MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



R6S 



Oftcwl Organ oi The Michigan Ro*d Makru Anocitton and Michigan Foieitn A<xition 

 SUITE 1*06 MAJESTIC BUILDING DETROIT. MICHIGAN 



PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH 



BY 

 THE STATE REVIEW PUBLISHING CO., 



SUBSCRIPTION 1 ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, 

 PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



entire length for boats, barges and other water 

 craft, and for running, driving, rafting, boom- 

 ing, storing, sorting and delivering of logs, 

 timber and lumber, and other forest products, 

 and for the purpose of improving the useful- 

 ness of said streams for all public purposes, 

 and of diminishing the damage and injury by 

 floods and freshets to property, both public 

 and private, located along said waters." 



The company is given the right of eminent 

 domain for the purpose of acquiring lands 

 for flowage, etc., but the right can only be 

 exercised with the consent of the forestry 

 board. No dam can be built or reservoir con- 

 structed until approved by the board; the 

 board also determines the height to which 

 the water may be raised, marking the same 

 by permanent monuments and bench marks, 

 and fixes the time and manner in which the 

 water may be drawn off. "They shall have 

 authority to employ at the expense of said 

 improvement company hydraulic engineers and 

 other persons to assist them in obtaining the 

 information necessary to a proper discharge 

 of their duties, such expense to be treated as 

 part of the cost of construction or maintenance 

 and operation of the reservoir system." From 

 the above it will be seen that all the field 

 work, including construction and operation of 

 the reservoirs, is under the absolute control 

 of the forestry board, and they will watch 

 carefully that all interests are protected and 

 particularly that the beautiful lakes are not in- 

 jured. 



In the same way, and in order to guard 

 against a water power monopoly, the rail- 

 road commission passes upon the capital stock 

 of the company, decides the tolls to be charged 

 to the owners of water power who are bene- 

 fited by the increased flow, limits the divi- 

 dends to be declared to six per cent on the 

 cash capital actually paid in on stock subscrip- 

 tions, and shall see that all tolls collected 

 shall be applied only to the payment of the 

 cost of maintenance and operation of the sys- 

 tem and payment of six per cent on the capital, 

 to the end that the capital stock shall be 

 maintained at par at all times. 



The act provides that "The state of Wiscon- 

 sin shall have the right at any time whenever 

 it may have the constitutional power, to take 

 over to itself and become the owner of all 

 reservoirs and other works and property ac- 

 quired by the Wisconsin Valley Improvement 

 Company by paying therefor the cash capital 

 actually paid on the capital stock of said com- 

 pany theretofore lawfully issued or outstand- 

 ing, or the actual values of the physical prop- 

 erties so taken over and without any allow- 

 ance for franchises or good will of the busi- 

 ness, and if such actual value cannot be agreed 

 upon by the state and such owner, then the 

 same shall be determined by the railroad com- 

 mission of Wisconsin." Such absolute control 

 by a state over a private corporation is very 

 unusual, if not unique, and it is possible that 

 such supervision and control will prove more 

 satisfactory than state ownership. 



The lakes which are now dammed and which 

 will lu- u.-ed as reservoirs, will produce an 



increased flow in the Wisconsin river of about 

 MOO cubic feet per second for six months out 

 of each year, and during this period will add 

 to every water power approximately twenty- 

 two horsepower for each foot of fall. It has 

 been estimated that this increase can be 

 doubled or trebled by a judicious extension 

 .11 the reservoir system. Practically all of the 

 lakes which can possibly be used as reservoirs 

 for any of the important rivers of Wisconsin 

 lie within the areas which are being gradually 

 acquired as forest reserves. 



Selling Agricultural Lands. 



The forestry board is selling all the agri- 

 cultural and scattered lands, and with the funds 

 so received is buying forest land to consoli- 

 date the reserves. These now comprise some 

 270,000 acres, but in order to protect the head- 

 waters of her important rivers, save the wood- 

 working industries and preserve a truly mag- 

 nificent lake region as a great summer resort, 

 the state must soon, either by the .issue of 

 long term bonds or in some other way, pro- 

 vide for the extension of the forest reserves 

 to at least 3,000,000 acres. The destruction 

 of the great pineries of Wisconsin was upon 

 a tremendous scale, and in order to accom- 

 plish any real good the "reserves must include 

 the greater part of the lake region. A small 

 reserve would be only a plaything. Very for- 

 tunately the land in this lake region is too 

 sandy to be suitable for agriculture. Here 

 and there 40 to 160 acres can be found which 

 would make a 'good farm, and where such is 

 the case the forestry board will be only too 

 glad to sell or lease it to some farmer, for 

 such a farm will form a fire break, and such 

 a man can usually he counted upon for \vnrk 

 in the woods in winter. The friends of for- 

 estry do not wish to in any way retard the 

 development of northern Wisconsin, and they 

 are true friends of the state and the settler 

 when they tell him to keep off poor sandv 

 soil covered with pine stumps. 



When the state owns the lands and timbet 

 arouiid the lakes, and dams have been built 

 on the lakes which can be used as reservoirs. 

 then most of the great water powers will 

 be secure, and a manufacturer can know that 

 his power will be increased instead of being 

 liable to great shrinkage on account of the 

 destruction of the forests on the headwaters. 

 The development of the water powers of Wis- 

 consin and the almost unlimited possibilities 

 of electrical transmission from the water 

 power to the distant city or town, is in its 

 infancy, and it is indeed fortunate for Wis- 

 consin that this great question is being care- 

 fully worked out and placed upon a sound 

 basis. 



THE WOODLOT QUESTION. 



Prof. J. Fred Baker Urges Education on This 

 Subject. 



The next number on the program was the 

 reading of a paper by Prof. J. Frederick Baker, 

 of the Michigan Agricultural College, on 

 "Woodlots," which was as follows: 



The farm woodlot on the majority of our 

 farms is not a premeditated affair; it is rather 

 by default than by intention. It is the last 

 vestige of a once superb forest. In the minds 

 of the gray-haired, callous-handed farmers of 

 the generation now passing it is the last stand 

 of his enemy, the remains of a once powerful 

 but now a conquered foe. The older ones 

 of you in this room have seen the foe driven 

 back; your father's father started the work, 

 and it is bred in the bone. 



The younger generation has been thought- 

 less of tree growth; why not? They had no 

 reason to look upon trees except as things 

 to be destroyed, to be taken root and branch 

 from the land that agricultural crops might 

 be grown. In the majority of cases the owner 

 has not chosen the poorest soil or left the 

 steepest hillsides and ravines in their original 

 forest verdure. He did not consider the 

 greater financial returns which would accrue 



from this particular soil kept in forest growth 

 rather than in agricultural crops or the erosion 

 of his hillsides. He took up his land, cut 

 away the trees to the main road, whether it 

 was much better or not that timber be left 

 on that particular soil, so he could see out, 

 and placed the house where the family could 

 see those that passed. 



Today, therefore, we find few so-called 

 woodlots which hold a proper relation to the 

 remainder of the farm. They are of a con- 

 glomerate composition of all sorts of native 

 tree species of all degrees of maturity. The 

 owner in some cases has left a nice group 

 of mature trees. He glories in them, but he 

 cares nothing for the saplings. The young 

 growth is cut out, the grass comes in, and the 

 grazing is excellent. Then, too, with this 

 treatment he has a better view of the tree 

 boles, it gives the place a park-like effect 

 which is pleasing to him. In another instance 

 he has cut out all the best mature trees and 

 the woods are made up of inferior species and 

 young growth. Vv'e find ironwood, blue beech. 

 witch-hazel mingled with the oncoming repro- 

 duction of the better sorts, as the oaks, the 

 maple and the basswood. Into this lot each 

 year he turns his young growing live stock; 

 they browse and trample at will. The well- 

 armed thistles come and are' not browsed, 

 briars spring up among them and the place 

 becomes a fine black berry patch. Maybe the 

 woodlot is beside a railroad track. Every other 

 spring or fall the sparks from the flying loco- 

 motives set the woods on fire and irregular 

 patches burn over. The sun beats down on 

 the baked earth through dead tree tops, the 

 rain washes away the fine ashes and surface 

 deposits. 



Under these conditions tree seeds fail to 

 germinate, grass comes in, and the trees give 

 up their struggle. 



Old Woodlots Had Their Use. 



These old woodlots have had their use; they 

 have supplied fuel, fencing and bits of choice 

 material for special uses. The old fashioned 

 farmer always had a nice, straight-grained 

 piece of hickory tucked away among the cob- 

 webs under the rafters of the wagon shed or 

 smokehouse. Rainy days or while the snow 

 drifted outside he repaired single trees and 

 made ax helves for future use until the shavings 

 lay ankle deep. 



We Americans, having for years thought 

 in terms of forest destruction, are now com- 

 pelled to think in terms of forest regenera- 

 tion and reproduction^ It is little wonder that 

 it takes many of our best citizens some time 

 to adjust themselves to the conditions. 



We are apt to think of the small patches 

 of isolated timber ' on farms as a small 

 matter in this immense forestry problem. 



Did you every stop to think that, taken In 

 the aggregate, there is more timber in the 

 woodlots tody, east of the Mississippi and 

 north of the Mason and Dixon line, than 

 there is on the so-called present cut-over tim- 

 ber lands. Of course, the soil conditions are 

 better and the land is more capable of pro- 

 ducing tree growth than the sand lands of 

 our northern timber tracts. Each year timber 

 prices are higher; the farmers pay more for 

 fuel today than ever before, and many find it 

 cheaper to burn coal. 



Woodlots Must Be Saved. 



With all the shortcomings of the old wood- 

 lot it must be saved. We want it as a basis 

 for our new woodlot, our "farm forest." The 

 first thing we want to impress upon the farmer 

 is to protect it; its worst enemies are fire 

 and grazing. Fire injures the soil by burning 

 off the leaf litter and vegetable mould, leaving 

 the surface bare and baked. It injures the re- 

 production by destroying the natural seed bed, 

 with the seeds and young seedlings. It 

 scorches the trunks of old trees, the soft inner 

 bark dies and the tree ekes out a weak exist- 

 ence. Fungi and insects at this stage come in 

 and the tree harbors thousands of forest foes. 

 During the next high wind the tree blows 



