MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



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Official Organ ol The Michigan Road Makrn Allotllhon and Michigan Forntry Alsocl 

 SUITE 1406 MAJESTIC BUILDING DETROIT. MICHIGAN 



Frank E'. Carter ..Editor 



PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH 



BY 

 THE STATE REVIEW PUBLISHING CO., 



SUBSCRIPTION! ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, 

 PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



FORESTRY GREATEST 



QUESTION OF DAY 



Charles W. Garfield, president of the Michi- 

 gan Forestry Commission, discussed "The Re- 

 sponsibility of the State and Our Own Obli- 

 gation" at the forestry meeting of the Round- 

 up Institute at the Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege. He said: 



Permit me to congratulate you upon the 

 work of agitation upon this most important 

 subject which has been i accomplished through 

 the opportunities offered by the farmers' in- 

 stitutes of this state. The men who are lead- 

 ers in Michigan agriculture are growing to 

 appreciate thoroughly the importance of the 

 , forest crop as a product of agriculture, and 

 we do well in this last and most important 

 gathering of the institute year to review the 

 situation and plan for the next campaign. 



It never occurred to me to connect any 

 divinity with the words "Be it enacted" as an 

 utterance of a legislative body, and still in 

 connection with the promotion of our pur- 

 pose to rehabilitate our waste lands with a 

 forest cover, it becomes necessary to recog- 

 nize the fact that in carrying out any broad 

 scheme of reforestation the state must be the 

 leading factor in the work. 



The greatest question today before the state 

 and the nation is the conservation of our nat- 

 ural resources, and everything which you and 

 I can do to influence the average legislator 

 to rise above the petty questions of politics 

 and lay strongly hold of the great problems 

 related to the saving of our fish, our game, 

 the products of our mines, the fertility of 

 our soils, the restoration of our forest cover 

 and the preservation of our water power, 

 ought to be exerted to the fullest possible 

 extent. The entire mineral product is a fixed 

 quantity, and all we can do is to see that 

 nothing is wasted. The fertility of our soil 

 can be maintained with perfectness, even al- 

 though we make the strongest drafts upon 

 it. The depletion of our forests can be some- 

 what safeguarded; but, better than this, under 

 a proper state policy it is possible for us 

 to use all the raw material which is legiti- 

 mately required by the needs of our civiliza- 

 tion, and still maintain a sufficient supply 

 to meet reasonable demands for all time. 



It must not be forgotten in the considera- 

 tion of our category of resources that the 

 maintenance of our fish and game interests, 

 the utilization of our water power, and in a 



great measure the holding within reach the 

 elements which make our soils fertile, all de- 

 pend on our national forest managements, 

 which in a sense is a cherishing mother of 

 all these resources. 



Forest Famine Imminent. 



It seems but a few years since first there 

 was an occasional sound of alarm, that the 

 forests were being wasted; the timber slayers 

 answered to a man, "There is enough to last 

 for a thousand years," and still today, after 

 the passage of less than a generation, from 

 the most carefully gathered testimony, we are 

 warranted in the statement that unless we 

 begin the protection of forests and lessen 

 their depletion we will soon be in the clutches 

 of a forest famine. This is no carelessly- 

 'rung alarm bell; it is the deliberate convic- 

 tion of intelligent men who have the .broadest 

 angle of vision with regard to our present 

 forest resources. 



The most graphic representation of this 

 condition to the business man is a review 

 of the prices of lumber during the past quar- 

 ter of a century. There has been a steady 

 advance in these prices, with many woods 

 double and treble the prices of a few years 

 ago, and in some species the price has reached 

 a point which forbids only the most wealthy 

 to indulge in articles made from them. This 

 great advance has no parallel in any other 

 product of the soil and is a practical recog- 

 nition of the scarcity of the article. 



In dealing with the question as to whether 

 certain lands shall be used for forests or for 

 agricultural products, this factor is one of 

 great import. We evidently at present have 

 enough area in wheat to supply the wants 

 of the people; there is no question but what 

 in fruits and vegetables and cotton and flax, 

 and most other farm products, there is a suf- 

 ficient area under cultivation to these products 

 to supply any immediate want of the consum- 

 ers. This, however, is not the case with 

 timber products. The demand is overreach- 

 ing the supply in every kind of timber known 

 to the trade, and it is of vital importance to 

 recognize the fact that to meet the demand 

 we should have a larger area of land devoted 

 to the growth of timber. In making our con- 

 tention in Michigan for the utilization of the 

 lands for timber purposes, upon which no one 

 wishes to pay taxes, we are simply dealing 

 with the poorest lands known in the state. 

 We do well to consider whether, as an invest- 

 ment, it is not profitable to utilize even some 

 of our better lands to grow products that 

 are appreciating so rapidly upon the market. 



The Handwriting on the Wall. 

 A few years ago, at any meeting of timber 

 associations the leading question was how to 

 increase the ability to convert trees into com- 

 mercial products. Today in almost every 

 meeting of lumber dealers, at some point in 

 their discussions there is an indication that 

 they see some startling handwriting upon the 

 wall. They are lifting their eyes and peer- 

 ing in every direction for a glimpse of some 

 resource which shall supply their yards with 

 forest products. The industries in our own 

 state, which are dependent upon the forests 

 for their raw material, are beginning to lan- 

 guish; some of them have already left us and 



moved to regions which hav.e not yet been 

 depleted of timber. 



Can we afford to allow this kind of emigra- 

 tion from our borders when it is within our 

 power to stay it by the adoption of a rational 

 policy which shall maintain productive for- 

 ests? We cannot depend upon individuals 

 to fulfill this purpose; but the state goes 

 on forever, and it is perfectly within the realm 

 of its legitimate functions to foster in every 

 possible way the industries which are a lead- 

 ing factor in its development. To this end 

 it is your duty and mine to see that the men 

 who make our laws are indoctrinated with 

 regard to the simple principles of maintain- 

 ing productive forests within our borders. 



A Call to Arms. 



As we go out from this institute to our 

 homes scattered over all the counties of this 

 state, we not only have a duty to perform 

 individually in connection with husbanding 

 our natural resources, but as far as our influ- 

 ence goes it should be exerted upon the men 

 who ma'ke our laws, to foster in every pos- 

 sible way statesmanlike methods of handling 

 our lands unsuited to ordinary agriculture, so 

 that they shall have the largest measure of 

 productivity in the development of a forest 

 cover which shall contribute to our commercial 

 needs. We must not be satisfied with simply 

 arousing -a sentiment for the protection of 

 trees, but we must have on our minds and 

 hearts the needs of generations to come, and 

 perform such service as we can to leave this 

 commonwealth with as great advantages in 

 the maintenance of life and the production 

 of happiness as we found when we were 

 brought into this environment. 



The features of this Round-up Institute 

 which dominate this section should make a 

 lasting impression upon us, so that we shall 

 not go about our ways carelessly, expecting 

 some other fellow to take care of our forest 

 possibilities, but that we shall each one of 

 us perform his duty to the state and posterity 

 by exerting all his influence to secure the 

 adoption of a permanent forest policy in our 

 state as an intrinsic and . most important 

 factor of its greatest industry agriculture. 



DISTRIBUTE TREES FREE FOR 

 REFORESTATION. 



The Detroit & Mackinac Railway Company 

 has for the past three years experimented 

 with a forestry nursery on its Tawas Beach 

 property. At the present time it has on hand 

 a large number of the following kinds of 

 trees for transplanting: White pine, Scotch 

 pine, western yellow pine, spruce and western 

 white cedar. 



The company desires to dispose of these 

 trees, and will give them to parties who will 

 transplant them and see that they are prop- 

 erly taken care of. It is especially requested 

 that farmers make requisition for these trees, 

 for the purpose of setting them out for re- 

 foresting some of the lands that they have 

 cut over on their farms. 



The trees will be delivered at the beds. 

 Should they be shipped by freight, they will 

 be shipped with charges collect. The trees 

 will be ready for delivery as soon as the 

 frost is out of the ground, which will prob- 

 ably be about April 1. 



Those interested should communicate early 

 as possible with C. W. Luce, general super- 

 intendent Detroit & Mackinac railway, East 

 Tawas, Mich. 



