MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



13 



enough to burn very lightly, that is, to burn it 

 before the leaves are very dry. 



"Here is a lonely man sitting on a Michigan 

 log. where the surroundings are anything but 

 propitious. He is engaged in deep study, and 

 I happen to know just what he is thinking 

 about, and I will tell you. 'Shall I go to work 

 here and try to clear up logs and to make a 

 home of this land, or shall I go west?' He 

 thought long and hard, and soon went west 

 and prospered; whether it was the best thing 

 I am unable to tell you. , 



"Here I am represented as standing in a 

 field of rye, where milk weeds arc mure proli- 

 fic than rye. The rye is short and thin. Here 

 now among the stumps is a log house in which 

 live.- a small family. 1 show you live views 

 of young timber planted on Jack pine land, 

 where it had grown fifteen years. Sixty-live 

 kinds of woody plants were set out there and 

 at this time they have grown twenty sum- 

 mers in all. 



Experiments in Replanting. 



"A portion of these were propogated from 

 trees native in Russia. Scotch pine grew 

 nicely for a time, but most of the trees had 

 died at the end of fifteen years. I planted one 

 'if new land to trees, four feet apart each 

 way. where they were cultivated for three 

 years. Xear this acre a piece of virgin Jack- 

 pine land was plowed just once before planting 

 an assortment of trees. No cultivation fol- 

 lowed and at the end of fifteen years there 

 was almost nothing to show for the labor, 

 only a very few stunted Norway spruces. An- 

 other piece of open Jack pine land was planted 

 at the time of planting the other two lots 

 above referred to, with no preparation of land, 

 no cultivation after planting. Everything 

 planted had died at the end of fifteen summers. 

 At Au Sable a few trees were planted on the 

 worst kind of Jack pine land, cultivated before 

 and after planting, and I am told that some 

 of the trees are making a respectable showing. 

 When these views were taken, most kinds had 

 died, and many were badly stunted. I esti- 

 mated that of all trees tried Norway pine was 

 most promising, Norway spruce perhaps sec- 

 ond, red cedar next, with possibly some chance 

 fnr white pine. Here are the names of most 

 of the trees planted: White pine, Wisconsin 

 weeping willow, red cedar, red pine, locust, 

 Russian mulberry, white poplar, red mulberry, 

 box elder, green ash, black cherry, beech, ca- 

 talpa, sycamore, maple, yellow willow, white 

 ash, camperdown elm, arbor vitae, basswood, 

 Scotch pine, blackberry, Kentucky coffee tree, 

 silver maple, silver poplar, American elm, red 

 maple, European larch, Balm of Gilead, white 

 spruce, Balsam poplar, honey locust, purple 

 willow, yellow birch, Norway spruce, canoe 

 birch, sugar maple. 



Pastured Wood Lots. 



"I show you two views of pastured wood 

 lots, one of which is less than two miles from 

 the Agricultural College. The other is in 

 western Lenawee county. Both will soon be 

 wood lots of the past, however. There is 

 absolutely no hope for these trees or wood 

 lots, or others treated in similar manner. 

 Where wood lots are not pastured and contain 

 a dense growth, I should keep removing by 

 degrees very slow-growing trees, especially 

 those of beech, ironwood, black ash, and any 

 other trees that were diseased, knotty or 

 crooked. If there were open places and the 

 land suitable, I should set in irregularly one- 

 year-old plants of common locust, catalpa, and 

 plant a few nuts of the chestnut tree, taking 

 care that the ground was not shaded by tall 

 trees, for these three kinds are all impatient 

 of much shade. 



"Here is a small grove of native trees plant- 

 ed by J. O. Beal, of Lenawee, and fifteen rods 

 from those planted is a thicket coming up in 

 an open place in the woods where nature per- 

 formed every stroke of the labor, and this 

 grove surpasses the one planted by Mr. Beal. 



"In 1899, Bulletin No. 45 was issued, entitled 

 'Why not plant a grove?' This called forth 



some adverse criticism as being of not much 

 account, but I now think that it contained 

 some good things. This bulletin was thought 

 good enougli for reprinting in the report of 

 the secretary of the State Horticultural Society 

 for 1889. 



"1 wish here to emphasize the point for the 

 consideration of every farmer who tills fifty 

 or more acres of land, even good land bearing 

 good farm crops. Plant an acre or more to 

 young trees, a mixture of valuable sorts, espec- 

 ially those which grow rapidly, in rows four 

 feet apart and cultivate for five years, and he 

 will soon have something that is interesting. 



mething that his neighbors will talk about, 

 ."rd something that he will be proud of, and 

 the older the wood lot becomes the more he 

 will think of it. Of course all stock must be 

 kept out of the lot. Of all the work I have 

 done, there is perhaps nothing that I look over 

 | with greater unalloyed satisfaction than the 

 groves of trees I have planted. 



Trees Need Good Land. 



"Do not forget that good land grows trees 

 faster than poor, thin land. Look at this pic- 

 ture where I planted white pine on land where 

 the top soil had been removed. The trees 

 planted were eighteen inches high, and after 

 growing six years this picture was taken. And 

 now look at this- another part of the same 

 field planted on good soil at the same time. 



"And here is a view of one side of an arbore- 

 tum containing about 150 species of trees, 

 which I started in 1877, thirty years ago. The 

 largest straight tree in sight is one of the com- 

 mon locusts, planted later, after the surround- 

 ing trees had made quite a start. These locust 

 trees have grown rapidly, and are free, or 

 nearly free, from borers as they will usually be 

 if they are mixed with, other kinds of trees 

 which shade the trunks considerably. 



"But this is all talk and will not amount to 

 much. No one knows it better than I. What 

 should be done that is of much greater worth? 

 I answer that the State, the University, the 

 Agricultural College, the Experiment Station, 

 a member of some commission, or some 

 philanthropist should go from county to coun r 

 ty throughout the state, place one man or 

 more in the best townships and urge, advise 

 and help plant on some four-corners a sample 

 grove of trees for timber, and see that they 

 are taken care of. And as the years come and 

 go, these groves will become good forest mis- 

 sionaries which will awaken an interest in this 

 important subject surpassing all of our lec- 

 tures, circulars, bulletins and reports. Where 

 shall you secure the energetic agents to help 

 this missionary work along? You will select 

 some of them at least from young men who 

 have attended the two prospering forestry col- 

 leges in your own state of Michigan. 



FOREST INSECTS. 



Prof. R. H. Pettit Tells of the Ravages of 

 Different Pests. 



Prof. R. H. Pettit next read the following 

 paper on the subject of "Forest Insects of 

 Michigan." In the course of this paper, a 

 number of slides were presented, showing the 

 different insects, in different stages of their 

 growth, which caused so much damage to both 

 the foliage and the body of the trees. Prof. 

 Pettit said: 



"The whole aggregation of insects attacking 

 forest trees naturally divides itself into leaf- 

 eating and body-infesting species. Of the for- 

 mer we find myriad forms, beetles, moths, 

 saw-flies, bugs, two-winged flies and other or- 

 ders; chief among which are the sawflies. 

 These are small insects distantly related to the 

 wasps, the larvae of whiqh are naked caterpil- 

 lars, having more than the ordinary comple- 

 ment of legs. They usually occur in large 

 families and the caterpillars are often soft and 

 sticky. Of more than passing interest just 

 now is the larch, or tamarack sawfly, which is 

 devastating the forests in the North. It is an 

 importation from Europe which feeds on the 



foliage of tamarack year after year, finally 

 killing the trees, which become exhausted in 

 trying to put out two sets of leaves each year. 



""Pent caterpillars have been very prevalent 

 during the past two or three years. They are 

 the hairy caterpillar that make the web-like 

 nests in all sorts of trees, during July and Au- 

 gust, quite distinct from the early tent-cater- 

 pillar on apple trees. The web-worm feeds on 

 over one hundred sorts of trees and shrubs. 

 They are growing more prevalent year after 

 year, but thus far have merely killed out the 

 branches here and there where the webs occur. 



"Another example of a leaf-eater is the 

 army-worm of the forest, a large greyish crea- 

 ture with a row of blue dots down the back. 

 This caterpillar may appear again at any time. 

 It was present in large numbers about ten 

 years ago in the northern part of the lower 

 peninsula. It is apt to appear in numbers, 

 becoming more plentiful for three or more 

 years and then almost disappearing, owing to 

 the attacks of the parasites. 



Control of the Pests. 



Now the control of such pests in parks and 

 city trees is not so difficult; the leaf eating 

 forms usually succumb to the arsenites, but 

 out in the forest the case is distinctly a differ- 

 ent one. Most of our native insects are sub- 

 ject, to the attacks of parasites and in most 

 cases the leaf eaters are apt to be overcome for 

 more or less extended periods. First, the pest 

 will be in evidence and then the parasite, re- 

 sulting in more or less regular waves of infes- 

 tation. ' In the case of foreign species, many 

 of them have got over here without their 

 natural enemies and for this reason they have 

 a marked advantage over our native species. 

 Many of our worst pests are from the Eastern 

 Hemisphere. Nothing would seem easier than 

 to bring over the enemies of these pests and 

 to turn them loose, and in truth, in this lies 

 our only hope. But just one word before we 

 pass to the next class of pests. Remember 

 the fate of the native animals when the mon- 

 poose was introduced in the West Indies to 

 kill off snakes, and also the effect of intro- 

 ducing the English sparrow. We must know 

 in each case just what the range of hosts ii 

 going to be before bringing in a new form. It 

 is easy to upset Nature's balance and to do 

 irreparable mjury in attempts of this sort for 

 the following reason: We find the pest with 

 its parasite inside, feeding on non-vital tissues, 

 and often inside of this parasite we find an- 

 other parasite, a secondary parasite; further- 

 more, inside the secondary parasite we some- 

 times find a third parasite. How the second- 

 ary got inside the primary one is a wonder, 

 and no one attempts to say how the third 

 species arrives where we find it. But no mat- 

 ter, it is there and its effect on the whole issue 

 is just as efficient as if its habits were not 

 shrouded in mystery. Nowthe point is this: 

 The first parasite is our friend because it kills 

 our enemy. The second parasite is our enemy 

 because it kills our friend. The third is our 

 friend once more for the reason that it kills 

 the enemy of our friend, and in introducing 

 our friend, the primary parasite, we must be 

 careful not to introduce its enemy as well. 

 This requires the work of a specialist, for each 

 tiny parasite must be identified and its habits 

 known before it is set at liberty. It is more 

 important to kill our enemies than to set free 

 our friends, since once established it is forever 

 impossible to correct an error of this sort, and 

 if the secondary parasites are at large the 

 primary parasites will never have a chance to 

 do their work effectively. We find also fungus 

 and bacterial diseases at work among forest 

 insects, and sometimes their effect is very 

 beneficial. No attempt to control and use 

 these diseases has yet been very successful, 

 but they are worthy of careful investigation 

 and we are now working with two or three 

 diseases of forest insects and hope to be able 

 to assist Nature just a little through their aid. 



Bark and Timber Beetles. 



'We come now to the more insidious work 



