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MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



MICHIGAN 



ROADS AND FORESTS 



Official Paper of The Michigan Road Makers Association and 

 Michigan Forestry Association. 



70 Lamed Street West, Detroit, Michigan. 



Entered as Second-class Matter April 27. 1907. at the Post Office at De- 

 troit. Michigan, under the Act of Congress of March ). 1879. 



Frank E. Carter ..Editor 



PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH 



THE STATE REVIEW PUBLISHING CO., 



SUBSCRIPTION! ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, 

 PAYABLE: IN ADVANCE. 



FAVORS PLANTING TREES ALONG 

 HIGHWAYS. 



It is a sad commentary on the conduct of 

 an undertaking of any magnitude that indi- 

 viduals, municipalities, states or nations all 

 seem 'to find it necessary to do a certain 

 amount of experimenting and dilly-dallying 

 before accepting the conclusions and avoiding 

 the failures of previous experimenters. This 

 is particularly true of the various phases of 

 the goad road's movement. 



The Michigan legislature recognizes the de- 

 sirability of the planting of shade trees, by 

 passing laws providing a 'means of doing the 

 work for their maintenance after planting and 

 protection from injury or destruction; but in- 

 stead of accepting the conclusions arrived at 

 and the costs incurred by other states where 

 most of' the ; effort has been made to beautify 

 the highways, the legislators proceed to nulli- 

 fy the law by placing a limit of cost at not to 

 exceed 25 cents for each tree set out. 



The highway department of Massachusetts, 

 which has reached a point of "high efficiency, 

 maintains a nursery department, and has set 

 out .along the highways of that state during 

 the past five years, 13,113 trees. In 1908, 1,084 

 trees were. seft- out.' There are planted in their 

 nurseries 5,405 trees, 2,017 of which are ready 

 for transplanting alo'njj. the roads, The cast, 

 during the year, .per r tree set out, was $1.29. 

 Other roadside growths are also taken care 

 of, only the ojjjectionable^natural gr.owths be- 

 ing '"rem'ov'e'd.'fiatural conditions' being' allowed 

 to remain so far as possible or beneficial. 

 Sumac and other wild 'growths are also plant- 

 ed' and cared for en the sandy banks of deep 

 cuts in order to keep the loose sand from slid- 

 ing in or blowing away, thus preserving the 

 road from disintegration, as well as beautify- 

 ing its appearance. 



Independently of the highway commission, 

 Massachusetts also wages relentless war on 

 tree pests, such as the gypsy and brown-tailed 

 moths, the elm-leaf beetle, etc., using a force 

 of trained experts in this work. Germany 

 realizes a large, revenue from the roadside 

 trees, which are largely of 'nut-bearing varie- 

 ties, under strict governmental control. 



The Wayne County Road Commission rec- 

 ognizes the desirability of, tree planting, not 

 only as a protection to the road, which in itself 

 is cf much benefit, as the tempering influence 

 of a tree acts as a shield to the road, warding 

 off the extreme heat of the sun, and adding 



materially to its life, in addition to the shade 

 being a comfort alike to man and beast. Trees 

 also act as a wind break, protectin gthe roads 

 in dry weather from having any of the fin- 

 ished surface blown off, to say nothing of the 

 aesthetic value, which in time would add ma- 

 terially to the reputation of the county for 

 neatness, being an attractive force to non- 

 residents passing through, and which would 

 convey a favorable impression of our progres- 

 siveness. 



On all survey maps and profiles made, from 

 the inception of the work, the county road 

 commissioners have indicated thereon where 

 trees are now growing, and where others could 

 be set out to advantage. While it is true that 

 at the present time roads are needed to a 

 much greater extent than trees, yet consider- 

 ing the time it would take a tree to mature, 

 it would seem to be desirable to make a small 

 annual appropriation for this purpose, which 

 would work wonders in this country. 



A PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION. 



Reforestation has been advocated by the- 

 orists and enthusiasts for many years, but 

 D. H. Day, of Glen Haven, is one of the 

 few practical lumber manufacturers in Michi- 

 gan who has in operation any detailed plan of 

 this character. Forty years ago, before coal 

 was commonly used by the lake boats, they 

 used to tie up at Glen Haven, on their way 

 to the foot of the lakes, and lay in a supply 

 of wood. As a result, the land in that neigh- 

 borhood was long ago stripped of its timber, 

 but much of it has since been replaced by a 

 thrifty second growth. 



Mr. Day, who owns many years' cut of vir- 

 gin timber in the back country, recognized 

 the future value of this second growth timber 

 and acquired a large tract of it. He then in- 

 vited in Samuel J. Record, one of the govern- 

 ment's experts, and had him examine the tract 

 and lay out a working plan for its preserva- 

 tion and growth. After a thorough examina- 

 tion, Mr. Record pronounced it, even at. that 

 time, one of the finest reforestation proposi- 

 tions he had ever seen. 



Lying between beautiful Glen lake and Lake 

 Michigan, its greatest width is about a mile, 

 and its length two miles, giving a total area 

 of 1,400 acres. The growth was composed of 

 sugar maple, beech, red oak, black cherry, 

 white ash, aspen, and paper birch, in hard- 

 woods. White pine, Norway pine and hem- 

 lock, in small pure stands comprised the 

 conifers. This is an exceptional variety of 

 woods to grow within so small a compass. 

 Many of these trees were already eight to 

 eleven inches in diameter. 



The government forester found the growth 

 in many places too thick, and recommended 

 its thinning, as also the cutting out of occa- 

 sional old trees which had for some reason 

 been left, when the timber was first cut. 



Further, he laid out lines for the establish- 

 ment of fire lanes and instructed Mr. Day in 

 the methods of pruning to secure the greatest 

 measure of valuable saw material growth, and 

 of estimating the stand from time to time, 

 and determining the rate of such growth. 



All of these instructions Mr. Day faithfully 

 followed, with the result that, where he had 

 five years ago what was little better in ap- 

 pearance than a tract of brush land, he now 



has a beautiful young tract of valuable timber 

 traversed by many lanes, and kept up like a 

 park. More than, this, the care which has 

 been exercised has resulted in almost doubling 

 the amount of timber standing on the tract, 

 so that from a commercial standpoint Mr. 

 Day is convinced that forest conservation pays, 

 and he is already looking forward to the time 

 when he can start to lumber his timber and 

 send it out to be used in the manufacture of 

 furniture and other articles of commerce. 



Mr. Day will not lumber this under the 

 old, wasteful methods, but will constantly 

 make selections of the most mature timber, 

 protecting always the smaller growth from 

 injury, so that it may continue a source of 

 income for himself and his heirs. 



AN IMPORTANT STEP. 



An important conference has been held at 

 Ottawa, Out., by representatives of the New 

 Brunswick, Quebec and federal governments, 

 the Railway commission,, the National Trans- 

 continental Railway commissioners, the 

 Alexander Gibson Manufacturing Company, 

 and the Grand Falls Power Company. The 

 subject of discussion at the conference was 

 the proposal that the Grand Trunk Paeilic 

 Railway should operate its trains through the 

 New 1'runswick forest region by electricity 

 generated at Grand Falls on the St. John 

 river. The matter was lir.-t discussed in the 

 New Brunswick legislature last year, and the 

 plan suggested as a means of protecting the 

 valuable timber areas from forest fires. 





ROAD WORK FOR CONVICTS. 



They have a new road law in Kansas under 

 which the prison authorities are empowered 

 to work convicts on building and repairing 

 highways should they find it advisable, and 

 plans are being formulated to give that 

 method of disposing of convict labor a test. 

 The experiment will be watched with interest, 

 for the question of what to do with the labor 

 of convicts still continues to vex both the of- 

 ficials directly in charge of the prisons and 

 the politicians who are persistently interfering 

 with the conduct of these institutions in the 

 effort to please the labor vote. 



It is greatly to be regretted that organized 

 labor has taken a position in regard to the 

 employment of convict labor which counts 

 heavily against the welfare of the unfortunate 

 men 'who are serving sentences in our penal 

 institutions. But for the persistent hostility 

 of the labor unipns to having these men use- 

 fully employed the states would soon aba 

 don the contract system and use prison lab 

 in the work that would return the largest 

 revenue regardless of where the product might 

 find a market, following the rule that controls 

 in private ventures, and the prisons would 

 soon become self-sustaining while the men 

 could be better treated and better cared for 

 than is possible under the methods of dispos- 

 ing of their labor now in vogue. Under such 

 a system as suggested, the convicts might be 

 allowed a fair share of their earnings, to 

 saved up for them against the time when th 

 would be free, or applied to the support 

 those dependent on them while they are in 

 confinement. They would thus be supplied 

 with an incentive to industry and good be- 



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