is installing machinery aboard a scow pre- 

 liminary to using the equipment in the work 

 of recovering deadhead timber in the Manis- 

 tique river. Many millions of feet of logs 

 tiave been floated down the stream during the 

 : many years lumbering operations have been 

 conducted on the Manistique and its tributa- 

 ries, and as is always the case in driving tim- 

 ber a considerable quantity of the pine never 

 reached its destination, having become water- 

 logged and sunk. It is these logs that Mr. 

 Shaw will now go after. It has been demon- 

 strated in similar operations on the Menomi- 

 nee river in the upper peninsula and on the 

 Muskegon and other rivers in lower Michigan, 

 that the logs do not deteriorate in quality be- 

 cause they may have been immersed for years, 

 and that when taken out and permitted to dry 

 for a season, they make a very fine grade of 

 lumber. White pine, scarce article in these 

 days of decadent forest resources, is much 

 more valuable than at the time the bulk of 

 this class of timber was cut in the Manistique 

 valley, and it is expected the Germfask lum- 

 berman will realize handsomely on his ven- 

 ture. It is said that in certain portions of the 

 river, particularly where in the course of the 

 on flowing water bends have formed, the 

 bed of the stream is literally paved with 

 sunken logs of the finest quality. With an 

 equipment especially devised for the work, it 

 is thought that no great difficulty will attend 

 the operation of recovering a large share of 

 the timber, and with the pine delivered at the 

 mills in as good a condition as the day it was 

 cut the logs will command high prices. What 

 arrangements have been matle by Mr. Shay 

 with the lumbering companies which cut the 

 timber is not known, but in any event a num- 

 ber of the concerns have passed out of exist- 

 ence, and their rights in the connection will 

 not arise. 



Mr. Shay may have to settle with the own- 

 ers of the lang along the banks of the Manis- 

 tique, however, as the courts have decided 

 that the owner of .the river frontage is en- 

 titled to all of the logs reclaimed within the 

 boundaries of his land. 



NEW LOGGING RAILROAD. 



A logging railroad will be built in Mastodon 

 township, from county, by Sawyer, Goodman 

 & . Company in conjunction with the C. M. 

 & St. P. Railway Company. The Milwaukee 

 rond will build about a mile of track up to 

 the immense tract of timber owned by Saw- 

 yer-Goodman and that concern will build 

 the road the remainder of the distance. 



The road will branch off the Milwaukee 

 road between the Dunn mint and the creek 

 and will run southwest to the Sawyer-Good- 

 man timber. 



The first mile of the track, that up to the 

 edg of the timber, will be substantially built 

 but from that point out the road will be purely 

 a logging road. 



The surveyors have started work on the 

 new branch and as soon as that work is com- 

 oleted the contract will be let for the'grading 

 of the line to the woods where it will be ex- 

 tended as needed. 



