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 rational system 

 of forestry in Michigan. The society is managed by the following roster of officers: President, John H. Bissell, of Detroit; Vice-President, R. 

 Hanson, Grayling; Secretary, J. Fred Baker, Lansing; Treasurer, J. J. Hubbell, Manistee. Board of Directors Mrs. Francis King, Aima; Hon. 

 Arthur Hill, Saginaw; S. M. Lemon, Grand Rapids; H. N. Loud, Au Sable; Thos. B. Wyman, Munising; Prof. Filibert Roth, Ann Arbor. 



The State Forestry Commission Charles W. Garfield, Grand Rapids; Hon. W. B. Mershon, Saginaw; William H. Rose, Lansing. 



FORESTRY DISCUSSION AT 

 GOVERNOR'S CONFERENCE 



At the conference of governors held at 

 Washington forestry received its full share of 

 attention. Jas. T. Whipple, state forest, fish 

 and game commissioner of New York state, 

 talked on forestry conditions as they exist in 

 New York state, and told what the state is 

 accomplishing in the way of reforestation. 

 He said: "We have in the state of New York 

 41,000,000,000 feet of lumber, board measure, 

 standing, including farm lots and all. The 

 state owns 1,500,000 acres of woodlands, which, 

 under the constitution cannot be touched, and 

 therefore that must be deducted from the 

 whole amount. We cut last year 1,250,000,000 

 board rneasure. A simple mathematical cal- 

 culation will tell us that in twenty-two or 

 twenty-three years, at that rate, not one solid 

 stick will stand in the Empire State, although 

 twenty-seven per cent of our total area is nqw 

 covered with forests. 



"The state's agricultural lands are depre- 

 ciating in productive value, as has been stated 

 by the Secretary of Agriculture and, by Mr. 

 Hill, and Jthe water sources are drying up. 

 The formation of New York is such that most 

 of tfie water .comes from the great upland 

 plateau, extending from the Adirondacks to 

 the foothills of the- Alleghanies. In such 

 a state it is especially imperative that the for- 

 ests be preserved in sufficient quantity, -else 

 our, agricultural lands will be depleted to such 

 an ^extent that it will not be practical to farm 

 them. Suppose tlrat in an hour, by reason of 

 some great , natural catastrophe, every tree 

 should be sw^pt from the state of New York, 

 what would be the resuk?. Chaos, desolation 

 everywhere, streams dried up, dry creek beds 

 and river beds in July and August, no water 

 for the farm, agricultural products decreased 

 fifty per cent, and price of farms decreased 

 as much more. 



"Therefore, for the benefit of agriculture 

 alone, to say nothing about the question of 

 a timber supply, which is so imperative, all 

 sensible men ought to read the history of 

 the countries that have demonstrated this 

 fact for a thousand years, and act upon the 

 teachings of that history. They should not 

 sit quietly by and see their forests wiped 

 away and the interests of their country 

 ruined beyond repair for it takes one hun- 

 dred years to grow a tree than can be cut 

 down in five minutes. The most imperative 

 thing we have to do is to save the forests 

 of this country. (Great applause.) 



What New York Is Doing. 



"Let me tell you what we are doing it 

 the state of New York. We planted last 

 year 1,100,000 pine trees in the waste lands 

 of the Adirondacks. Look at the history ol 

 forestry in your states and in the Nation, 

 and you will see that New York has planted 

 as many trees as all the states and the 

 National Government combined. Mr. Pin- 

 chot sent his forester to our gardens last 

 year, and he said that they are the best in 

 the United States. We have ten or twelve 

 acres, all told, of tree gardens. What of 

 other countries? Germany has fifteen or 

 twenty tree gardens of two hundred acres 

 each, and they raise 10,000 trees in one little 

 bed, while the Empire State has twelve acres 

 of tree gardens to furnish its trees. 



"Coal cannot be reproduced; iron cannot 

 be reproduced: but the forests can be re- 



produced, and if you preserve the forests by 

 planting, and by careful cutting, you will 

 have water courses, and your water courses 

 will save the forests and save the farms. 



"Last year we cut an acreage five times 

 as. great as that which was replaced. The 

 rate of cutting is increasing every year, and 

 I ask you what are we coming to? If we 

 cut last year five times the amount that was 

 replaced, and if we cut this year eight times 

 the amount replaced, and if next year we 

 cut ten or twelve times the amount replaced, 

 how long will it be until we have none left 

 to cut?" 



Forestry Association Supervises. 



Governor Brooks, of Wyoming, asked the 

 speaker if the work of reforestation done in 

 New York is not entirely under the supervis- 

 ion of the State Forestry Association; and Mr. 

 Wh'ipple replied that such was the case, stat- 

 ing that the New York State Forestry Ser- 

 vice has been in existence eighteen years. 

 Governor Brooks asked if it was not a fact 

 that in the Adirondacks many sections have 

 already been cut over three different times; 

 and Mr. Whipple answered that no section in 

 New .York had been cut over three times, 

 although some have been cut over twice. 

 Governor Brooks stated that he was under 

 the impression that in the reports of the New 

 York State Forest Commission, issued during 

 Governor Flower's administration, it was stat- 

 ed that certain sections of the Adirondacks 

 had been cut over three times, tree cut being 

 twelve inches and upward in diameter. To 

 this Mr. Whipple replied: "Every green tree 

 on the slopes of the Hudson of twelve inches, 

 or eight inches, or three inches, has been cut, 

 and throughout that entire area erosion is tak- 

 ing place today. It has not been cut over three 

 times because after the first and second cut- 

 tings nothing was left to cut." Mr. Whipple 

 continued by calling attention to the fact that 

 natural re-seeding of cone trees in America 

 will never be a commercial success. He said 

 that the hardwoods will re-seed successfully, 

 but artificial propagation of cone bearing 

 trees is a necessity, because of the fact that 

 the planted tree or the transplanted tree will 

 grow in height twice as fast as the tree natur- 

 ally re-seeded in the forest, this being due 

 to the larger root growth secured with every 

 transplantation. From the commercial side 

 alone, he said, the business of raising conifer- 

 ous trees is the most profitable in the whole 

 forestry proposition, as it will pay twice com- 

 pound interest to any one who will invest his 

 money in it. 



Mr. Whipple concluded with the suggestion, 

 which was received with distinct appreciation, 

 that every state in the Union place on its 

 statute books a law exempting from taxation 

 the land dedicated to tree raising. 



New Jersey Doing Her Share. 



Hon. John F. Fort, Governor of New Jer- 

 sey made a statement in regard to New Jer- 

 sey's forestry work. He said that New Jersey 

 has purchased within the last three or foiir 

 years 10,000 acres of land to be maintained 

 as state forest reserves. The New Jersey 

 legislature this year appropriated $25,000 for 

 the work of the Forestry Commission, and it 

 is the state's intention to purchase from 5,000 

 to 6.00 acres of land this year, to be added 

 to the previously acquired reserves. 



An agreement between state and townships 

 has been made, whereby the townships in 

 which these acquired forest reserves are lo- 

 cated, are paid two cents an ncrc on their 



taxes from the State Treasury for every acre 

 of taxable land acquired by the state. 



Another thing that has been done in New 

 Jersey, Governor F"ort said, is the establish- 

 ing of fire lines along all the railways of 

 the state. A line ten feet wide, 100 feet from 

 either side of the track is provided for, and 

 it is also provided that persons who will not 

 allow tlie State to establish such fire lines 

 through forest lands privately owned, shall 

 not have any action against the railroads for 

 damages by fire. Where permission is 

 granted to establish fire lines, individuals have 

 their remedy, as now, in case fires occur. 



Governor Fort said that New Jersey pro- 

 poses to go on in the work of reforestation 

 and forest conservation, with the intention of 

 making the State Forests playgrounds, as well 

 as sources of profit, for the people of New 

 Jersey and of the United States. 



Work of Yale Forest School. 



Dr. Arthur D. Hadley, President of Yale 

 University, spoke briefly on the work of the 

 Yale Forestry School. He said: 



"When we first started , our forestry 

 school at Yale, eight years ago, things 

 looked darker than they look now. It did 

 not seem as though there was any interest 

 in forestry at all. We worked with Mr. 

 Pinchot, here in Washington, and, acting 

 under his advice, 'developed a school which 

 should not only teach forest botany, but 

 which should teach forest economy, and forest 

 economy adapted to American conditions. 

 Our fear in the establishment of that school 

 was that there would not be demand enough 

 for the graduates. The numbers have in- 

 creased until now we are sending out each 

 year from thirty to forty men, trained in the 

 actual business conditions of American for- 

 estry, besides giving instruction in summer to 

 a large number of practical forest men in cer- 

 tain of the theoretical parts Of the work. 



"The growth of demand for these men 

 has been so unexpectedly rapid that I feel 

 sure, if this assembly can manage to tide 

 over the dangerous time of the next twenty 

 years, that after that the thing will take 

 care of itself. The people will get such new- 

 conceptions of forestry and the demand for 

 lumber, that, on mere business ground, for- 

 est preservation, in expert hands, will take 

 care of itself, as a matter of course. But 

 just now it is for an assembly like this to 

 make the demand, before we reach the dead 

 line, instead of waiting until that comes. 



"How can we dp it? First, by working 

 in our own state in the way that the Gov- 

 ernors in their speeches, and the delegates 

 in their speeches, have shown, anj still 

 more, I think, by putting pressure on the 

 National Government in favor of the exten- 

 sion of forest reservation in every . possible 

 way. Powerful as we are in our own states, 

 an assembly like this, called by the President, 

 is yet more powerful in carrying the public 

 opinion of the country with it; and we stand 

 here for the principle that our Government 

 should not be a Government for the partial 

 interest of the country, not even a Govern- 

 ment for the important interests of the coun- 

 try, but a Government for the permanent in- 

 terests of the country. 



"Second, we have it in our power also, as 

 has been suggested, to make intelligent for- 

 estry by individuals . more profitable than it 

 is today. Suggestions have been made re- 

 garding possible tax laws. I shall not try to 

 repeat them. But by the appointment of com- 

 mittees, by the exchange of expert opinions, . 



